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CHK-036Checkout · trustMedium

Contact/help option accessible during checkout (phone, chat)

Contact/help option accessible during checkout (phone, chat).

Check my store for this rule →Cite this
Free · no card · runs all rules at once · judged on 40 stores · updated
48%of the audited stores we could judge fail this rule
7 pass14 partial19 failPublished audits · September 2026
Stores judged
40
of 40 published audits
Score weight
1.0pts
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
✓ Pass7

≥1 contact option visible.

~ Partial14

Help buried in footer only.

✕ Fail19

No help access from checkout.

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

There's no visible way to reach help from the checkout page: no phone number, no chat widget, no "Need help?" link.

When something goes wrong mid-checkout (a declined card, a missing address field), a visible help option is the difference between recovery and abandonment.

That sentence is the one a failing store sees in its own UXFix report.How rules are weighted and scored →
40 audited stores, one dot each
19 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
Contact/help option accessible during checkout (phone, chat).
Confidence
The rulebook rates this check’s confidence High. When the agent is not sure, the rule is recorded as not assessable rather than guessed.
Not judged
0 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 7 more, newest audit first.
Where this rule sits among 103 UX rules
Most-failed rank
#37
Score weight rank
#54
Fail rate
48%

Score weight: a fail costs 1.0 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 issue, on real stores

from each store's own published audit

9 of the stores that fail this rule, each shown on the screen it was judged on, with the problem area marked. The picture is the store's own capture on the date shown, and stores change.

10 more are in the list above, each with its own audit.

The fix

The same steps a failing store sees in its report

A pass means: ≥1 contact option visible.

Severity
Medium
Score gain
+1.0pts
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 19 audited stores that fail Contact/help option accessible during checkout (phone, chat), with each store's published score and the day it was audited.
#StoreScoreAuditedPublished audit
1Bxbx.eu46Open audit
2Mujimuji.us61Open audit
3Tupperwaretupperware.com60Open audit
4Caspercasper.com62Open audit
5Thebrickthebrick.com61Open audit
6Lavernelaverne.com60Open audit
7Benettonbenetton.com58Open audit
8Keenfootwearkeenfootwear.com56Open audit
9Verabradleyverabradley.com58Open audit
10Bodenboden.com64Open audit
11Gymsharkgymshark.com57Open audit
12Fashionnovafashionnova.com56Open audit
13Kathmandukathmandu.com.au63Open audit
14Ladounladoun.com41Open audit
15Brewdogbrewdog.com56Open audit
16Citstorescitstores.com65Open audit
17Wpfactorywpfactory.com70Open audit
18Iliabeautyiliabeauty.com62Open audit
19Tentreetentree.com58Open audit

What our auditors say about this rule

A shopper stuck in checkout with nobody to ask is a shopper leaving with a full cart.
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

«19 of 40 online stores audited by UXFix fail the rule "Contact/help option accessible during checkout (phone, chat)" (CHK-036) as of September 2026. UXFix, uxfix.ai/audits/rules/help-during-checkout»

Rule record · JSON
Dataset →
{
  "id": "CHK-036",
  "name": "Contact/help option accessible during checkout (phone, chat)",
  "area": "checkout",
  "severity": "medium",
  "weight": 0.99,
  "published_audits": {
    "judged": 40,
    "pass": 7,
    "partial": 14,
    "fail": 19
  },
  "updated": "2026-09-23"
}
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