The WooCommerce checkout page is the most important page in any online store, and it ships as a generic form that most beginners never touch. The default layout has too many fields, no trust signals, and a two-column structure that can be difficult to use on small screens. Each of those issues gives customers a reason to stop and leave.
Cart abandonment at checkout is one of the most common problems for new WooCommerce stores. Most of it isn’t caused by price or product. It’s caused by friction — too many required fields, an unclear payment section, or a layout that doesn’t feel trustworthy. Small changes to the checkout page can make a measurable difference to how many orders actually complete.
This guide covers the customisations that matter most and how to make them, starting with what’s built into WooCommerce and moving into what a free plugin can add. You don’t need to write any code to implement the changes in this guide. For the full picture of how to build and manage a WordPress website, the step-by-step approach on this site covers everything from setup through to ongoing maintenance.
Quick Answer
The most impactful checkout customisations are removing fields you don’t need, making unnecessary ones optional rather than required, and adding a brief reassurance message near the payment button. You can do those through WooCommerce settings and the free Checkout Field Editor plugin by ThemeHigh. For a cleaner single-column mobile layout, Fluid Checkout is the most widely used free option.
Why the Default Checkout Loses Sales
WooCommerce’s default checkout asks for first name, last name, company name, country, street address (two lines), city, county, postcode, phone number, email address, and order notes — that’s twelve fields before a customer reaches the payment section. For a store selling digital products or a simple physical item, most of those fields are unnecessary.
Every extra field is a decision point. Customers weigh whether the purchase is worth the effort of filling in the form, and some decide it isn’t. The WooCommerce checkout can be trimmed significantly without affecting your ability to process orders or ship products correctly. Fewer fields, cleaner layout, and visible trust signals are the three levers that consistently improve completion rates.
How to Customise the WooCommerce Checkout Page
Step 1 — Remove or Simplify Checkout Fields
Install the free Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce plugin by ThemeHigh from the WordPress plugin directory. After activation, go to WooCommerce > Checkout Form in your dashboard. The plugin displays all current checkout fields in three sections: billing, shipping, and additional fields.
For most beginner stores, these fields can be removed entirely without any impact on order processing: Company name, Address Line 2, and Order notes. The phone number field is safe to remove if you don’t call customers or use it for delivery notifications — or change it from Required to Optional if you want to keep it available.
After making changes, save the form and test the checkout in a separate browser window (or incognito) without being logged in as an admin. Guest checkout and logged-in checkout can look different, so test both if your store offers accounts.
Step 2 — Add Trust Signals Near the Payment Button
The moment a customer reaches the payment section is when doubt peaks. A short line of text near the Place Order button — something like “Secure checkout. All payments processed safely.” or a brief reminder of your return policy — reduces that hesitation without requiring a design change.
You can add this message through WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > Checkout, or by using the Checkout Field Editor plugin to add a custom HTML field above the payment section. Keep it short — one line. The goal is reassurance at the right moment, not additional copy to read.
If your hosting or WooCommerce setup displays payment method icons automatically, ensure they’re visible near the payment section. Recognised payment logos (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal) act as passive trust signals without requiring any text.
Step 3 — Improve the Layout for Mobile Users
The default WooCommerce checkout uses a two-column layout — form fields on the left, order summary on the right. On a phone screen, this compresses both columns into a narrow form that’s harder to fill in. Most mobile users fill in the billing and shipping form first and only see the order total at the bottom of the page.
The Fluid Checkout for WooCommerce plugin (free version on WordPress.org) replaces the default layout with a step-by-step single-column flow: contact information, shipping, then payment — each on its own clear step. It handles the layout change automatically after installation. No setup required for the basic version.
After installing Fluid Checkout, test the checkout on an actual mobile device before and after, not just by resizing a desktop browser window. Tap every field and follow the process through to the order confirmation screen.
Step 4 — Adjust the Place Order Button
The default “Place order” button text is neutral but not action-oriented. Some stores see improvement by changing it to something more specific to the transaction — “Complete my purchase”, “Pay now”, or simply confirming what happens next, like “Place order — pay with card”.
WooCommerce doesn’t expose this setting in the admin panel by default. The Checkout Field Editor plugin includes a button text option, or it can be changed with a short snippet in your theme’s functions.php: add_filter('woocommerce_order_button_text', function() { return 'Complete my purchase'; });. If you’re not comfortable editing PHP, use a plugin that provides this option.
Step 5 — Set Up a Custom Thank You Page
WooCommerce’s default order confirmation page shows a basic success message and order summary. Replacing it with a custom page gives you control over what happens after purchase — you can include upsell offers, ask customers to follow a social account, or simply deliver a better post-purchase experience.
Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced and look at the page assignments. The Order received page can be replaced with a custom page you create. You can also use a plugin like FunnelKit (which includes a free tier) to set up conditional thank you pages based on what was purchased. The important thing after any redirect is to verify the WooCommerce order confirmation email still fires correctly — test by completing a real order using a test payment gateway mode.
Practical Tips
Test as a guest, not as an admin. Admin users often see a slightly different checkout because WooCommerce recognises their account and pre-fills certain fields. Open an incognito window and go through the checkout without being logged in to see what a new customer experiences.
Check the checkout on your phone. Most ecommerce traffic is mobile. Desktop testing shows you the layout and content but misses touch target sizes and the experience of tapping through form fields on a small screen.
Don’t confuse the checkout page with a product page. The goal of the checkout page is to complete the transaction with as little friction as possible. The WooCommerce product page is where you do the selling — by the time a customer reaches checkout, the decision to buy has already been made. Don’t add marketing copy or cross-sell widgets to the checkout page itself.
Common Mistakes
Removing fields that tax calculations depend on. Country and postcode are required for VAT and regional tax calculations. Removing them will break tax at checkout. In most cases, you should hide the Company name and Address Line 2 before considering changes to country or postcode fields.
Not testing payment after making changes. Checkout plugins that restructure the layout can occasionally interfere with payment gateway scripts. After any plugin installation or checkout change, complete a test order using your payment gateway’s sandbox or test mode to confirm the full transaction flow still works.
Adding too many trust badges. A single clear reassurance line works better than a row of security seal graphics. Multiple badge images can make the checkout feel cluttered and slow to load, which undermines the trust they’re meant to build.
Plugin vs Built-In Settings
WooCommerce’s built-in settings handle: enabling or disabling guest checkout, setting which pages are assigned to cart, checkout, and account functions, and some basic account creation options. That’s it for the standard settings panel.
Everything else — field removal, field reordering, trust signal injection, layout changes, button text — requires either a plugin or custom code. For beginners, a plugin is the right choice. The combination of Checkout Field Editor (field management) and Fluid Checkout (layout) covers most customisation needs without any code.
Custom code in functions.php is appropriate if you have a specific requirement that plugins don’t cover — for example, conditional fields that appear only for certain product types, or checkout field changes that depend on the customer’s location. For standard customisation, plugins are faster and easier to maintain. Once your store is set up, connect it to WooCommerce payments, shipping, and taxes and test the full order flow end to end before taking the store live.
For more on this, see our guide on set up woocommerce security for beginners.
If you want to go further on this, see Customize the WooCommerce Cart Page for Beginners.
Conclusion
Start with field removal — it’s the fastest change and typically the highest-impact one. Remove what you don’t need, make optional what isn’t required, test on mobile, and add a brief trust message near the payment button. Those four changes alone put your checkout ahead of most beginner WooCommerce stores. Check the WooCommerce shop page next to make sure the browsing experience leading up to checkout is equally well optimised.
Etienne Basson works with website systems, SEO-driven site architecture, and technical implementation. He writes practical guides on building, structuring, and optimizing websites for long-term growth.