How to Build a Shopify-Style Checkout in WooCommerce

If you’re watching customers abandon their carts at checkout, you’re not alone.

WooCommerce’s standard checkout, whether you’re using the legacy or block-based version, provides essential functionality but lacks the built-in conversion optimizations that come standard with paid platforms like Shopify. Long forms, lack of customization, and missing payment options all contribute to lost sales. This often leaves store owners wondering if they’re on the right platform.

WooCommerce offers unmatched power and customizability that closed systems can’t touch. The real challenge isn’t the platform, but perfecting one critical piece of it. Shopify’s checkout sets the standard for a reason – clean design, express payment options, and progress indicators that guide customers. The good news is that you can bring these features to WooCommerce.

This guide shows you how to stop dealing with the limitations and start transferring the benefits. We’ll transform your WooCommerce checkout into a Shopify-style experience using CheckoutWC, a proven solution that has already boosted conversions for over 5,000 stores.

No platform migration. No custom development. Just a better checkout that converts.

What makes Shopify’s checkout flow so effective for conversions

Shopify’s checkout has become the industry benchmark through years of optimization by a dedicated team analyzing data from millions of transactions. Every improvement they make instantly reaches all stores on their platform, creating rapid feedback loops that have refined their checkout through massive-scale testing. Meanwhile, WooCommerce’s distributed nature means checkout updates are not automatically applied to every single store, making platform-wide optimization slower.

Here’s what else makes their approach work:

Cohesive design philosophy

Shopify enforces consistent checkout standards across all stores. Every element – from button placement to form field spacing – follows tested conversion principles. This uniformity creates predictable and trustworthy experiences for shoppers who have purchased from other Shopify stores.

For example, these three websites are all different businesses (Maguire Shoes, Tentree, and Terre Bleu), but their checkout is clearly Shopify. 

Mobile-first development

Did you know? 65.7% of ecommerce traffic comes from mobile devices.

Shopify built their checkout mobile-first, with touch-optimized inputs, smart keyboard behaviors, and responsive layouts that feel native on phones. They know that the most important rule of commerce is meeting your customers where they are, not forcing them to change how they shop. 

Integrated ecosystem advantages

As a closed platform, Shopify easily connects:

• Shop Pay for one-click purchasing across stores.
• Built-in abandoned cart recovery.
• Unified analytics and conversion tracking.
• Address validation without third-party services.

Pre-optimized conversion elements

Every Shopify checkout includes:

• Progress indicators showing checkout steps.
• Trust badges at strategic positions.
• Smart form validation with inline error messages.
• Express checkout positioning above traditional forms.

The key difference? Shopify’s centralized platform allows them to deploy these optimizations immediately, while WooCommerce’s distributed architecture means store owners need to actively implement improvements through themes, plugins, or custom development.

This flexibility is WooCommerce’s strength for customization, but it means extra work to match Shopify’s polished checkout experience.

The drawbacks of the WooCommerce default checkout

WooCommerce’s default checkout provides a functional foundation, but as a free solution, it lacks the conversion optimizations that modern shoppers expect.

This includes: 

• Limited mobile optimization – While responsive, the default checkout isn’t truly mobile-first, with form fields and buttons that aren’t optimized for thumb navigation.
• Basic payment gateway display – Express checkout options like Apple Pay require additional configuration to display prominently, even when supported by your payment plugin. 

• No built-in cart recovery – When customers abandon their purchase, there’s no automated follow-up system without adding plugins or custom solutions.
• Manual address entry – The absence of address autocomplete means customers type every detail manually, increasing both friction and shipping errors.
• Minimal customization interface – Modifying the checkout appearance or flow requires either code knowledge or additional plugins.

This doesn’t mean Shopify is the answer

While Shopify offers a polished checkout out of the box, it introduces a different, more restrictive set of compromises that affect your entire business.

Shopify’s “walled garden” approach comes with its own significant drawbacks. If you use any payment gateway other than Shopify Payments, you’ll pay additional transaction fees on every sale. The platform also imposes a creative ceiling with rigid theme structures and a locked-down checkout (for non-Plus users), limiting your ability to optimize your sales funnel with custom upsells, targeted offers, or unique conversion strategies based on your specific customer needs. Furthermore, you are subject to vendor lock-in, making it incredibly complex and costly to ever migrate your business away. These are foundational constraints of the platform.

With WooCommerce, you have a limited native checkout that can be definitively solved with the right tools, giving you a world-class checkout on a platform you fully control. CheckoutWC, for example, makes it extremely easy for WooCommerce users to implement Shopify-style checkout optimizations that are proven to work, and goes beyond this with further checkout functionality drawing from the trusted research of entities such as Baymard Institute.

With Shopify, you accept a polished checkout in exchange for permanent, platform-level limitations on your costs, creative freedom, and long-term flexibility.

Why WooCommerce is still a great choice for your ecommerce store

Thanks to its open-source nature, WooCommerce remains a powerful platform for building successful online stores. Here’s why: 

Highly customizable 

WooCommerce offers complete flexibility to tailor your store’s features, design, and functionality. Unlike locked-down platforms, you control every aspect of your customer experience. Just look at Nutribullet’s website: A memorable, optimized experience that guides customers through their journey. 

Scalability 

WooCommerce scales from small boutiques to enterprise operations. With the right hosting and optimizations, it handles:

• Unlimited products.
• High-traffic events.
• Complex inventory management.
• Multi-currency transactions.

Example: Soul Brother is a record shop with over 30K products! 

And despite its huge catalog, it still performs impressively with an A grade and 95% from GTmetrix.

Wide range of payment gateways 

Integration options include:

• PayPal and Stripe.
• Regional payment processors.
• Bank transfers.
• Offline payment methods.
• Cryptocurrency gateways.

Customers can pay however they prefer, reducing checkout friction from limited options.

Large plugin ecosystem 

WooCommerce’s plugin marketplace offers thousands of extensions for:

• Marketing automation.
• Inventory management.
• Shipping calculations.
• Customer loyalty programs.
• Advanced reporting.

Open-source with no licensing fees 

Unlike Shopify’s monthly fees, WooCommerce is free. You pay only for hosting, premium plugins, and optional features. This gives you:

• Complete code access.
• No transaction fees.
• Full data ownership.
• Freedom to switch hosts.

The platform’s flexibility makes it ideal for businesses that need custom solutions – you just need the right tools to optimize that checkout experience.

Create a Shopify-styled checkout with CheckoutWC

CheckoutWC is a purpose-built plugin that transforms your WooCommerce checkout into a Shopify-style experience without platform migration or custom development.

First, you get five mobile-responsive templates ready in minutes. Choose from templates inspired by checkout giants:

• Midas – The original CheckoutWC design

• Futurist – Modern industrial aesthetic

• Copify – Full Shopify-style experience

• Glass – Smooth, translucent design

• Groove – Based on Stripe’s checkout flow

Each template adapts perfectly to mobile devices, where the majority of your traffic probably comes from. Besides that, you can adjust each of the templates, add your own logos and colors, and make it a unique branded experience. 

Other useful features include: 

• Built-in express checkout options, such as Apple Pay, WooPay, Google Pay, PayPal Express, and other major payment gateways.

• Flexible checkout flows – Switch between one-page checkout (perfect for digital products) or multi-step checkout (ideal for physical goods) based on your store’s needs.
• Features that boost conversions:
  • Built-in side cart – Customers edit orders without leaving their shopping flow.

• Address autocomplete – Google Maps or Fetchify integration reduces typing errors.

• Order bumps – Strategic last-minute offers increase average order value.

• Abandoned cart recovery – Automated email sequences recover lost sales. 

How to set up your Shopify-styled WooCommerce checkout

Setting up CheckoutWC takes minutes, not hours. Here’s the streamlined process:

1. Download the plugin from your account and install it through the WordPress admin.
2. Navigate to WP Admin > CheckoutWC > General Settings and paste your license key. This activates the templates for all visitors.

3. Choose your template – go for Copify if you want to have the full Shopify experience. 

4. Customize the template with your logo, colors, fonts, and custom footer messages. There’s also a section for custom CSS if you need full control over the appearance of the checkout page. 

5. Once satisfied with the appearance, toggle “Activate CheckoutWC Templates” in General Settings and then save your changes. 

6. Add products to your cart and visit the checkout page. You’ll immediately see the transformation – no configuration needed.

The beauty of CheckoutWC lies in its sensible defaults. Payment gateways work automatically, mobile optimization happens instantly, and existing customers experience a seamless transition to the new checkout without any disruption to their saved information or order history.

Tips to further optimize your checkout experience with CheckoutWC

Here is how you can activate those extra features we mentioned: 

Express checkout 

This will position Apple Pay and Google Pay buttons prominently at the top of checkout. 

1. Go to the settings of your payment plugin and make sure these are active. We’re using WooPayments for this example but any decent payment plugin should have this as an option. 

2. Then, enable them in CheckoutWC > Express Checkout settings for instant one-click purchases.

Address autocomplete 

Connect Google Maps or Fetchify through CheckoutWC > Pages > Address Completion and Validation. This feature reduces checkout time per order while eliminating shipping errors.

Multi-step or one-page checkout 

Multi-step checkout is on by default so you don’t have to do anything in order to enable it. This is helpful if you want visual progress bars so that customers see exactly where they are: Information → Shipping → Payment → Review. 

Add the Order Review Step by going to CheckoutWC > Pages > Steps.

This is also the section where you can enable the one-page checkout. 

Cart editing 

Allow customers to modify product variations directly at checkout. Enable this in CheckoutWC > Cart Summary > Enable Cart Editing at Checkout to prevent abandonment from last-minute changes.

Order bumps 

Create targeted offers based on cart contents:

• Digital products: Add extended licenses
• Physical goods: Include shipping insurance
• Services: Offer priority support

Adding them is simple! 

1. Go to CheckoutWC > Order Bumps and enable them. 

2. Go to the “Manage Bumps” tab to add a new one.

3. Customize the location, discount type, and language. 

4. Add specific conditions if you want to connect the bump with a specific product. 

Trust badges

Place security badges near payment fields and satisfaction guarantees near the order button. 

1. Enable custom badges in CheckoutWC > Trust Badges.

2. Upload your badges and add a label and description for them. 

3. Adjust additional settings such as location. 

4. Save your changes.

Abandoned cart recovery 

Set up automated email sequences with time-based triggers:

• 1 hour: Gentle reminder
• 24 hours: 10% discount
• 72 hours: Free shipping offer

How do you enable this? 

1. Simply go to CheckoutWC > Cart Recovery and enable the feature. 

2. You can configure the email contents in the Emails tab. 

3. Check progress in the Report section. 

Keep in mind that for this to work, you need to connect to a transactional email service like SendWP.

Mobile optimization 

Fine-tune mobile-specific settings, including larger tap targets and simplified form,s through CheckoutWC > Pages > Mobile Options.

After implementing these optimizations, run A/B tests with different configurations. Monitor your conversion rates for at least two weeks to identify which combinations work best for your specific audience.

Start boosting your conversion rates with CheckoutWC today

You’ve seen the difference a Shopify-style checkout makes:

• Higher conversion rates through a streamlined, distraction-free design that guides customers to purchase completion.
• Simplified checkout experience with intelligent form fields, progress indicators, and two-column layouts that reduce cognitive load.
• Express checkout and auto-fill features that turn lengthy forms into quick transactions.
• Automatic mobile optimization that adapts perfectly to every screen size without additional configuration.

The best part? You keep WooCommerce’s flexibility while gaining Shopify’s conversion power. No platform migration. No compromises.

Transform your checkout today with CheckoutWC and join 4,900+ stores already converting more customers.

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