How To Customize Checkouts In Shopify Stores

Shopify developers spend a significant amount of time not just creating Shopify stores, themes, and apps, but optimizing them to suit the needs of their clients. 

This could mean implementing new functionality into a Shopify store, like the ability for a customer to request an email when a product comes back in stock. Or it could involve adjusting the appearance of a store to suit different design trends. 

Perhaps one of the most common elements you’ll often be responsible for enhancing as a Shopify developer, is the “checkout” page. After all, this is the make-or-break point of the buyer journey for your clients, and where end users decide whether to follow through with, or abandon a purchase.

The good news? Customizing checkouts in Shopify stores is much easier than it might seem. 

Here are some quick tips on how to get started. 

Making Basic Changes to Shopify Checkout Designs

The Shopify checkout system is designed to be as adaptable as possible for developers. You can add apps to your checkout, which offers customers free shipping, or discounts, depending on what’s in their cart. You can also implement specific functions, like allowing for “guest checkout” options when customers don’t want to sign up for an account.

However, before you start messing with the functionality of the checkout page, you’ll probably start by looking at the design. While it might be tempting to add a lot of color and images, most experts agree, a simple one-page design is usually best. 

Start with a one-page checkout to help people finish their purchase faster. The fewer steps a customer needs to go through to finish a transaction, the less likely they are to abandon their cart. Shopify one-page checkouts can include all of the shipping, delivery, and payment information required for a transaction on one page. Once you have your single page chosen, you can:

• Upload a background image: A banner image will display the store name at the top of each checkout page (usually around 1000 x 400 pixels), you can change this from the “Style” page within the “Settings” page, under “Checkout”. Click “Banner”, and upload your image.
• Add a logo: Adding logos to the checkout can help to boost trustworthiness and credibility. In the Checkout section of the Settings, click on “Style”, then “Customize Checkout” to get to the stage where you can add a logo and adjust its position. 
• Change form field colors: You can adjust the color of form fields to make them transparent, white, or a different color entirely. In the “Customize Checkout” page, click on the “Form fields” option in the “Main content area” segment.
• Update the order summary: Developers can also add images and colors to the order summary on a checkout page. To do this, visit “Customize Checkout” then “order summary”. You’ll be able to add colors via the color picker, and upload images. 
• Adjust the font: Shopify offers a list of fonts to customize checkout pages within the “Customize Checkout” settings, when you scroll down to “Typography”. You can have different fonts for the body and headings. 
• Change button and accent colors: Changing the buttons and accent colors involves clicking the “Colors” section in the “Customize Checkout” page, and clicking the boxes for accents and buttons, before adding your codes.

Other Ways to Customize the Shopify Checkout

Other than making basic changes to the style of the checkout, Shopify also allows you to implement various other strategies to make the page more appealing. The exact functionality you add will depend on the requests made by your Shopify client. 

Common options might include:

Adding guest checkout: 

If end customers don’t to sign up for an account with a Shopify store, this can lead to cart abandonment. Enabling “guest checkout” is an easy way to ensure your client gets more sales. All you need to do is go into the Shopify admin dashboard, click on “Settings” then “Checkouts”. 

When you reach the section on customer accounts, click the option for “Accounts are optional”, then “Enable Multipass” to allow for multiple pass logins. 

Showing cart security messages:

A good way to increase sales for Shopify clients, is to ensure their customers have peace of mind. Privacy is critical to most online customers, so it helps to have some extra statements on the checkout page specifically highlighting what makes your website safe. 

Shopify shows the “All transactions are secure and encrypted” message above the field for entering credit card details, but you can adjust this message to be a little more human. Go into your checkout settings and click on the “Checkout & System” or “Checkout and Payment” section. Here, you should be able to customize the card security message.

Implementing more payment options:

Customers like having a lot of choices when it comes to how they pay for their products. Just because your client has PayPal available doesn’t mean everyone will want to use it. In fact, a lack of payment options can result in around 8% of all cart abandonment actions.

Within the Shopify admin section, go into the “Settings > Payments” section and click on the “Alternative Payments” option. This will allow you to choose from a range of providers. You’ll need to get your client to enter the account credentials for the provider they want to use. 

Adding a sense of urgency:

Flash sales and urgency messages can be a good way to convince customers to continue with a purchase when they might be on the fence. You can use your developer skills to contribute to the “FOMO” a customer might feel when going through a Shopify store checkout. 

For instance, you can display how many people have recently added the same item to their carts, offer a limited-time discount along with free shipping, or show your customers how many of a certain product are left in stock. You’ll need to do some editing in the Liquid language for this, but you can find some step-by-step guidance from Shopify here. 

Giving customers an option to choose a delivery date:

If your client wants to give their customers more control over their deliveries, you can add a calendar to your Shopify checkout page with a little jQuery in your Liquid theme. Simply create a delivery snippet and add it to your checkout page to help customers choose when they’d like their items to be delivered, and inform your store’s owner when the requests are made. 

Don’t forget to add terms and conditions to the page to accompany this delivery feature too. For instance, a statement about how to track shipments might be helpful within the checkout “Legal” section, along with some advice on returns. 

What About the Post-Purchase Page?

Notably, customizing the checkout experience on Shopify doesn’t have to stop with the checkout page. 

You can also add features like upsell offers and customer surveys on post-purchase pages with Shopify apps. 

The simplest way to do this is generally to use a post-purchase upsell app from the Shopify marketplace. You’ll need to install and configure a checkout app with Shopify, then select the app within the Shopify admin page to implement the right settings.

Go to the “Settings” page after you’ve installed your chosen app, click “Checkout” and in the post-purchase page section, you can add the checkout app you want to use. It’s as simple as that!

While customizing the checkout might only be one aspect of how you can make your client’s Shopify store more effective, it can make a huge difference to the results your customers see.