Membership Checkout Optimization: 3 Ways to Reduce Form Fields at Checkout

Simplify your membership checkout process with these three code recipes. Membership sites can use these strategies to reduce form fields at checkout and increase conversion rates, making it as quick as possible to get paid.

Keep reading to learn the three ways you can adjust the required information captured at membership checkout, including:

• Name and Email Only: Generate the member’s username and password.
• Billing Information Only: Generate the member’s username and password from billing information.
• Email Only Signup: Our simplest checkout process ever (best for free memberships) to only require email address.

Many site owners want to streamline their checkout process, but they aren’t sure where to start. We recommend taking a solid look at ways to reduce form fields at checkout:

• What information is actually required to get the user registered?
• What can you do to encourage additional member profile completion after checkout?

We’ve worked with thousands of membership site owners and through that experience came up with the following drop-in code you need to make membership registration as easy (and fast) as possible.

While most of these strategies are best for a free member signup, you can also use these fields to simplify paid checkouts, too. A lengthy, complicated, or overwhelming checkout form can be just enough of a pain point to turn on-the-fence customers away.

Here are the top ways to reduce form fields in your membership site.

Video Demo: 3 Ways to Reduce Fields at Checkout

Recipe #1: Only Require Name and Email

This recipe is designed for free membership levels or for a paid level when you do not need to capture a billing address. This code recipe includes a few key filters and adjustments:

1. Hides the default “Account Information” section for not-logged-in visitors.
2. Hides the default “Billing Information” section for all users.
3. Unsets the default required user fields at checkout.
4. Recreates the required fields for Name and Email Address in a new user fields group.

Recipe #2: Use Billing Information to Generate User Information

This recipe is designed for paid membership level checkout. You must use this recipe with a checkout form that requires the full Billing Information (billing address). This code uses the member’s email address to generate a username and randomly generates their password.

If your checkout page does not show the Billing Information” section (free levels), you can use the Address For Free Levels Add On to add these fields.

1. Hides the default “Account Information” section for not-logged-in visitors.
2. Hides the “Confirm Email” field added to the “Billing Information” section.
3. Unsets the default required user fields at checkout.

Recipe #3: Only Require Email Address at Signup

In this third recipe, we give you the most streamlined way to reduce form fields at checkout. By only requiring email address, your membership site can offer a super fast checkout for free or paid membership levels.

This approach instantly logs your member into the site and grants full access all to your members-only features. We think this is a great approach for a free or paid newsletter membership site because it works well with any of our email marketing integrations.

This recipe is designed for a free membership level checkout. You can also use this method for a paid level that does not require the full Billing Information. The code includes a few key filters and adjustments:

1. Hides the default “Account Information” section for not-logged-in visitors.
2. Hides the default “Billing Information” section for all users.
3. Unsets the default required user fields at checkout.
4. Recreates the required field for Email Address in a new user fields group. 

Adding the Recipe to Your Website

You can add this recipe to your site by creating a custom plugin or using the Code Snippets plugin available for free in the WordPress repository. Read this companion article for step-by-step directions on either method.

Remember to test membership checkout after you set up these recipes. It is very important that you test checkout for an existing logged-in user account and for a newly created user. Your unique membership site setup may have some checkout requirements from Add Ons or other custom code.

If you have any questions using these recipes or other needs related to required form fields and membership checkout, please reach out to our support team for assistance.