You will lose the ability to save specific customer data in your store's database, as well as the ability to contact the user via email with promotional materials. You will, however, have the purchaser's email address, which you can utilize to send order updates. To maximize data collection from your buyers when using guest checkout, you can ask customers to sign up for your newsletter or create an account to follow their detailed purchase.
ECOMMERCE TIPS
Shopify guest checkout: A detailed guide to enable it in 2025
by Tide
A major hurdle causing abandoned carts is the requirement for customers to create accounts. A Baymard Institute report in 2025 shows that 18% of US online shoppers abandoned orders recently due to complicated checkout processes, with account creation posing a significant challenge.
The Shopify guest checkout directly handles this issue, enabling purchases without mandatory account creation. This feature is widely recognized as an effective way of helping merchants to boost conversion rates and significantly enhance customer experience.
This tutorial provides a deep dive into the Shopify guest checkout feature (covering its definition, targeted customer groups, benefits, and drawbacks). You will also know how to enable it through step-by-step instructions, along with best practices and tips for implementing and leveraging it successfully as well.
1. Understanding key concepts of checkout as guest Shopify
Shopify checkout as guest is an ecommerce feature that allows customers to complete their purchases without creating an account or logging into their account. It requires only essential information like shipping and payment details such as Shopify paypal guest checkout for a faster, frictionless transaction process.
Guest checkout Shopify can be particularly considered if merchants prioritize the following customer groups:
First-time shoppers: In fact, this group of customers is most likely to abandon carts. They prefer a low-commitment purchase process instead. So merchants need to prioritize pushing the checkout process and completing their orders as quickly as possible.
One-time customers: They, such as purchasing gifts, are often uninterested in account creation, especially if they do not anticipate returning soon.
Mobile shoppers: They want speed and ease over personalization and are more likely to complete a transaction if the Shopify guest checkout process is streamlined.
These circumstances make guest checkout an essential feature for decreasing friction and increasing conversions. To fully appreciate the role and benefits of guest checkout, it's useful to see how it actually contrasts with the alternative account-based checkout process.
The key differences between checkout as guest Shopify and account-based checkout, which requires customers to log in using a username and password, are highlighted below:
Feature | Guest checkout | Account-based checkout |
|---|---|---|
Requires login | No | Yes |
Saves order history (shipping address, contact info, | No | Yes |
Personalized experience | Limited | Enhanced |
Some key differences between Guest checkout Shopify and Account-based checkout
*Beyond the immediate benefits, data on shopper behavior provides strong support for guest checkout:
Capterra revealed that 43% of questioned shoppers prefer choosing guest checkout for online purchasing. While this preference used not to be confined to first-time customers in the past.
According to a research in 2022, 72% of people with established retail accounts still prefer guest checkout for ease or speed.
The findings highlight the importance of understanding consumer preferences for online checkout choices. Businesses that use the Shopify guest checkout option can reach a large section of the market while avoiding potential sales losses.
A Shopify store providing a guest checkout option can be more advantageous in an online transaction.
2. Benefits of enabling guest checkout Shopify for your store
Before deciding whether to enable guest checkout, it is important to understand the tangible advantages it can bring to your Shopify store.
According to Capterra, almost 50% of online shoppers favor using checkout as guest Shopify primarily because it is quicker and requires less personal information than setting up an account. The simple and smooth experience brings higher conversion rates among first-time buyers due to fewer barriers.
The benefits of offering Shopify guest checkout may be mentioned:
Reducing cart abandonment: According to Baymard.com, 24% of cart abandonment occurs because the site needs the customer to create an account before proceeding with the transaction. Guest checkout Shopify simplifies the process, keeping customers engaged through completion.
Faster checkout experience: By allowing customers to bypass the account creation or login step, guest checkout significantly speeds up the transaction process, meeting customer expectations for quick and easy purchases (nearly two-thirds want checkout under four minutes).
Increasing trust for first-time shoppers: First-time shoppers actually feel cautious about sharing personal information when checking out. Shopify guest checkout can handle and build their trust on products, data and stores by requiring only essential details needed to process and deliver the order.
Mobile shopping optimization: According to Statista, there are more than 73% of eCommerce sales coming from mobile accounts. Shopify guest checkout may remove barriers that mobile users particularly do not prefer.
In short, guest checkout Shopify simplifies the purchasing experience, enhances customer confidence, especially among first-time and mobile users and contributes to higher conversion rates.
Besides many standout benefits, Shopify guest checkout still has some cons that you need to seriously consider.
3. Potential drawbacks of Shopify guest checkout to consider
Before enabling guest checkout in Shopify, merchants need to consider its potential drawbacks alongside benefits, specifically limitations in data collection and long-term customer engagement. Understanding these will help you make better decisions aligned with your business objectives and customer lifecycle strategies:
Limited customer data collection: Shopify store owners may miss out on valuable insights of customers for personalization. It is the result of not requiring shoppers to create accounts for completing the purchase process.
Reduced remarketing opportunities: Guest users may not opt-in to marketing communications, which limits future targeting.
No abandoned cart recovery for non-email submitters: If a customer checks out as a guest and abandons their cart, you lose the chance to send cart recovery emails.
Challenges with order tracking and customer service: Because of generating little data from guest transactions, it is so difficult for Shopify owners to track previous orders, evaluate behavior of pre-purchasing or fine-tune marketing strategies and sales initiatives that are targeted at enticing new customers.
Lost opportunity for customer relationship building: If you have accounts of customers, you will be ready for re-engagement campaigns, loyalty programs and personalization. It is not impossible for Shopify guest checkout to cover.
In summary, although guest checkout Shopify can increase your short-term conversions by eliminating friction and streamlining the purchasing process, it does come with some potential drawbacks, such as limited access to consumer data and fewer possibilities to create long-term relationships with customers. Shopify store owners should seriously consider these pros and cons in order to adjust your checkout approach that fits to overall business objectives.
4. How to set up a guest checkout on your Shopify store?
Enabling guest checkout Shopify is a simple process that does not take time. In this section, we will show you an actionable instruction to set up your store, which helps you prevent the checkout as guest not working in Shopify.
4.1 How to set checkout page as guest in Shopify: 4 simple steps
Step 1: Log in to your Shopify admin dashboard
Example from Anker: Limited promotion from March 11th - 31st.
Step 2: From the main menu on the left side, go to Settings and then select Checkout.
Step 3: In the Customer contact method section, select the option that allows customers to check out using either a phone number or email.
Especially, deactivate the option to Require customers to log in to their customer account before checkout, so your customers can check out as guests.
Step 4: Scroll down and click Save to apply your changes.
This setup allows customers to finish their purchases without creating an account, resulting in a guest checkout experience.
4.2 Additional settings and custom checkout based on Shopify plan
Besides enabling guest checkout to simplify the purchasing process of your customers, merchants may also consider activating Shopify’s Customer Accounts to provide more convenience for checkout experience.
Customer accounts, a new version of customer accounts launched by Shopify
Customer accounts is the newest version of customer accounts launched by Shopify, which allows your customers to log in by using a one-time verification code given via email, without any password.
Comparing to Legacy customer accounts, this new version bring standout benefits related to checkout experience, such as:
Login without password: Customers are able to log in by using a one-time code sent by email.
Saved payment methods: This version allows payment methods to be saved for the next checkout.
Sign-in with shop: A more convenient checkout experience might come from this version automatically being activated for customer accounts that use Shop Pay.
Reordering: Your customers can quickly have previous purchase reorders, which make the purchasing process more simple.
To activate the feature Customer accounts: Login to Shopify admin dashboard > Go to Settings > Select Customer accounts > Choose Customer accounts for the version of customer accounts to link to.
Shopify offers various checkout customization options based on your subscription level. Your stores on higher-tier Shopify plans, especially Shopify Plus, may gain access to more advanced tools and flexibility to bring a seamless customer experience.
Shopify plan | Guest checkout availability | Customization options for checkout |
|---|---|---|
Shopify Basic | ✅ Yes |
|
Shopify Grow | ✅ Yes |
|
Shopify Advanced | ✅ Yes |
|
Shopify Plus | ✅ Yes |
|
If your own stores need more advanced tools or more improvements in setting up your guest checkout for your customers or UI/UX, that fits to your requirement and your brand vision, you also may consider Checkout Customizer like Qikify:
Add extra checkout fields blocks with custom rules: gift message, date picker...
Sell add-ons eg. gift wrap, update cart and upsells with Shopify native discount
Fraud prevention, validate and block checkout with rules, eg. address validation
Advance checkout page by showing product reviews, text, banner, button links,...
Rename, reorder, hide payment & delivery options; Fully restyle checkout page
5. Best practices and tips for Shopify guest checkout implementation
Knowing how to enable guest checkout in Shopify the right way is not only flipping a switch, it also requires setting up a smooth, user-friendly experience from your stores that reduces friction and builds trust. When you have done it correctly, guest checkout Shopify can drastically reduce cart abandonment at the same time encouraging first-time purchases as well.
We will give you some best practices below for supporting you to implement gest checkout in your Shopify store, providing both customer convenience and strategic advantages for your business.
5.1 Making checkout as guest Shopify clearly visible to customers
To make your checkout as a guest Shopify genuinely effective, it is important for you to present it as a visible and simple choice immediately at the beginning of the checkout process. You should give your customers a clear choice between continuing buying as a guest or login if they have already had an account, allowing them to easily choose a way that most fits them.
5.2 Ensure the guest checkout process is smooth and intuitive
If you want to optimize Shop guest checkout, follow the below principles to create a good overall experience:
Focus on minimizing friction by only requesting essential information (company name, address line 2,...) needed to complete the purchase.
Use easy-to-understand language to guide customers through each step and clarify what is coming next. For example, using “Enter your payment details” instead of “Billing information submission”.
Present all key order details, such as item summary, subtotal, shipping fees, taxes, payment info, and final total in one clear overview.
Offering express checkout options and a variety of payment methods such as Paypal guest checkout Shopify can speed things up and cater to different customer preferences.
5.3 Enhance security to build trust and prevent fraud
Feeling safe is critical for first-time shoppers. Besides knowing how to set the checkout page as guest in Shopify, you also need to know how to set up secure connections between your payment provider and the customer's bank. You may use SSL/TLS encryption to protect data as it is entered, and minimize the number of steps and page loads required to complete a purchase all help to reduce the possibility of errors or vulnerabilities.
All software, plugins, and third-party tools you used for your store should also be updated on a regular basis. For example, if you use a platform like Shopify, your store is already PCI compliant and comes with excellent built-in protection. Nonetheless, it is a good idea to emphasize your dedication to consumer security in checkout messages, privacy rules, and your FAQ section.
You should give your customers a clear choice between continuing buying as a guest or login if they have already had an account.
5.4 Optimize for mobile shoppers
It is a fact that many guest checkout Shopify come from mobile users who find your store via social media or ads. If your checkout page is not mobile-responsive or loads slowly, you will have challenges in losing these potential customers before they make a purchase.
5.5 Encouraging account creation after Shopify guest checkout
It is also vital to remember post-purchase engagement: many stores pass up the opportunity to invite customers to create an account after they place an order, either through an order confirmation screen or a follow-up email. Although you set up Shopify checkout as a guest for shoppers, you still have their emails when requiring them during checkout for shipping confirmation. It gives you an opportunity to nurture your relationship with customers, and engage account creation later as well.
6. Conclusion: Maximizing Shopify guest checkout for your business success
Shopify guest checkout significantly improves the shopping experience by eliminating friction, speeding up purchases, and meeting the needs of first-time, mobile, and one-time shoppers. This feature offers key advantages including increased conversion rates, reduced cart abandonment, and enhanced customer trust, despite drawbacks like limited data collection and fewer engagement opportunities.
To maximize effectiveness of your Shopify guest checkout, remember to:
Clearly present guest checkout as a prominent option at the beginning of the process
Streamline the process by requesting only essential information (company name, address line 2,...)
Implement robust security measures to build trust, especially on your first-time customers
Optimize for mobile shoppers
Develop strategies to encourage account creation post-purchase, via email for example
In addition, it is also important for you to choose the right Shopify plan, as every different tier offers varying levels of checkout customization. For advanced needs, you may consider some solutions like Qikify Checkout Customizer provide additional flexibility.
Merchants should also remember that optimization is ongoing - test your checkout flow on a frequent basis, analyze and monitor user behavior, and constantly improve the experience based on real-time feedback. With strategic implementation and continuing adjustment, Shopify guest checkout can drive both instant revenue and long-term growth.
Start enabling guest checkout today to boost conversions while providing the seamless experience customers expect in 2025.
7. Shopify guest checkout FAQs
Tide Dang
Content Creator
With over seven years of experience in strategic marketing and content creation, I specialize in helping eCommerce brands craft high-impact campaigns that drive sales and customer engagement. My expertise in content strategy, social media, and data-driven marketing allows me to translate industry trends into actionable insights for Shopify merchants—helping them optimize their marketing efforts, attract the right customers, and boost conversions. My passion lies in empowering online businesses with the strategies they need to stand out and scale successfully in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- 1. Understanding key concepts of checkout as guest Shopify
- 2. Benefits of enabling guest checkout Shopify for your store
- 3. Potential drawbacks of Shopify guest checkout to consider
- 4. How to set up a guest checkout on your Shopify store?
- 5. Best practices and tips for Shopify guest checkout implementation
- 6. Conclusion: Maximizing Shopify guest checkout for your business success
- 7. Shopify guest checkout FAQs
