Field Notes · 4 March 2026
Reading a side-by-side checkout poster
A walkthrough of how we annotate mobile and desktop checkout drop-offs so non-analysts can argue productively.
A checkout poster is not a dashboard. It is a single-page argument: here is where phones fall away, here is where computers continue, here is the step worth arguing about first.
Marks we always include
- Absolute conversion from cart start to purchase for each device
- Step-level continuation rates, not only overall rates
- Sample size for the window, printed large enough that thin data cannot hide
- One callout for payment method mix if it differs by device
Marks we refuse
Decorative sparklines that do not change a decision. Logo walls. Fake precision to three decimal places when the week only had a few hundred purchases.
Bring the poster to a meeting, put it on the wall, and ask which step your designers can touch this sprint. That is the whole point of the visualisation.