Checkout User Flow process diagram

A checkout user flow shows each screen a buyer sees from the cart to the order confirmation, and the way back when a payment fails. Wavelength drew this one from the four sentences below.

What was said

The customer views their cart and clicks Checkout. They enter their shipping address on the Shipping screen. They move to the Payment screen and enter their card details. The system checks if the payment is approved. If approved, they see the Order Confirmation screen. If the payment fails, they see a Payment Error screen and can go back to retry. After confirmation, the order is complete.

The diagram

The diamond is the payment check. Its two pink arrows lead to the confirmation screen and to the error screen. The arrow from the error screen goes back to payment.

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What is in this flow

Systems: None.
People and teams: None.
Decisions: Payment Approved?.
Size: 8 steps and 8 connections.

Steps

Customer
Cart
Shipping
Payment
Payment Approved?
Payment Error
Order Confirmation
Order Complete

Mermaid code

Copy this into any Markdown file, GitHub README, or Mermaid Live to render the same flow.

flowchart TD
  n1([Customer])
  n2[Cart]
  n3[Shipping]
  n4[Payment]
  n5{Payment Approved?}
  n6[Payment Error]
  n7[Order Confirmation]
  n8([Order Complete])
  n1 -->|views cart| n2
  n2 -->|checkout| n3
  n3 -->|enters address| n4
  n4 -->|submits payment| n5
  n5 -->|Yes| n7
  n5 -->|No| n6
  n6 -->|retry| n4
  n7 -->|confirmed| n8

Read this checkout flow

The flow has one decision: Payment Approved? The No branch shows the Payment Error screen and loops back to Payment. Loops like this one hide most checkout defects. Before a build, ask three questions. How many retries does the buyer get? Is the cart still full after an error? Does the buyer see why the card failed?

Extend it for your store

Open the flow and say each change. Wavelength adds the screens and the branches.

Add a guest checkout choice after the cart.
Add a saved card screen for buyers who are signed in.
Add a coupon code check before payment.
Add one error branch for each decline reason that your payment provider returns.

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Checkout user flow template: the editable version, with notes for product teams
Wavelength for product managers: user flows from a walkthrough or an interview
Product and UX teams: screens, errors, and retries on one map
Mermaid export: put the flow in a README or a pull request
Free flowchart maker: talk or type, get a flowchart

Other examples to compare

Product returns and RMA processWhat happens after the order Stripe billing data to a warehouseWhere the payment data goes Order to cash processThe finance side of an order

Browse the full list of worked diagrams.