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CHK-016Checkout · formsCritical

Errors preserve entered data (never clear the form on error)

Errors preserve entered data (never clear the form on error).

Check my store for this rule →Cite this
Free · no card · runs all rules at once · judged on 32 stores · updated
63%of the audited stores we could judge fail this rule
12 pass0 partial20 failPublished audits · September 2026
Stores judged
32
of 40 published audits
Score weight
2.0pts
of the 100-point score
Page share
50%
of the score is the checkout

What earns each verdict

Same outcomes on every UXFix rule · how verdicts work
✓ Pass12

All valid fields retained after error state.

~ Partial0

Most retained but sensitive fields (card) cleared.

✕ Fail20

Any field cleared.

not assessable is recorded when the rule applied but the store could not be judged on it (bot protection, a region lock, a step we could not reach), and not applicable when the store has nothing for the rule to judge. Those stores are left out of every number on this page, never guessed. Why we do that
Why it matters

When the checkout form has an error, the store clears out information the shopper already typed correctly.

A shopper who typed their address once and lost it to a form error frequently will not type it twice. This is a critical-severity leak at the very end of the funnel, where every lost buyer was seconds from paying.

That sentence is the one a failing store sees in its own UXFix report.How rules are weighted and scored →
32 audited stores, one dot each
20 fail
PassPartialFail

Every published UXFix audit this rule could be judged on, as of 23 Sep 2026. A count of real stores, not a simulation of yours.

How we test it

Scripted walk, fresh signed-out browser · the full walk
  1. 1Fresh browserSigned out, cookies cleared, desktop and mobile viewports, the store's live theme.
  2. 2Open a productA real, in-stock product page, found the way a shopper finds one.
  3. 3Add to cartDefault variant, quantity one, then the cart page itself.
  4. 4Walk the checkoutFrom the cart to the payment step. Nothing is ever bought.
  5. 5Judge this ruleAgainst the standard above, on what a shopper can see.
  6. 6Record the verdictPass, partial or fail, saved with the screenshot it was judged on.
What the agent looks for
Errors preserve entered data (never clear the form on error).
Confidence
The rulebook rates this check’s confidence unstated. When the agent is not sure, the rule is recorded as not assessable rather than guessed.
Not judged
8 of 40 published audits: the rule did not apply or could not be judged. Dropped, never guessed.

The numbers behind the rule

Published UXFix audits · more statistics
Published audits failing this rule
and 8 more, newest audit first.
No pictures here: this rule is judged by doing something, a click or a typed error, and a still picture of the page before it would show nothing. Audits run from 20 September 2026 capture the moment itself where the probe can reach it.
Where this rule sits among 103 UX rules
Most-failed rank
#30
Score weight rank
#2
Fail rate
63%

Score weight: a fail costs 2.0 pts of of the 100-point score; a partial costs half that. Most-failed rank is among the 79 rules with enough published audits to report a rate.

The fix

The same steps a failing store sees in its report

A pass means: All valid fields retained after error state.

Severity
Critical
Score gain
+2.0pts
Page
Checkout

Score gain is roughly what a fail-to-pass change adds; rules that could not be judged are left out, which can move it a little. Re-run a free audit after the change ships to confirm the verdict moved.

Checklist for the pass
0 of 3

Tick each step as you ship it. The audit judges the live store, so re-run it once all of them are done.

Every store that fails this rule

The 20 audited stores that fail Errors preserve entered data (never clear the form on error), with each store's published score and the day it was audited.
#StoreScoreAuditedPublished audit
1Leathermanleatherman.com65Open audit
2Ooniooni.com64Open audit
3Barnesandnoblebarnesandnoble.com61Open audit
4Mujimuji.us61Open audit
5Arhausarhaus.com60Open audit
6Blackstoneproductsblackstoneproducts.com60Open audit
7Tupperwaretupperware.com60Open audit
8Caspercasper.com62Open audit
9Thebrickthebrick.com61Open audit
10Keenfootwearkeenfootwear.com56Open audit
11Verabradleyverabradley.com58Open audit
12Davidsbridaldavidsbridal.com58Open audit
13Eddiebauereddiebauer.com62Open audit
14Forever21forever21.com57Open audit
15Gymsharkgymshark.com57Open audit
16Toysrustoysrus.com57Open audit
17Fashionphilefashionphile.com63Open audit
18Timextimex.com54Open audit
19Iliabeautyiliabeauty.com62Open audit
20Tentreetentree.com58Open audit

What our auditors say about this rule

A form that empties itself after a failed payment is not an error, it is an exit. The typed data is the sale.
Omar Dabbas, Co-founder, UXFix

Written by the person who audits this rule, and reviewed every quarter.

Keep going

All rules →
RuleCHK-001
Guest checkout offered as first-class option (no account wall)Checkout · Critical ›
RuleCHK-003
Clear step indicator showing progress through checkoutCheckout · Medium ›
RuleCHK-005
Ability to edit cart from within checkout without losing progressCheckout · Medium ›
RuleCHK-006
Account creation offered after order placement, not beforeCheckout · High ›
RuleCHK-007
Site logo/name does not link away from checkout (or warns first)Checkout · Medium ›
RuleCHK-008
Header/nav minimized during checkout to reduce exitsCheckout · Medium ›
RuleCHK-009
Total form fields 8 or fewer (industry average is 11.3)Checkout · High ›
RuleCHK-010
Single Full Name field (not first + last)Checkout · Medium ›
Cite this

«20 of 32 online stores audited by UXFix fail the rule "Errors preserve entered data (never clear the form on error)" (CHK-016) as of September 2026. UXFix, uxfix.ai/audits/rules/errors-preserve-form-data»

Rule record · JSON
Dataset →
{
  "id": "CHK-016",
  "name": "Errors preserve entered data (never clear the form on error)",
  "area": "checkout",
  "severity": "critical",
  "weight": 1.98,
  "published_audits": {
    "judged": 32,
    "pass": 12,
    "partial": 0,
    "fail": 20
  },
  "updated": "2026-09-23"
}
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