How to Build a Multi-Step COD Order Form on Shopify

EasySell
2026-04-11T18:40:23+01:00

A 10-field COD order form on a single page has a completion rate around 34%. Split those same fields into a multi-step order form across three screens, and completion jumps to 71%. That's not a marginal improvement — it's the difference between losing two-thirds of your potential orders and capturing most of them.

Multi-step forms work because they reduce cognitive load. Instead of showing a customer everything at once and hoping they fill it all out, you guide them through a logical sequence: contact info first, shipping details next, order review last. Each step feels manageable. Each completed step creates momentum to finish the next one.

For COD merchants specifically, this matters more than it does for standard checkout stores. COD forms typically collect more fields than a credit card checkout — phone number, delivery address, city, district, sometimes a preferred delivery window. That's a lot of friction on a single page, especially on mobile where 76.8% of shoppers abandon their carts. Breaking the form into steps is one of the highest-impact changes you can make without touching your product, pricing, or traffic. If your current form has high order form abandonment, this is where to start.

When Multi-Step Forms Make Sense (and When They Don't)

Multi-step forms aren't universally better. If your COD form only collects a name, phone number, and address — five or six fields total — a single-page form is probably fine. Short forms already hit around 89% completion rates, and adding steps would just create unnecessary clicks.

Multi-step forms earn their keep when your form has seven or more fields. That's the threshold where single-page completion starts dropping fast. If you're collecting any of these, you likely cross that line:

Full name, phone number, and email

Street address, city, district/province, and postal code

Delivery notes or preferred time slot

Product variant selections or quantity

OTP verification

Most COD stores collect eight to twelve fields. That puts them squarely in the range where multi-step forms outperform single-page by 2x or more.

How Many Steps Should a Multi-Step Order Form Have?

Three to four steps is ideal. More than four and you're adding friction, not removing it. Here's a structure that works for the majority of COD stores:

Step 1: Contact information. Name, phone number, email (if you collect it). This is the lowest-friction step — customers expect to identify themselves first. Starting here sets a commitment pattern. Once they've typed their name and phone, they're invested.

Step 2: Shipping details. Full address, city, district or province, postal code, delivery notes. This is the heaviest step, but by now the customer has already committed. Group the address fields together so they flow naturally — street, city, region, zip — the same order they'd write on an envelope.

Step 3: Order review and confirmation. Show a summary of what they're ordering, the total price, COD fee (if any), and a confirm button. This step isn't about collecting more data — it's about giving the customer confidence. They see exactly what they're paying and where it's shipping. That transparency reduces post-order cancellations too.

Optional Step 4: OTP verification. If you verify phone numbers via SMS or WhatsApp, add this as a final step after confirmation. Placing OTP earlier in the flow increases drop-off because customers haven't committed yet. After they've reviewed their order and hit confirm, they're much more willing to enter a verification code.

Add a Progress Indicator (It's Not Optional)

Research on checkout optimization shows that progress indicators reduce form dropout by 8–12%. That's a significant lift for something that takes minutes to implement.

A progress indicator does two things. First, it tells customers how many steps remain — reducing the anxiety of "how much more do I have to fill out?" Second, it shows them what they've already completed, which reinforces their commitment to finishing.

Keep it simple. Three or four labeled steps across the top of the form: "Contact → Shipping → Review" or "1 of 3 / 2 of 3 / 3 of 3." Numbered dots, a progress bar, or labeled tabs all work. The format matters less than the presence. Customers need to know where they are and where they're going.

Choose the Right Fields for Each Step

The average ecommerce checkout has 14.88 form fields, but research from Baymard Institute shows only about eight are necessary for most transactions. Every extra field you add costs you completions.

For COD stores, here's what to keep and what to cut:

Essential fields (keep these):

Full name

Phone number (your primary contact channel for COD)

Street address

City

District or province

Valuable but conditional (add only if needed):

Email — useful for order confirmations but many COD customers prefer WhatsApp. If your communication runs through messaging, skip it.

Postal code — required in some countries, irrelevant in others (Iraq, parts of Egypt). Only show it where your couriers actually need it.

Delivery time preference — worth the extra field if failed deliveries are costing you more than 10% RTO.

Fields to remove:

Company name (unless you sell B2B)

Separate first and last name fields — use one "Full Name" field instead

Address line 2 (fold it into delivery notes if needed)

Account creation checkbox — forced account creation causes 26% of checkout abandonments

Fewer fields per step means each step feels fast. Two to four fields per step is the sweet spot.

Set Up a Multi-Step Form in EasySell

EasySell supports multi-step COD order forms out of the box. Here's how to configure one:

1. Open EasySell and go to Form Builder in your dashboard.

2. Select the multi-step form layout. This splits your form into separate screens with a built-in progress indicator.

3. Assign fields to each step. Drag contact fields (name, phone, email) to Step 1, shipping fields (address, city, district) to Step 2, and leave Step 3 as the order summary.

4. Configure your OTP verification settings if you use phone verification — EasySell supports SMS and WhatsApp OTP, which you can assign to a separate step.

5. Preview the form on mobile. Most COD orders come from phones — see our mobile order form optimization guide for what to check. Make sure each step fits on one screen without scrolling past the "Next" button.

6. Enable the form on your theme by toggling the app embed on and saving.

The entire setup takes about 15 minutes. Test it by placing a test order yourself on your phone — go through every step as a customer would.

Optimize After Launch: What to Watch

Setting up the form is step one. Optimizing it is where the real gains happen. Track these three metrics after you go live:

Step completion rate. Which step loses the most people? If Step 2 (shipping) has the biggest drop-off, you probably have too many address fields or the fields aren't mobile-friendly. If Step 1 drops off, your form might be loading too slowly or the first impression feels like too much work.

Total form completion rate. Compare this to your old single-page form rate. You should see improvement within the first week. If you don't, check whether the "Next" button is visible without scrolling on mobile — a buried button kills conversions regardless of form structure.

Time to complete. Multi-step forms should take roughly the same time as single-page forms. The goal isn't fewer fields — it's less perceived complexity. If completion time increases significantly, a step might have confusing labels or fields that make customers pause.

Run the multi-step form for at least two weeks before making changes. Short tests produce noisy data, especially if your daily order volume is under 50.

Common Mistakes That Kill Multi-Step Form Performance

Too many steps. Five or more steps turns a simple order into a questionnaire. Three is ideal. Four is fine if OTP is involved. Five is too many.

No way to go back. If a customer can't return to a previous step to fix a typo, they'll abandon instead. Always include a "Back" button alongside "Next."

Hiding the total until the last step. COD customers are price-sensitive. If they don't see the total (including any COD fee) until Step 3, the surprise can trigger abandonment. Show a running total or at least the product price on every step.

Asking for too much on Step 1. The first step should be the easiest. Two to three fields max. If the first thing a customer sees is six fields, the multi-step layout doesn't matter — they'll still bounce.

A well-structured multi-step form won't double your revenue overnight. But if your current single-page COD form has 8+ fields and you're seeing high abandonment, splitting it into steps is the fastest fix you can make. It costs nothing, it takes an afternoon to set up, and the data on completion rate improvements is consistent: customers finish forms that feel short, even when the total number of fields stays the same.