Velvet Row

The brand’s domestic flow was strong; cross-border was a minority of revenue but a majority of support tickets.

Legal required accurate duty disclaimers without turning checkout into a law textbook.

No change to core payment processor; improvements had to be presentation and timing.

Mobile-first: most international sessions were phones.

We correlated exit pages with shipping method selection; hesitation clustered before payment when totals shifted.

Support logs were categorized: ‘unexpected fees’ vs. ‘timing’ vs. ‘returns’—three different copy strategies.

Totals communicate duty estimates earlier with links to policy; returns summary sits beside size selection prompts for international shoppers.

Error states explain what failed and what to try next—no generic ‘something went wrong.’

We staged changes behind a feature flag by region to measure impact without risking domestic flows.

Transactional emails mirror checkout language so post-purchase anxiety drops.

Support tickets about surprise fees declined after estimates moved earlier in the path.

Cart recovery emails referenced the same language for consistency.