Guest checkout: keep it switched on, and earn the account afterwards
Letting someone pay without creating an account first. Keep it. The account was never the prize. The relationship after the order is, and a guest order still starts one.
- 053Guest Checkout
- A checkout process that allows customers to make purchases without creating an account, simplifying the buying experience.
- On Shopify
- Allowed, unless you switch on the setting that makes customers sign in first
- Still collected
- An email or phone number, the delivery address and the order
- Not collected
- Marketing consent, unless you ask for it
- Earn the account
- After payment, with a reason to have one
A password field between someone and the pay button
Somebody with their card out doesn't want to invent a password. Force an account and you'll lose a few of them at the exact moment they'd decided to pay. A thin email list can be fixed later. Those orders can't.
On Shopify, the setting costs more than it looks. Switch on the option that makes customers sign in before checkout and it also hides express buttons like Apple Pay from the cart, so nothing skips the sign-in. Two conversion problems from one tick box.
Shopify's newer customer accounts take most of the sting out anyway. People sign in with a one-time code sent to their email, no password, so an account costs them very little when they do want one.
What a guest order still hands you
- A way to reach them: an email address, or a phone number if your checkout accepts either
- The delivery address and everything in the basket
- A customer record in Shopify, which syncs to Klaviyo with the order attached
- A started checkout event, if they typed their email before they left
What it doesn't hand you is permission to market. That needs a clear opt-in, or the UK soft opt-in done properly, and where you ask decides whether you get it. The ICO's guidance on marketing emails is the place to check. None of this is legal advice.
Ask for the account once the order's paid
The best moment to offer an account is straight after payment, when there's nothing left to lose. The thank you page and the order confirmation can both carry the offer, and the shipping updates give people a reason to sign in: tracking, returns, reordering.
Then give the account a job. A loyalty programme, a subscription to manage or a quick reorder are reasons to sign in. A newsletter tick box isn't. And make sure guests who opted in get the same post purchase flow as everyone else, because the second order comes from what you send, not from a password.
Related terms
FAQs
Does guest checkout hurt repeat purchases?
Not on its own. Repeat purchases come from what happens after the first order: the product, the delivery, the emails and a reason to come back. An account doesn't bring anyone back by itself. What hurts is a guest who paid and never gave you permission to stay in touch.
Can guest customers get our marketing emails?
Only with consent, or under the UK soft opt-in. That covers marketing for similar products, as long as they had a clear chance to refuse when they bought and get one in every email after. Order confirmations and delivery updates go to everyone, guest or not, because they're part of the service. This isn't legal advice.
Should we make customer accounts compulsory?
For a direct to consumer shop, almost never. Compulsory accounts make sense where the account does real work: trade customers with their own prices, say, or a members-only range. If the only reason is collecting email addresses, ask for consent at checkout instead and leave the account optional.
Rather we explained it on your own account?
Bring your Klaviyo account to a growth consultation. We'll walk through what this means for your numbers, in plain English, and what we'd fix first.
Half an hour with Theo, our founder.
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