Shopify Guest Checkout: Why It Matters and How to Enable It Properly

The Case for Guest Checkout

Forcing customers to create an account before they can buy from your Shopify store is the equivalent of a physical retailer asking for your name, address, and email before letting you pay at the till. It creates immediate friction at the highest-intent point in the customer journey.

Research from Baymard Institute consistently shows that forced account creation is one of the top three reasons for checkout abandonment. In their 2024 study, 24% of US customers said they had abandoned a purchase specifically because the site required an account. That’s nearly 1 in 4 customers you’re losing before they’ve even seen your checkout page — if you’re forcing registration.

How to Enable Guest Checkout on Shopify

Guest checkout settings are in your Shopify admin:

• Go to Settings → Checkout
• Under “Customer accounts,” select one of three options:
• “Accounts are disabled” — all customers check out as guests. Account login is not available at all. Best for stores that don’t have a strong account-based value proposition.
• “Accounts are optional” — customers can choose to log in, create an account, or check out as a guest. This is the recommended setting for most stores.
• “Accounts are required” — customers must create or log in to an account before purchasing. Only appropriate for B2B stores, subscription businesses, or services where an account is essential.

The Concern: “But I Won’t Have Customer Data”

The most common objection to enabling guest checkout is losing customer data for remarketing and retention. This concern is understandable but overstated, for two reasons:

First, you still capture the customer’s email address during checkout — which is all you need for post-purchase emails, abandoned cart recovery, and email marketing (with appropriate consent).

Second, you can invite customers to create an account after they’ve purchased. The post-purchase “Create an account” prompt converts well because customers now have an order to track and a reason to log in. Include this prompt in your order confirmation email and on the thank-you page.

New Customer Accounts in Shopify (2024+)

Shopify has significantly improved the customer account experience with their “new customer accounts” system. This uses a one-time passcode (OTP) sent to the customer’s email rather than a password — dramatically reducing the friction of account creation and login.

With new customer accounts enabled, the account login/creation flow is so frictionless that the argument for forcing guest-only checkout becomes weaker. Customers can “log in” with just their email address — no password to remember.

To enable new customer accounts: Shopify Admin → Customers → Customer accounts → toggle to “New customer accounts.”

B2B and Wholesale: When Accounts Are Required

There are legitimate cases for requiring accounts. If you run a wholesale or trade-only store where pricing depends on verified customer status, accounts may genuinely be necessary. In this case, reduce the account creation friction as much as possible — simplify the registration form, pre-fill known fields, and provide an immediate approval process rather than a pending-approval delay.

Guest Checkout + Shop Pay: The Best of Both Worlds

Shopify’s Shop Pay is a stored-credential payment accelerator — customers who have previously shopped anywhere on Shopify can check out with a single tap, using their saved address and payment details. Shop Pay works for both logged-in customers and guest checkout, providing a near-frictionless checkout experience without requiring a store-specific account.

Enable Shop Pay in Settings → Payments → Accelerated checkouts. It’s free and consistently increases mobile checkout conversion rates.

For a comprehensive checkout audit and optimisation service, contact OneOnic. We review every setting and configuration that affects your checkout conversion rate and implement improvements systematically.