One Page Checkout: Love it? Hate it? Fine with it?

One of the major things EI tried to push forward with v4 is the One Page Checkout. Having consulted with them a bit on it, I know they really did their homework on OPC theory and that one of the exemplars in the industry they were comparing against is Gap.com (though one must keep in mind that the Gap is just one company with a lot of money with their very own business rules, while PC is a generic shopping cart system that must accommodate all kinds of possible business rules, so that makes a BIG difference in why PC v4 OPC is not just like the Gap.com).

I think it is generally a good idea, and is definitely industry trend and in theory should mitigate against abandoned carts because of "form fatigue" (customer see too many fields at once) and because of posts backs between steps (having to keep submitting back to get to the next page; may take more time for some users or sites on overloaded shared servers, etc.).

What is more, it's not truly OPC if one is using a payment gateway, as that would be extremely difficult to do the way PC integrates gateways, and changing that would be prohibitive given the scores of gateway integrations, not to mention those with custom gateway integrations PC doesn't support Out of the Box.

Finally, I'd really rather not mix up OPC with Guest Checkout, as these are completely different issues, and v4.1 will address that (or for the "must get out of that now" crowd, our Guest Checkout Eliminator will tide you over).

So, with all of that as intro, I'm really curious what feedback folks have one the v4 OPC.

I'm curious because I've heard some folks says they've tracked an increase in abandoned carts since they upgraded. I find that surprising. Also, I've currently a client who keep sending me examples of things that are not even OPC, but he things they are because most of the fields are all open without needing to "continue" (not to be confused with causing a post back like on pre v4 PC stores).

I'm sure that EI would be curious too as they are ramping up for the release of v4.1, no doubt.

PS: It's also true that v4 OPC makes customizing even the smallest thing way more challenging for developers. Might be worth a different thread for feedback there.

Ben's comment about brain dead simple is why I went and found this image last night.

I agree with Brett.  Keep it simple, and stop the confusion.  We have way to many inexperience online shoppers.  We cannot just have them all call us for phone orders, because they are confused.  I'm all for several pages.  Billing and shipping on one page, select the shipping option on the next, display total order and enter coupon/discount, continue to payment page.  The only other option is a very very long page.  EI indicated in one post that they may work on the option of choosing which checkout method for the store owner with one of the next releases.  Please do.  I know it is a lot of work, but it will satisfy many store owners.
Katharina

I like the One Page Checkout but ...

We really like the OPC.  The continue buttons are very fluid and intuitive.  The only complaint I have is the order of the fields for the addresses.  When taking a customer's order by phone, it is odd to enter the city, zip code, country, and then state - just isn't a natural method for entering address data.  No one else on this forum seems bothered by it, though, so very likely my customers aren't bothered by it either.  (I know why the fields are in this order, but I still don't like it.)  Overall, we're very pleased with this!