The challenge
Optimization never stops. That’s why NeoSEM, Exatom, and Audax teamed up for an in-depth investigation into the checkout and account creation processes of Bruna.nl.
As a retailer with both a direct e-commerce channel and a nationwide network of physical stores, Bruna’s website plays a dual role: it serves not only as a direct sales channel, but also as a key lead channel for brick-and-mortar locations. Audax’s underlying drive-to-store strategy plays a crucial part in this. At various moments in the customer journey, this strategy becomes visible — meaning every optimization must be carefully weighed. After all, every change in the checkout impacts both online conversion and store visits.
The goal of the partnership was clear: drive structural conversion growth across the checkout and account creation flows. The focus was on identifying and eliminating friction in both the checkout process and the CRM-driven account registration journey, with direct impact on revenue and customer lifetime value.
NeoSEM, as Bruna’s existing partner, translated insights into concrete optimizations and implementation. Exatom contributed in-depth form analytics, field-level behavioral data, and relevant benchmarks to objectively substantiate improvement opportunities, sharpen prioritization, and accelerate maximum business impact.
The approach
Phase 1: Kick-off, tagging, and set-up
In the first phase, Exatom and Bruna jointly defined the scope, priorities, role distribution, and dependencies. The tooling is fully cookieless and privacy-first: no personal data is stored and no consent via a cookie banner is required. As a result, data collection is complete and not skewed by consent loss — which is especially crucial in checkouts.
By implementing the Exatom tags, all form analytics and session replays become available automatically. This means that for each input field, interactions, errors, corrections, autofill behavior, and time spent are captured, without sessions or users being individually identifiable. Validation rules, HTML attributes (such as type and autocomplete), and error messages are automatically captured from the UI.
After thorough data validation, in which it was confirmed that all events were correctly registered, the analysis phase began. This immediately delivered a reliable dataset as the foundation for in-depth CX analysis.
Phase 2: Analysis phase
In the analysis phase, NeoSEM got to work investigating the available data within Exatom.io. While we are normally often limited to the available funnel data, thanks to Exatom we had access to far more relevant data, such as:
Error rate: The percentage of users who make validation or input errors per field. This reveals which fields are unclear, validated too strictly, or fail to match user expectations.
Correction rate: The share of users who have to correct a field after it has already been filled in. A high correction rate points to confusion, illogical input formats, or unclear error messages.
Auto-fill rate: The percentage of fields that are automatically completed via browser or device autofill. This provides insight into where friction can be reduced through better field names, ordering, or input types, and where speed plays a role in conversion.
Average Conversion Rate: The average percentage of users who complete the form fully and successfully. This serves as a reference point for quantifying and comparing field- and form-level optimizations.
Time to Convert: The average time a user needs to complete the form, measured from first interaction to successful submission. A long time to convert indicates cognitive load, field-level friction, or unnecessary steps in the form.
Key findings
Incorrect HTML attributes
During the analysis phase, we discovered incorrect HTML attributes on several fields. When the correct autocomplete value is missing, for example, the autofill option fails. The result is a lower auto-fill rate and a higher time to convert. Because the visitor has to fill in the fields manually, cognitive load increases. Visitors have to type more and more often, correct themselves more frequently, and interpret the context of the fields on their own. The likelihood of visitors dropping off rises.
Input fields with overly strict validation
During checkout and account registration, visitors were asked to provide their salutation — a required field. Visitors often overlooked these radio buttons, making it the biggest source of error messages in the first step. This information could be used for marketing purposes, but wasn’t. We therefore chose to remove it entirely.
A simple name field also caused issues: in the first-name field, visitors regularly entered only their initial. The field’s validation was strict — a first name had to contain at least 2 characters. A single initial triggered an error message. This increased cognitive load, with drop-off as the result.
Discount code and gift card field
The discount code and gift card field turned out to be complex for visitors. A single flow supports several card types, each with fundamentally different rules: numeric cards with fixed lengths, alphanumeric codes with variable structures, and in some cases also a mandatory PIN. This complexity is placed entirely on the user. Without clear structure, automatic formatting, or type-specific validation, the visitor has to interpret which format is expected. The data in Exatom showed an elevated error rate, correction rate, and time to convert here.
The screenshot illustrates this: identical input fields with diverging underlying requirements, generic error messages, and no visual support during input. This increases cognitive load at precisely the moment when the user is already decisive, turning a supporting field into a conversion risk.
At Bruna, we deployed Exatom to pinpoint friction in the checkout and account registration. Not at session level, but at field level. That made it immediately clear where users got stuck, hesitated, or made unnecessary errors. Those insights were concrete enough to act on right away. Exatom aligns perfectly with how we approach CRO: data-driven, practical, and focused on measurable results.— Klaas Bongers (e-commerce manager Bruna.nl)
Restructure key actions
In the final step of the checkout, the mobile view first restates the order details. Combined with heatmaps, we concluded that the percentage of visitors who immediately saw the ‘Order and pay’ button was too low. We designed this optimization in Sketch and rolled it out as an experiment within Spotler Activate, with the goal of increasing the start rate in the final checkout step and ultimately driving more purchases.
Conclusion and results
This case shows that conversion loss in the checkout doesn’t always stem from major steps, but often from small, technical details at the field level. By deploying Exatom, friction became visible that traditional funnel data structurally fails to surface. The result: sharper decisions, targeted experiments, and optimizations that directly address cognitive load and user behavior — with demonstrably higher conversion as the outcome. Want to know where conversion is actually leaking in your checkout or forms? A project like this one, with Exatom and NeoSEM, is the logical next step. We’d be happy to walk you through it — including a projection of your ROI.
About Exatom
Exatom is an Insights and Activation platform specifically focused on online forms and checkouts. It measures in granular detail how visitors interact with forms, reveals where they drop off, and identifies which fields cause friction or errors — so you can lift conversions and make forms more user-friendly. Alongside Bruna, Exatom works with organizations of all sizes, including Veneta, Brooks Running, KIA, and Vandebron.
About NeoSEM
NeoSEM is an online marketing agency that partners with you to drive online results. We help ambitious e-commerce businesses grow. We work for entrepreneurs and marketing managers who want to move forward — those who understand that online growth comes down to a smart strategy, steering on clean data, and strong collaboration. Alongside Bruna, NeoSEM works with ambitious organizations such as Berg Toys, Giga Meubel, Autohopper, and Aeres educational group.
Authors:
Ruben van den Brink
Head of Design & CRO, NeoSEM
ruben@neosem.nl
Bart de Fluiter
Head of Growth, Exatom