You’re almost there.
An online shopper has added a product to their online cart. They’ve pressed the checkout button and are just a few clicks away from completing their purchase.
…But they ghost, exiting your website without an order confirmation in sight.
This scenario is all too familiar for ecommerce merchants.
Granted, the standard checkout features from platforms like Shopify are already well-optimized. But making a few small tweaks to the checkout process can supercharge conversions almost overnight.
Ready to improve your store’s conversion rate? Here’s how to customize the Shopify checkout, with examples from 17 DTC brands successfully doing so.
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Optimizing the ecommerce checkout experience has a plethora of benefits for merchants and customers, most notably:
“When we allowed free shipping [at checkout], we could see that people bought more often than before, which helped us increase our conversion rate by five percent.”
— Aviad Faruz, CEO of Faruzo
Merchants on any Shopify plan will soon get access to its one-click checkout, which already powers 10% of US ecommerce.
Store owners can use this already high-converting checkout experience with the Shop Pay add-on. It allows merchants to accept buy now, pay later (BNPL) payments and save payment details and shipping addresses.
Shopify’s data shows its Shop Pay features have a 91% higher conversion rate than the traditional checkout experience.
However, to customize the checkout experience completely, you’ll need to upgrade to Shopify Plus.
“The better checkout personalization in Shopify Plus … allows us to refine our checkout interface to provide a more attractive, functional, and seamless experience for our purchasing customers, giving us insights into which layout designs are best for our clients.
The improved selection of payment options also makes the checkout process highly convenient.”
– Nunzio Ross, founder and CEO of Majesty Coffee
Shopify Plus merchants can completely customize the checkout experience using a drag-and-drop editor, enabling unique checkout page designs.
You can change the default two-page checkout to one- or three-page and run A/B tests to experiment with Shopify checkout customization on a variant group—rather than risking all transactions.
#cta-paragraph-pb#Learn more about Shopify Payments, the native gateway on Shopify with lower fees and access to features like Shop Pay.
Studies show that 17% of online shoppers abandon their carts because the checkout process is too long and convoluted.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand Mcarthur Fitness solves this problem using Shopify’s one-click checkout, Shop Pay.
“One of the best methods to personalize the Shopify checkout is to create a straightforward checkout process that only requires one page. You can construct a one-page checkout process with the assistance of third-party technologies like Checkify, which will display all of the necessary stages on a single page.”
— Gerrid Smith, director of ecommerce at Joy Organics
There’s no need for online shoppers to enter their credit card details or shipping address or to remember the password for several online accounts.
Because Mcarthur Fitness uses Shop Pay, customers can shop from millions of Shopify stores using the same checkout login.
Snow sells teeth whitening products through its Shopify store.
But instead of sticking with the out-of-the-box checkout experience that Shopify offers, it customized the experience by cross-selling at checkout.
If a customer adds Snow’s teeth whitening kit to their card, for example, they’re shown a selection of similar products to instantly add to their cart—including toothpaste, a flosser, and the maintenance bundle.
Customers who add just one of these recommended products to their shopping cart instantly increase their customer lifetime value (CLV) and the brand’s AOV.
Replicate this experience on your Shopify store with checkout UI extensions like:
Showerbase sells expensive products on its Shopify online store.
It offers express checkout via PayPal—a checkout customization feature that could limit the time people spend debating their purchase (and eventually abandoning their cart).
PayPal’s express checkout feature integrates with Shopify so customers can complete their purchase using an existing PayPal account.
This digital wallet stores a customer’s shipping address and payment information so they don’t have to manually re-enter it each time they shop with Showerbase.
You’ve completed the difficult job of getting customers to add products to their online cart.
The sad reality is: not all will complete their purchase once they land on the checkout page. A lack of trust is to blame for almost a fifth of all cart abandonments.
The Ridge solves this problem by displaying a variety of trust badges on its Shopify checkout, including:
#cta-visual-pb#Build a better Shopify storeDrive more customers to your customized checkout experience by building Shopify store pages optimized for conversion.Start building for free
Guest checkout vs. forced account creation is a dilemma many Shopify merchants face when customizing the checkout experience.
A quarter of shoppers abandon their carts because the site forced them to create an account. But when customers create accounts, merchants can personalize the post-purchase experience.
Huel is one Shopify store that requires customers to create an account at checkout.
To ease customer concerns around this forced account creation, it has a small section explaining its benefits. Customers can edit and manage subscriptions, view their order history, and manage payment methods after creating an account with Huel.
The header section of the Shopify checkout is often overlooked.
Peepers, however, uses its checkout header to not only reinforce store name and logo recognition but to provide phone support to people questioning their purchase.
This is a smart move for Shopify merchants selling customizable products.
In Peepers’ case, customers can customize their glasses frame, lens, and correction—options that could feel complicated and overwhelming for some.
“The ability to customize with Shopify Plus really allows us to push it to the limit and create a custom checkout experience customers can trust and be confident in keeping their personal and payment information safe. It really makes customers feel like the site is going to take care of them.”
— John Hart, ecommerce manager at Peepers (via Shopify)
Simply displaying a phone number to call the brand gives unsure customers the option to call and have their questions answered.
It keeps people on the page instead of forcing them elsewhere to find a customer support link.
The subscription industry is booming; sales from subscription businesses are predicted to hit $38.2 billion in 2023.
Tabs Chocolate is a DTC brand taking advantage of this. It uses the checkout page to sway one-time purchasers into repeat customers.
Founder Oliver Brocato says, “We wanted to increase our recurring revenue by implementing the subscription model to help create longevity and stability.”
Beneath the store name header (and smartly placed trust signals), Tabs shows customers how to save 20% by committing to a monthly subscription.
A bolded call-to-action button, “Upgrade to subscription,” allows shoppers to one-click upgrade and provide the DTC brand with predictable revenue.
“Since optimizing our subscription on the checkout, our user’s checkout completion has increased by +17.9% (returning users increased by +9.4%). And currently, about ~8-12% of our monthly revenue is derived from subscriptions.”
— Oliver Brocato, founder of Tabs Chocolate
We’ve all seen the statistics: it’s much cheaper to retain an existing customer than acquire a new one.
Ecommerce merchants are no strangers to using loyalty programs to convince customers to continue shopping.
If you’re using one, too: do customers know it exists?
The Sewing Studio reminds repeat customers of its points-based loyalty program. A sliding scale allows previous shoppers to apply points to items in their cart and get a discount.
It’s a smart Shopify checkout customization to engage first-time shoppers.
If people know repeat purchases result in cheaper prices, they may be more likely to create an account and shop again in the future.
Social proof is a powerful marketing tool that reinforces that customers are making the right choice by purchasing from you.
Previous customers who can vouch for your products, 5-star reviews, or free returns instantly make your Shopify store look more credible.
The Lost Co displays all of these social proof elements on its checkout page.
Beneath a section titled “shop with confidence,” potential customers still unsure whether to trust the brand with a purchase see a glowing 5-star review from a previous customer.
#cta-paragraph-pb#Customer reviews are super valuable, so you have to know how to ask for reviews from your satisfied customers.
The global supply chain industry is volatile, to say the least. Customers are feeling the effects of out-of-stock products and shipment delays.
However, Gymshark doesn’t let these supply chain challenges ruin the customer experience.
It communicates delivery delays at the checkout, so people are aware of delays before committing to their purchase.
There’s no doubt that setting these expectations upfront saves Gymshark’s customer support team from fielding thousands of “where is my order?” questions.
Free shipping is no longer a unique selling proposition for ecommerce merchants. Two-thirds of online shoppers are conditioned to expect free shipping as standard.
Setting a threshold for customers to qualify for free shipping (such as “spend $50 for free shipping”) helps save profits and increase AOV while meeting those customer expectations.
Pura Vida is an example of a Shopify store using its checkout feature to offer conditional free shipping.
Customers who add less than $40 worth of items to their cart see a small message that shows how much more they need to spend to “unlock” free shipping.
Not all customers have the patience to wait for their online order to be delivered.
Magnolia Bakery is one omnichannel retailer bridging the gap between online and offline with its buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) fulfillment option.
Before arriving at the checkout, customers looking to buy Magnolia Bakery’s sweet treats get a pre-checkout page that collects essential information about the in-store pickup, such as:
From there, Magnolia Bakery creates a custom Shopify checkout with these details prefilled.
Shoppers can complete their purchase using express checkout features like Shop Pay or Google Pay and visit the store at their chosen location on their pickup date.
#cta-visual-pb#Commerce is changingLearn how Eddie Revis, CMO at Magnolia Bakery, is navigating the new era of ecommerce for multi-channel and CPG brands. Watch the interview
The recession is hitting consumers hard.
With everything getting more expensive and the general public becoming more price-sensitive, Good American continues to sell its premium denim products with a buy now, pay later (BNPL) checkout option.
Good American uses Klarna to split customer transactions into smaller monthly payments.
Once customers add their information to the Shopify checkout, they’re redirected to Klarna to sign in and purchase the product.
Accept BNPL payments on your store with the following Shopify integrations:
SMS is a powerful marketing channel for Shopify merchants.
Studies have shown that text messages are opened eight times more than marketing emails. Almost three-quarters of customers have purchased through a marketing SMS.
But to text customers and encourage retention, you need a customer’s explicit permission to do so. Schoolyard Snacks demonstrates how a simple checkbox on the Shopify checkout page can achieve this.
Schoolyard Snacks also optimizes its Shopify checkout by upselling shipping protection.
Some 21% of oversized products are damaged in-transit—items which are later requested to be refunded. Proactively solve those customer objections with shipping insurance, and profit a few extra dollars each time an item arrives safely.
Customers purchase gifts for loved ones year-round. Even if you don’t offer customized products, gift notes are a superb way to improve the buying experience.
The option to add a simple note can prove to customers that your products make a great gift and improve the gifting experience for the recipient they’re buying for.
Boll & Branch does this with a simple “Is this a gift?” tickbox beneath the order summary at checkout. If someone ticks the box, a short text box appears for customers to write their customized message.
It’s a simple—but powerful—technique to improve checkout conversion rates. Taking care of the gift card aspect gives shoppers one less job to do.
More than half of consumers think online retailers can improve the shopping experience by making it easier for them to find what they’re looking for.
Duradry, for example, achieves this with a recommended products section in its Shopify checkout.
Customers who’ve added products to their cart see related SKUs beneath their order summary. With just one click, they can add these personalized suggestions to their order.
To top off its customized Shopify checkout, Duradry showcases three trust badges beneath the page’s call-to-action.
Each reinforces that the customer’s purchase decision is a smart one:
Live chat is a conversational commerce feature that allows customers to get support with their purchase.
Go-To Skincare is a DTC brand (and Shogun merchant!) that proactively communicates with potential customers at the checkout.
Let’s say someone who is about to purchase its skincare bundle has a question about whether it’s the right product for them. Just before completing their purchase, they click a live chat icon on the checkout page to ask.
They get an answer within minutes (provided their support team is online), making them more confident in their purchase.
Implement this on your Shopify checkout with the following apps:
#cta-mini-pb#Want to learn more about Page Builder? Learn more
Shopify Plus stores can completely customize their checkout experience in the Shopify admin theme editor.
Merchants on the basic plan can use apps from the Shopify App Store to customize checkout or work with a Shopify partner agency that specializes in CRO.
The Shopify dynamic checkout allows customers to quickly purchase something from the product page. It bypasses the traditional checkout flow.
Shopify offers one-click checkout to merchants using Shop Pay. Customers benefit from one account login to shop across millions of Shopify stores.
The default Shopify checkout is already designed to improve conversions.
But with a few small tweaks and help from a handful of Shopify CRO apps, you can prevent shoppers from abandoning their online cart.
Whether it’s a free shipping threshold or a product recommendation carousel, draw inspiration from these examples to improve your checkout conversion rate.
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