Shipping after billing?

...which one should be first...

[bcc1234]

Hey guys, I currently ask the customer for a billing address first, and for the shipping address on the next screen.

Has anybody ran any tests that show which sequence is better?
- billing then shipping
- shipping then billing
- billing and shipping on the same page, billing at the top
- shipping and billing on the same page, shipping at the top

[Rubylily]

I would put the billing then shipping on the same page. If customers can't see the shipping fields then they're likely to panic and put their delivery details in where you want them to put their billing details, which is of course going to result in some very suspicious-looking orders when their billing details don't match the AVS results (assuming you use AVS).

[millie]

We recently tested this - we ended up with shipping first and billing second, on the same page, with a tick box so they don't have to enter the info twice if its the same for shipping and billing.

Two main reasons -

1. people are feeling pretty fresh and keen about their new item so it keeps them feeling good if you deal with the shipping details first, since they feel that's about provision of goods.

2. then the necessary evil of paying for the goods is the logical progression, and even more logical is that the credit card info follows on from the billing address so it's all more consistent with less room for confusion.

Hope this helps

[Rubylily]

A couple of good points millie, I like that way of doing it.

[danieljean]

Well, in my case shipping is often tacked on and depends on where the items are shipped. We also want to let people know exactly what they will be charged for before asking for their cc#.

So our checkout has to look something like this:
1- Shipping information
2- Order details / confirmation
3- Billing information
4- Receipt / Thank you

[wackal]

we do ours like this, shipping on first page and then billing on second page. We did this so each page would be short and simple. We also have a checkbox on the second page if it is the same info for billing and shipping

[pbreit]

Definitely shipping first so you can calculate tax and shipping amounts before having the customer provide payment information.