18.4% of users (3,842 people) are abandoning the checkout flow at the payment step. Root cause analysis across 6 signal sources confirms that the forced account creation requirement is the single largest friction point — mentioned in 87 Zendesk tickets, 8 Convin.ai sales calls, and 3 lost enterprise deals ($180K ARR). Competitors who have shipped guest checkout report 8–14% conversion improvement within 60 days.

AC-1: Guest checkout option visible on step 1 of checkout flow (before payment details)
AC-2: Guest checkout requires only: first name, email, payment method — no password, no phone
AC-3: Post-purchase email sent to guest with order confirmation and optional account creation link
Edge case: If email already registered → show "This email has an account. Sign in or use a different email"
Edge case: If guest checkout fails payment → do not create partial account state — allow retry without data loss
Non-goals: Guest users do not have access to subscription management, order history, or team features