I recently bought some clothing online from Calvin Klein and their user experience was great all the way up to the final step of the checkout process where they really need to improve their presentation.

The process of selecting items, looking at different colors, understanding sales/discounts and getting through the first step of the checkout process was surprisingly easy. It seems they have done some testing on their cart but like so many firms, they only test up to the payment screen and don’t look at the actual step of checking out. As a result this is what I got when I was ready to pay:

Express Checkout, Fast Checkout and Fast and Free shipping: This seems great but what’s the difference between this option and the other two? Is Paypal not going to be fast and won’t include free shipping? Why is this presented in a different style than the Secure Checkout option which uses site standard styling?

Paypal: Straightforward but shouldn’t this be a module in the payment type screen (when I’m selecting a credit card?)

Proceed to Secure Checkout: So does this mean the Express Checkout isn’t secure? Is this option slower and doesn’t include the free shipping promised in option 1 because it’s secure? Shouldn’t all eCommerce carts be secure by default?

I literally had to stop and think about my options (I chose secure checkout because the other one looks like some kind of opt-in passport service) and the only reason I bought was the fact that I really like their clothes and was motivated enough to look past this barrier and complete the process.

I shudder to think what the drop off must be at this step with consumers who aren’t as eager.