Spiffy Checkouts
How we designed a flexible checkout product that has facilitated more than $1 billion in client sales.
The checkout had to flex without becoming complicated
Spiffy's customers sell different products in different ways. Some need a simple one-off payment. Others need subscriptions, payment plans, upsells or a checkout that sits inside their own website.
Most checkout tools forced those businesses into a fixed flow. We wanted to give them more control without making the setup harder for the person building the checkout or the customer paying through it.
Start with real checkout behaviour
We compared established checkout research with what was happening inside our own product: conversion rates, customer feedback, heatmaps and session recordings.
I spoke with existing and potential customers about how they sold, where their current setup got in the way and what they needed to change without asking a developer.
The combination mattered. Interviews explained what people thought they needed, while product behaviour showed where buyers actually hesitated or dropped out.
Build enough to learn
Prototype before polishing
I used quick, scrappy prototypes to put an idea in front of customers before the team invested in all the edge cases.
Usability sessions showed what people understood, where they paused and which controls needed a clearer explanation.
I also contributed HTML and CSS during implementation. That kept small but important decisions close to the browser instead of handing everything over in a static design.
Work across the whole release
In a small fintech team, the work did not stop at the product screen. I helped connect the release to documentation, support and marketing so customers got the same explanation wherever they met the feature.
I introduced a release process that kept the original customer problem visible from the first idea through rollout and the questions that arrived after launch.
Keep testing with customers
Interviews and usability sessions gave us direct feedback on new ideas.
Support conversations and product behaviour showed where the live checkout still caused friction.
Keep a clear direction
Moving quickly was useful only when we knew what we were trying to learn. That kept the team focused on problems customers actually had instead of adding options for the sake of it.
Stay close to what shipped
As Spiffy's founding designer, I have worked on hundreds of features and releases that affect how customers run their businesses every day.
I stayed involved from the early product decision through implementation, documentation and rollout. Working directly with engineering, support and marketing made it easier to catch the gaps between a feature working technically and a customer being able to use it confidently.
Checkouts
- Single-step checkouts: Kept the important fields and payment choice together so buyers could complete a purchase without moving through several screens.
- Mobile checkout: Designed for smaller screens from the start, rather than squeezing a desktop form into them later.
- Embedded checkouts: Let businesses place a branded checkout directly inside their own website.
- Conversion improvements: Used checkout research and product data to reduce required fields, improve load speed and remove avoidable friction.
Upsells and payment plans
- One-click upsells: Showed a relevant offer after purchase without asking the customer to enter payment details again.
- Payment plans: Let businesses offer a one-off payment, instalments or a subscription.
- Bump offers: Added a smaller related offer directly to the checkout.
- One-click upgrades: Made it easier to move from a monthly plan to an annual or higher-value subscription.
Automations
- CRM integrations: Passed purchase and billing events into the tools customers already used for follow-up.
- Custom webhooks: Let businesses trigger their own actions when something changed in the purchase.
Customer management
- Customer portal: Gave customers a place to manage subscriptions, update payment methods and find billing information themselves.
- Failed payment recovery: Combined automatic emails with self-service payment updates.
Analytics and reporting
- Revenue reporting: Tracked Monthly Recurring Revenue, Average Revenue Per User and subscriber growth.
- Failed payment reports: Showed which payments needed attention and how long they had been outstanding.
Subscription management
- Billing frequencies: Supported different subscription schedules.
- Free and paid trials: Let businesses choose how a trial worked before the first full payment.
- Plan changes: Let customers upgrade or downgrade without contacting support.
and 100+ more features
Impact
$1 Billion+
in client sales facilitated through Spiffy's checkout system
10%+
Increase in sales conversions
~80%
Reduction in failed payments
+
Preferred partner of leading payment processors
30%+
Increase in Average Order Value (AOV)
You can create stunning checkouts without having to be a coder or developer. I'm able to create checkouts that convert in minutes.
Sarah Laws, Founder of Laws Marketing
I've never seen anything that is this flexible yet this simple. Adding bump offers, payment plans, and one click upsells is incredibly intuitive.
Chris Thompson at Mike Mandel
2,500+
Businesses trust Spiffy
What kept the product useful
Checkout work is full of small decisions with direct consequences. A field, delay or unclear option can change whether somebody completes the purchase.
Quick prototypes and regular customer feedback helped us test those decisions before they became expensive to change. Staying close to engineering also meant we could judge the work in the browser as well as the design file.
The harder part was knowing what not to add. Tying new features back to a real customer problem kept a flexible product from turning into a wall of settings.
The product is still moving
Spiffy Checkouts continues to change with its customers. The next phase includes more personalisation in the checkout, support for more markets and payment gateways, and clearer reporting on revenue and payment problems.
The result
Businesses gained more control over how they sell without handing the checkout over to a developer. Buyers got a faster experience with clearer payment choices. Together, those decisions have supported more than $1 billion in client sales through Spiffy.
Design that makes a difference. Together.
I work with product teams from early decisions through to design and delivery. If you need another experienced product designer in the mix, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.