Best questions for ecommerce shopper survey about checkout experience

Here are some of the best questions for an ecommerce shopper survey about checkout experience—and our tips for crafting each one. You can build a complete survey in seconds using Specific’s AI survey generator; just create and customize it to fit your needs.

Best open-ended questions for an ecommerce shopper survey about checkout experience

Open-ended questions are a must if you want real, honest feedback about what actually works or frustrates people during checkout. They’re especially useful when you want to uncover problems, motivation, or “Aha!” moments that simple option-based questions would miss. Surprisingly, these open comments often reveal quick wins or critical weak spots—such as clunky steps or missing payment options. Considering that approximately 70% of shopping carts are abandoned before purchase completion, it’s essential to dig deep and understand the why behind these actions. [1]

1. What did you like most about your checkout experience today?

2. Was there anything confusing or frustrating during checkout?

3. How would you describe the overall speed of the checkout process?

4. What, if anything, almost stopped you from completing your purchase?

5. Were there any payment or shipping options you looked for but didn’t see?

6. How secure did you feel entering your information?

7. Did you encounter any technical issues while checking out? If yes, what happened?

8. If you could improve one part of our checkout process, what would it be?

9. What surprised you (in a good or bad way) during checkout?

10. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your checkout experience?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for ecommerce shopper survey about checkout experience

Single-select multiple-choice questions are great when you want quick, quantifiable insights or to start a simple conversation (especially when your shoppers don’t have time for open-ended comments). Giving customers a shortlist makes it far easier for them to respond, and you can always follow up with probing questions to dig into their reasons.

Question: How easy was it to complete your purchase today?

• Very easy

• Somewhat easy

• Neutral

• Somewhat difficult

• Very difficult

Question: Which payment method did you choose for this order?

• Credit/debit card

• Apple Pay / Google Pay

• PayPal

• Other

Question: What was the main reason you chose to purchase today?

• Best price

• Fast shipping

• Previous positive experience

• Easy checkout

• Other

When to followup with "why?" We recommend always following up with “why” if a shopper selects a negative or even neutral option. For example, if a customer says checkout was “somewhat difficult”, ask: “Can you tell us what made the checkout seem difficult?” This approach surfaces the specific blockers—maybe it’s about payment security, a slow page, or missing guest checkout—and you immediately learn what to fix. Guest checkout, for example, can reduce cart abandonment rates by 25%. [4]

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include “Other” if you’re not certain your list covers every possible scenario a shopper might face. Follow-up questions after “Other” answers often uncover overlooked issues or surprising motivations, which can reveal unique opportunities to improve your checkout experience.

Should you add an NPS question for an ecommerce shopper survey about checkout experience?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a proven way to measure how likely someone is to recommend your online store after their purchase journey. It’s super relevant for checkout experiences—a great or terrible checkout can be the tipping point between “brand promoter” and “never again.” NPS results help you track the direct impact of checkout improvements on overall loyalty and word of mouth. You can easily add an NPS-style question with branching follow-ups using this tailored NPS survey generator for ecommerce shoppers.

The power of follow-up questions

Richer insights always come from asking “What did you mean?” or “Can you say more about that?” That’s why we’ve built Specific to use AI for automated follow-up questions—unlike most survey tools, our platform prompts for clarification and context, adapting live to responses. You can learn more about our AI follow-up questions feature, which makes every survey feel like a deep-dive interview instead of a cold form.

• Ecommerce shopper: “The payment options were fine.”

• AI follow-up: “Which payment methods did you use, and were there any you wanted but didn’t see?”

Without follow-ups, you’d end up with vague replies and guesswork—missing the opportunity to resolve pain points like payment methods, mobile speed, or checkout bugs. Considering that 41% of consumers are more likely to buy if multiple payment options are available, probing for specifics leads to actionable improvements. [7]

How many followups to ask? For most checkout experience surveys, 2–3 followup questions are enough. With Specific, you can set exactly how many, and the AI will stop when it gets the info you want—or gives respondents the option to skip ahead, keeping the flow natural and respectful.

This makes it a conversational survey—each participant feels like they’re chatting with a real human who listens, clarifies, and wants to understand their story.

AI Survey Analysis: Thanks to AI, analyzing survey responses—no matter how much unstructured text you collect—is painless. Our AI survey response analysis tool finds themes, summarizes replies, and gives you quick insights you can trust. Even if you have hundreds of qualitative responses, you’ll never feel overwhelmed.

Automated, AI-powered followups are a new standard—try generating a survey and watch the difference in the depth (and clarity) of what you learn.

Best prompts to generate better ecommerce shopper checkout experience questions with AI

If you want to use ChatGPT or another large language model, start with this basic prompt to get relevant open-ended questions for your survey:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Ecommerce Shopper survey about Checkout Experience.

But here’s a pro tip: AI always does better with more context—tell it who you are, your specific goal, and any unique challenges. Try this variation:

I manage an online retail store focused on electronics. Our customers often abandon carts at checkout, and we want to improve this process. Suggest 10 insightful open-ended questions for an ecommerce shopper survey that will help us understand pain points, friction, and opportunities for a smoother checkout experience.

Once you have a good set of questions, use another prompt to organize them:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

After seeing your categories—like “Payment Preferences”, “Checkout Speed”, “Security Concerns”—write:

Generate 10 questions for categories Payment Preferences and Checkout Speed.

This technique lets you zero in on what matters most for your store and quickly build the basis for a high-converting survey. Or, just try Specific’s survey generator and have the AI interview you for an even smoother process.

What is a conversational survey and why does it matter?

A conversational survey is just what it sounds like: instead of a static form, it feels like a real human conversation—questions, clarifications, and genuine engagement. For ecommerce shoppers, this means feedback is richer, more honest, and easier to give; for you, it means an order of magnitude more actionable data.

Why use AI for ecommerce shopper surveys? With an AI survey generator, you eliminate the busywork and friction of old-school tools. AI adapts each survey to your business context and lets you analyze feedback conversationally. See our step-by-step guide to creating a survey for practical tips and inspiration.

Specific is built with these principles at the core, giving you a best-in-class, mobile-friendly experience for both you and your respondents. Every interaction feels smooth and conversational, driving more honest responses and richer insights—something no static form or basic survey tool can match.

See this checkout experience survey example now

Get instant inspiration for your own survey—see how conversational, AI-driven questions make feedback honest and actionable. See what a difference a smart survey can make—act now to uncover insights, reduce cart abandonment, and delight your shoppers.