Optimized One-Page Checkout

Optimized One-Page Checkout is BigCommerce’s default checkout and order confirmation page. It includes features that minimize friction and a smooth process of checkout to increase sale conversions.

Responsive, minimal design

• Perpetual cart means that customers can quickly access and edit items in their cart throughout the checkout process.
• The responsive, minimal design lets customers comfortably check out on any device, without distractions.

Simple Shipping Address Entry

• The default country in the drop-down menu is based on the customer’s IP address and only includes countries which have been set up in the Shipping Manager.
• A shipping method is pre-selected to streamline the checkout process.

Credit Card Box

• Text fields are optimally laid out, clearly labeled, and include security icons to instill trust.
• Card type is auto-detected when the credit card number is entered, removing that extra step.
• Checkout will display the shopper's selected currency.

Smooth Checkout Flow

• Returning customers are sent to the payment step with their billing and shipping automatically filled, and can save new addresses to their account.
• Guests can create a customer account from within the checkout, without leaving the page. Customer accounts created via Embedded Checkout will be created only on the BigCommerce platform, not the headless platform. It is up to the developer to make sure that customer accounts on BigCommerce and headless platforms are in sync with each other.
• On the order confirmation page, guests are given a second opportunity to create an account before leaving the checkout flow.

You should have the following set up in your store before enabling Optimized One-Page Checkout.

Funnel Tracking Systems

Some third-party funnel tracking systems, such as Bing Ads Conversion Tracking and Google Analytics Goals, need to point to the order completed URL in your store. For Optimized One-Page Checkout, this URL is www.your-domain.com/checkout/order-confirmation. If you have any third-party tracking scripts that requires a URL for the order completed page, it will need to be updated to continue tracking correctly. 

Supported Payment Gateways

Optimized One-Page Checkout supports the following payment gateways:

To switch your store to Optimized One-Page Checkout, go to Settings › Checkout and select Optimized one-page checkout (Recommended). Save your changes. If you are using a supported gateway, the new checkout will apply successfully. 

Use these settings to select your store's checkout type, specify how shoppers check out on your store, and enable cart and security features.

Checkout Type

Select whether you would like to use Optimized One-Page Checkout or a custom checkout.

Customers

Select how you would like shoppers to check out:

• Allow shoppers to check out without an account as a guest.
• Allow shoppers to check out without an account, but automatically create one after ordering.
• Require shoppers to sign in or create an account before checking out.

Select how you would like shoppers with existing accounts to check out:

• Allow existing customers to check out as a guest or sign in.
• Prompt existing customers to sign in, but still allow them to check out as a guest.
• Require existing customers to sign in. (Customers with existing accounts would not be able to check out as a guest.)

Cart

Select this to enable a "persistent cart," which lets your customers view items in their cart across multiple devices when logged in. Learn more in Persistent Cart.

Security

Select this setting to enable Google reCAPTCHA, which protects your store against bots and other abuse.

If you selected to use a custom checkout as your checkout type, you will see the settings below.

Custom checkouts use our Checkout SDK. For more information on installing a custom checkout and related topics, visit the Dev Center.

To install a custom checkout, fill in the Script URL with the location of your hosted checkout script, then click Save.

If your custom checkout supports Optimized One-Page Checkout settings, enable the checkbox to access and set up features that are included in our default checkout, listed under Optimized One-Page Checkout Settings.

You can also install a custom order confirmation page to replace the default page by using the same script URL. Enable the checkbox for "Use the same script URL for the custom order confirmation page" if you have included this feature in your script. See Installing a Custom Order Confirmation Page for more information.

If you selected Optimized One-Page Checkout as your checkout type or opted to include support for these settings on a custom checkout, you will see the settings listed below.

Customers

Select this to enable passwordless login for existing customers by generating a one-time password as a link sent to the customer’s email. Customers can log in by clicking the link, simplifying the checkout flow.

Select this to enable a checkbox on the checkout page, requiring guest customers to accept the privacy policy before they can check out. This setting is recommended for GDPR compliance.

Default Shipping Option

A default shipping option decreases friction during checkout. You can set your checkout to default to one of the following:

• The least expensive option (not counting in-store pickup)
• The least expensive option (including in-store pickup)
• The most expensive option
• None (no default selected)

Multiple Shipping Addresses

Selecting this option will allow customers to ship the items in their order to different addresses. They can select this option on the cart page. See Offering Shipping to Multiple Addresses to learn more.

Google Address Autocomplete

This setting allows customers in select countries to check out faster by providing a list of potential matching addresses when the customer begins to enter in their billing or shipping address. See Google Address Autocomplete for Addresses for more information on enabling this feature.

Billing and Shipping Addresses

This setting allows merchants to leave the "My billing address is the same as my shipping address" box at checkout unchecked by default.

Coupon and Gift Certificate Field

Select whether to display the coupon code/gift certificate field or to hide it behind a link.

Order Comments

Select to allow customers to enter comments with their order. These comments can be viewed in Orders › View page by clicking the action wheel beside the order and selecting View Notes.

Terms and Conditions

Enable this to require customers to check a box that says "I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions." This text can either link to a pop-up with the terms and conditions or link to a Terms of Service webpage.

Checkout Styling

All themes available in the Theme Marketplace allow you to make minor customizations to the styling on your checkout. See Customizing Checkout to learn more.

The Contact Email field allows you to specify an email address to appear on the order confirmation ("Thanks for your order") page. By default, the order confirmation page displays the store adminstrator email address in your store's Miscellaneous settings.

If a transaction attempt fails, that shopper is shown error messaging with details about why the transaction failed, and suggested actions on how to resolve it. For example, “Your billing address couldn’t be verified. Please check your billing address details and try again.” This “verbose” error messaging is turned on by default for all stores.

If you prefer checkout errors to use generic messaging, you can opt-out of this feature by contacting our support team and requesting “vague” checkout error messages.

“Verbose” error message (default)

“Vague” error message

"Verbose" Error Message List

Below is a list of all checkout payment error messages.

Some minor style customizations can be made to Optimized One-Page Checkout if you are using a Stencil theme. Page Builder has an Optimized Checkout section where you can change fonts and colors, or add a custom logo. This feature is available on all themes in the Theme Marketplace.

To customize your checkout, go to Settings › Checkout and click on the Customize Checkout button under the Checkout Style heading.

Click on the Checkout Page option to access the checkout page customization options.

• If you have uploaded a store logo, it will auto-populate. You can also upload another logo only for the checkout page.
• See the Cornerstone Theme Manual for more details on checkout customization options for that theme.
• For advanced customization, you can make updates through the Stencil CLI. See our Dev Cener for more information.

   

If I use more than one payment gateway, do they all need to work with Optimized One-Page Checkout?

Yes, if you want to use Optimized One-Page Checkout. If any of your payment gateways are not compatible with Optimized One-Page Checkout, your store will use the legacy one-page checkout instead.

Can I change which currency is listed at checkout?

No. Optimized One-Page Checkout will display the checkout with the currency the shopper chose on the storefront to keep the experience consistent. Invoice emails will display in the currency the order transacted in.

Does Optimized One-Page Checkout support multiple languages?

Yes. If the store uses multiple languages, the experience can now extend to the checkout with custom development and up to building a custom checkout. To learn more, see our Dev Center for detailed instructions.

Can Optimized One Page Checkout show banner notifications for discounts and promotions?

Yes. If you have set up an Automatic Promotion, such as spend $X to get free shipping, a banner notification can be placed in checkout to notify shoppers how much more they need to spend to qualify for free shipping. See Automatic Promotions for details on how to customize the location and messages of the discount banner. 

Can I set the "Subscribe to our newsletter" box to automatically check yes during checkout?

Yes. You can set the newsletter checkbox to automatically tick during the checkout flow. See Newsletter and Email Marketing Settings for details on newsletter subscriptions.