Shopify Checkout Settings Most Brands Never Touch
By Affan Siddiqi, Founder, Psycomaths
Shopify's checkout ships with reasonable defaults, but several available settings (express payment button order, shipping cost visibility timing, guest checkout defaults, address autocomplete) are frequently left untouched and can have a real effect on completion rate. These aren't hidden or unofficial settings, they're simply options most stores never revisit after initial setup.
Express payment button order and visibility
Shopify allows configuring which express payment options (Shop Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay) are shown and in what order. Defaulting to whatever order Shopify sets rather than prioritizing the option most relevant to a specific customer base is a common missed setting worth reviewing directly.
When shipping cost becomes visible
Shipping cost shown late in checkout, as opposed to earlier in the cart, is a well-documented contributor to abandonment. Shopify's settings and theme configuration affect how early that cost is communicated, and leaving it at a late-reveal default is an easy, overlooked cause of lost completions.
Guest checkout default
Forcing account creation before checkout, or making it the more prominent default path over guest checkout, adds friction for a first-time buyer who just wants to complete a purchase. Reviewing which path is actually set as the default, rather than assuming guest checkout is automatically prioritized, is worth a direct check.
Address autocomplete and field configuration
Shopify's address autocomplete settings and which fields are required versus optional affect how much typing and friction a mobile customer specifically experiences at checkout. A field set designed for a different market or product type than the store actually serves can add unnecessary friction without anyone noticing it was ever a choice.
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