Adding and Editing Fields in the Account Signup Form

When creating an account or during checkout, customers are required to enter some basic account and address information. These fields can be changed to display a different label, show default or example text, or have their order rearranged.

Depending on your business, adding to or changing your store's default form fields can help you learn more about your customers and improve your workflow. For example, many merchants commonly add a "How did you hear about us?" field to help track marketing efforts. You can also use custom fields to survey and collect additional information about your customers, like their communication preferences.

Go to Settings › Account sign up form to access and change your store's account sign-up and address forms.

• To view and manage form fields, you must have the following user permissions enabled:
  • Manage Form Fields
  • Add Form Fields
  • Edit Form Fields
  • Delete Form Fields

BigCommerce stores allow customers to create an account, which encourages them to return by making the checkout process faster.

There are three built-in customer account sign-up fields which are necessary for the customer account functionality to work:

• Email Address
• Password
• Confirm Password

If Require Consent is enabled in your store's Miscellaneous settiMiscellaneous settingsngs, you will see a fourth built-in field, Exclusive Offers. This enables customer sign-ups to opt into abandoned cart emails and other marketing emails. Unlike the previous fields, this checkbox is set as not required by design, as this would prevent customers from opting out of marketing emails.

The Current Password field appears on the storefront customer Account Settings page and is required when changing the password to a new one.

These built-in fields cannot be removed, but they can be edited to match your store's branding. Additional form fields, both required and optional, may be added to the account sign-up form.

Customers with an account can save their address information in your store so that the next time they visit, they do not have to enter it again. The same form is used for both the billing and shipping address, though the data they provide for each can be different from one another.

There are seven built-in required address fields:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Address Line 1
• Suburb/City
• Country
• State/Province
• Zip/Postcode

There are three additional built-in fields, but they are not required by default:

• Phone Number
• Company Name
• Address Line 2

These fields cannot be removed, but can be renamed. The new names will be reflected on account registration and Address Book pages.

Only the “Required” setting for Phone Number, Company Name, and Address Line 2 built-in fields can be adjusted for the Account Settings, registration, and checkout pages. All other built-in fields are required for shipping and checkout functionality and cannot be made optional.

To rename built-in fields on the Account Settings or checkout pages, you will need to edit your Stencil theme files.

Other form fields, both required and optional, may be added to the address form. User-added fields will appear on account registration, Address Book and checkout pages.

There is no limit to the number of form fields a checkout can have, but we recommend keeping the checkout as short as possible. Having an extended checkout experience can negatively affect your conversion rate.

1. Go to Settings › Account sign up form.

2. Select either the Account Signup Fields or Address Fields tab, then click the Create a New Field dropdown.

3. Select which type of field to create.

4. Each type will have a different setup window, but they all will have a name, value, and required element.

The Field Name is the customer-facing label that appears to the left of that field on the storefront. You may also designate a Default Value if you would like the field to be pre-filled with a call-to-action or example text data. Required specifies if this particular field must be filled, selected, or checked on the storefront before submitting the form.

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required to save the form field.

In this example, we have added an optional text field for Pet Name to the address form and made its default value Enter your pet's name here.

You can rearrange fields by selecting and dragging them up or down in the list. This will change their order on the account registration, Address Book, and checkout pages.

You can delete any Account Signup Fields or Address Fields that were manually added (user defined); however, you cannot delete the built-in fields.

Check the box next to the field(s) that you want to remove, then click Delete Selected.

There are several types of fields available to be selected when creating a new field. These include checkboxes which are useful for providing simple opt-ins to your customers, text fields to input special instructions, and more.

• Checkboxes — creates one or more checkbox fields
• Date Field — allows a customer to specify a date. You can specify a date range from which to choose from.
• Multiline Text Field — creates a text field for inputting multiple lines of data, such as Delivery Details
• Numbers Only — is similar to a regular text field, but validates for numbers only. You can specify a valid number range for the customer to input.
• Password Field — creates a text field that hides the data typed on the customer's screen for security purposes
• Radio Buttons — creates a multiple choice option that presents all values. A customer selects their desired value by filling in the circle to the left of it.
• Text Field — creates a simple text field, such as First Name
• Pick List — creates a multiple choice option that presents values in a dropdown menu. This can help to condense lists that feature several values, giving the checkout a more clean and sleek design.

All form fields can have a custom CSS Class Name and Inline CSS Style applied. Some form field types also include settings for determining Field Size and Maximum Field Length. These can be used to add additional style elements. Follow the steps below to review and edit these fields.

1. Go to Settings › Account sign up form.

2. Select either the Account Signup Fields or Address Fields tab.

3. Click the Action icon, then Edit on the field you want to change.

4. Make your desired adjustments, then Save your changes.

Can spaces be used to bypass required text fields?

No, if a customer enters only spaces in a required field, they will receive an error when attempting to create a storefront account, edit an existing account, or proceed to the next step of checkout.

Can I make a field required or not required?

Of the built-in fields on the Account Signup Fields and Address Fields tabs, only Phone Number, Company Name, and Address Line 2 can have the Required setting enabled or disabled manually. All other built-in fields are required for shipping and checkout functionality and cannot be made optional.

To adjust the setting for these or your User Defined fields, select Edit from the Action menu next to the field. On the pop-up window, check or uncheck the box next to Required and click Save.