How to Enable and Optimise Shopify Guest Checkout for More Sales

Forced Account Creation Is Silently Killing Your Conversions

There is a moment in many Shopify checkouts where a buyer who is ready to purchase hits a wall: “Create an account to continue.” Or the softer version: “Sign in or create an account.” Either way, the message to a first-time buyer is the same — you have to stop and do something extra before you can give us your money.

The data on this is unambiguous. Requiring account creation at checkout is one of the most reliably documented causes of checkout abandonment in ecommerce. The Baymard Institute’s research puts “forced account creation” consistently in the top three abandonment reasons across years of survey data. Estimates suggest that up to 24% of buyers who abandon checkout do so specifically because of mandatory account creation.

The fix sounds simple: enable guest checkout. But there is more nuance to it than flipping a switch. How you implement guest checkout, what you do after a guest order, and how you balance guest conversion with customer account growth all affect the outcome. This guide covers all of it.

How to Enable Guest Checkout in Shopify

Enabling guest checkout in Shopify is a settings change, not a development task. In your Shopify admin, navigate to Settings → Checkout → Customer accounts. You will find three options: Accounts are disabled, Accounts are optional, and Accounts are required.

For most stores, the correct setting is “Accounts are optional.” This allows buyers to check out as a guest with just their email address, while also offering account login for returning customers. “Accounts are required” forces every buyer to log in or create an account before purchasing — this setting should only be used in specific B2B contexts where account-based purchasing is a genuine business requirement.

If you are on Shopify’s new customer account system (rolled out across 2024–2025), you may also see options related to the new passwordless login experience. This system sends a one-time code to the buyer’s email rather than requiring a password, which significantly reduces the friction of “logging in” to the point where the distinction between guest checkout and account checkout starts to blur. We will cover this in more detail below.

The Business Case for Guest Checkout

Some merchants resist guest checkout because they worry about losing customer data or making repeat purchases harder. Both concerns are understandable but ultimately backwards — you cannot build a customer relationship with a buyer who abandoned checkout because you would not let them in without an account.

A completed guest order gives you the buyer’s email address, order history, and the permission to communicate with them about their order. That is enough to build on. Post-purchase, you can invite them to create an account with a single-click flow (more on this below). Most buyers who complete a guest purchase and have a good experience will accept that invitation — on their terms, after their purchase, with no abandonment risk.

The math is straightforward. A merchant forcing account creation and losing 20% of would-be buyers is leaving significant revenue on the table to protect a data collection preference. Enable guest checkout, capture the sale, then ask for the account relationship post-purchase.

Shopify’s New Passwordless Customer Accounts

Shopify’s new customer accounts system, which became widely available in 2024 and has been the default for new stores since, changes the calculus significantly. Instead of requiring buyers to create a password and remember it, the new system authenticates customers via a one-time code sent to their email — similar to how many apps now handle login.

This means that a returning buyer who previously purchased as a guest can authenticate in seconds by entering their email and a six-digit code. No password required. The friction of “account login” essentially disappears. For merchants who want the benefits of customer accounts — order history, faster repeat checkout, loyalty program integration — the new passwordless system delivers them with far less abandonment risk than the traditional account model.

If you are on legacy Shopify customer accounts (the old system), it is worth evaluating a migration to the new system, particularly if you are also planning to launch a loyalty program, subscription service, or any feature that benefits from customer identity persistence.

Optimising the Guest Checkout Experience

Enabling guest checkout is the starting point. Optimising it means attending to the details that determine whether guest buyers actually complete their purchase and what happens immediately after.

• Email field placement and labelling: The first field a guest buyer sees in Shopify checkout is the email field. Its label matters. “Email” is fine. “Email address for order updates” is better — it frames data collection around buyer benefit, not merchant data extraction.
• Marketing consent framing: If you are collecting email marketing consent at checkout (the checkbox below the email field), the copy here directly affects opt-in rate. Default Shopify copy reads something like “Email me with news and offers.” More specific copy — “Get delivery updates and exclusive member discounts” — tends to perform better. Never pre-check this box without explicit legal review for your market.
• Contact method choice: Shopify allows you to offer either email or phone number as the primary contact method. For stores with strong SMS marketing, offering phone as the primary option can improve post-purchase communication options. Test this against your audience’s preferences.
• Order confirmation email design: The guest buyer’s first brand interaction post-purchase is the order confirmation email. A well-designed confirmation email that clearly states order details, delivery timeline, and a clear “Track your order” link reduces post-purchase anxiety and sets expectations correctly.

Converting Guest Buyers Into Account Holders Post-Purchase

The optimal strategy for most Shopify merchants is: make checkout as easy as possible with guest checkout enabled, then invite account creation after the order is placed. Shopify makes this straightforward.

On the order confirmation page, you can display a prompt inviting the buyer to create an account with their order details pre-filled. Because they have already completed their purchase, the emotional risk of the interaction is gone — they are now satisfied customers, not anxious buyers. Account creation rates from post-purchase prompts are significantly higher than pre-purchase forced creation.

In the order confirmation email, include a secondary call to action alongside order tracking: “Create an account to track orders, save your details for faster checkout next time, and access exclusive member benefits.” Link to a simplified account creation flow. With the new passwordless system, this can be a single-click action from the email.

Guest Checkout for B2B Stores: When You Might Restrict It

There are legitimate cases where guest checkout should be restricted or unavailable. B2B Shopify stores that require account approval before purchasing (net payment terms, custom pricing, reseller verification) need account-based checkout to function. Shopify B2B — available on Shopify Plus — handles this specifically, with a separate B2B checkout flow that can be gated behind company accounts while the consumer-facing store remains open for guest checkout.

Similarly, subscription-only products require some form of account to manage recurring billing. In these cases, the friction of account creation is unavoidable, but it can be minimised through passwordless login, social login options, or clear communication about why the account is needed for the specific product type.

Measuring the Impact of Guest Checkout Enablement

If you are switching from required accounts to optional accounts, measure the impact carefully. The key metrics to track before and after are: checkout abandonment rate (overall and at the account/contact step specifically), conversion rate from checkout entry to order placed, and email capture rate from checkout.

Most stores that switch from required to optional accounts see an immediate improvement in checkout completion rate, particularly on mobile and for first-time visitors. The email capture rate may decrease slightly if buyers who previously created accounts now check out as guests — but in most cases, the incremental orders more than compensate for any reduction in account data quality.

The Shopify specialists at OneOnic regularly include guest checkout audit and optimisation in store CRO engagements. If your store still has mandatory account creation in place or your checkout abandonment is above industry benchmarks, this is one of the first places we look. Contact us for a checkout review.