Guest Checkout Tactics to Grow Ecommerce Sales (with Examples and Ideas)
4. Should you Visually Prioritize the Guest Checkout?
If you offer guest checkouts, the majority of checkouts may be from non-registered customers. We noticed that most online shops we looked at visually prioritize the user sign-in — for visitors that already have an account — over the ecommerce guest checkout. Nordstrom and Victoria’s Secret are the exceptions.
Nordstrom.com prioritizes the guest checkout over the sing in and account creation form by placing it on the left. Plus, add to cart compliments the shopper’s taste. We like little touches like this.
Nordstrom’s Added to Bag message immediately engages with the buyer.
Victoria’s Secret puts returning customers first with a bright pink Sign In button.
We will perform a mobile checkout best practices study in a future article.
If you do not prioritize guest checkout over account creation, this option may be visually invisible, especially to mobile shoppers where guest checkout will be stacked below account creation.
Yes, we want returning customers to use their account. It makes buying easier and reduces checkout abandonment. But the guest checkout should have a higher conversion rate. If it is hard to see, sales may suffer. This is a great area to test and optimize for conversions.
5. No account? Let me give you a cookie
Recognize your returning customers and help them buy your products. Cookies enable online stores to personalize and simplify the shopping experience to a whole new level. Some ecommerce sites, like Walmart, use cookies to recognize returning customers. Their use of persistent cookies provides convenient and rapid access to previous searches and preferences, and in Walmart’s case, that includes last year’s shopping cart.
Walmart has kept my shopping cart for about a year.
Add a Final Submission Confirmation or a Review Order Page
The worst e-retailer scenario for an order without an account is the lack of flexibility or options in case of cancellations, refunds, returns, etc. Adding a final review order page with confirmation before its submission will allow you to warn the customer about these risks and offer them a simple way to create an account on the spot.
6. Offer a Newsletter Opt-In Option on Checkout Pages
If your marketing department’s biggest concern is keeping in touch with newly-acquired shoppers, a simple opt-in to your newsletter will suffice. Visitors have to actively opt-in, so you have to make it worth their while to let you into their inboxes. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.
Be our guest, but why not give us your email address for a chance to win a $10K shopping spree at Blue Nile?
7. Best ecommerce guest checkout tactics to increase conversions: AB test
If you are not sure about providing a guest checkout, AB test it.
You can answer these questions with an AB test:
Do fewer people leave the site on the “Create Account” page if there is a guest checkout? If so, how many?
How many will people create an account after the sale vs. before checkout?
Is there an increase in purchase transactions with the guest checkout? If so, how big?
Is there an increase in revenue with the guest checkout? If so, how much?
Do more visitors sign in if I make the “Sign In” button more visible? Does it increase checkout abandonment?
NOTE: When we talk about “Abandonment” there are two ways to measure this.
- Cart Abandonment is the number of people who add a product to their cart, but do not buy. Cart Abandonment = (Visits with Add to Cart – Completed Transactions) / Add to Cart
- Checkout Abandonment is the number of people who click the “Checkout” button, but do no complete the checkout. Checkout Abandonment = (Visits who Click Checkout – Completed Transactions) / Visits who Click Checkout
We setup this kind of tracking for all of our ecommerce clients.
Read more about our ecommerce optimization solutions
Ecommerce Guest Checkout Examples and Ideas
Of all the ecommerce retailer websites we examined for our micro-study, most offered a guest checkout. Those that did not include Amazon, Target, Costco and Chewy. If your site has subscription sales, consider adding a guest checkout. It may seem counter-intuitive to you, and it is something you should definitely test.
Wayfair has no guest checkout, but you can make checkout faster if you have a Paypal account. A shopper only needs an email address to create an account.
American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters’ shopping bag design is packed with neatly organized promos and many reasons why you should open your account.
Single page guest checkout from AEO. It maintains the look of their shopping bag and no steps are hidden from view. They could test splitting the process up to see if conversions increase.
Barnes & Noble ecommerce checkout process
A no-pressure approach on the B&N checkout design flow. Their priority is memberships. The guest checkout process has multiple steps, but you get several opportunities for an express checkout.
Barnes & Noble doesn’t prioritize a free account here. Because they sell a Membership. They make the checkout process as easy as possible with express checkout and later on a social sign in.
Returning customers have priority at checkout – with an account or social sign in – then finally a guest option. Unfortunately there is no clear place to create an account at this step in their checkout flow.
Barnes & Noble guest checkout.
Etsy Guest Checkout
Etsy makes the “Continue as a guest” button a low priority visually — we call this a “ghost button” — and makes the “Sign in or register” option visually significant with the high-contrast, black “Continue” button.
Social checkout or continue as a guest on Etsy. A simple 2-step checkout process.
Apple Cart Page and Checkout
Since so many Apple customers already have an Apple ID, it makes sense for Apple to give the “Checkout with Apple ID” option the more prominent, left-most position over the Guest Checkout.
Returning customers first, and in case you don’t remember, the format of an Apple ID.
Does the likelihood of abandoning the cart decrease if you know when your order is arriving? We think so. You should try it.
Apple simplified checkout flow.
Apple provides pre-filled information and a simplified checkout flow. Be creative and persuasive when naming your shopping basket sections. “Where should we send your order?” is more personal and inviting than “Shipping details”.
Kohl’s Guest Checkout Flow
Kohl’s offers a smooth guest checkout process with many options, and shoppers can create an account after checkout.
Kohl’s strategic partnership with Amazon, processing their returns, drives more traffic to the brick and mortar stores.
Kohl’s guest checkout flow.
Newegg
Shopping flow is pretty distracting, with cross sells, upsells and financing offers. But they offer several ways for a fast checkout – Amex express checkout, Paypal checkout and Masterpass plus guest checkout. The Guest checkout bears a FOMO message and a progress bar with four steps to complete the process. I guess they are trying to discourage this route.
Newegg ecommerce checkout process.
Lowe’s 2-Step Guest Checkout Flow
Lowe’s prioritizes the Sign-in by placing it on the left. Like Apple, they may have a large number of repeat buyers with accounts.
Lowe’s guest checkout design and flow.
Conversion Sciences Pro Tip: Adding a status bar to your checkout often decreases abandonment rates.
Walmart Super Smooth Guest Checkout
Walmart incentivizes its coupon-happy shoppers to create an account by requiring it in order to use a discount code. This could have a negative affect on some shoppers, so AB test guest checkout tactics like this.
Walmart guest checkout tactics.
So, get ready to AB test these guest checkout tactics and your checkout flow to increase sales.
More Resources:
- 10 Customer-Delighting eCommerce Checkout Usability Techniques
- Why is my Conversion Rate Dropping? 8 Common Reasons
- Differences Between Sales Funnel and Full-Funnel Conversion Optimization
- Optimize for Buyer Intent to Increase Conversions
- 20 Compelling Examples of Persuasive Copy in Online Advertising - April 7, 2026
- 7 Simple & Effective Ways to Improve Your Email Open Rates - February 23, 2021
- The 3 Most Effective Marketing Strategies For Ecommerce Businesses - December 26, 2020
It’s been split tested and proven time and time again, for the majority of entrepreneurs and online businesses/companies… Simple, easy to use and efficient customer experiences always win. If you take a look at CF, Sam Ovens, Alex Becker, etc… You’ll see they’ve completely simplified their checkout forms and pages to the bare minimum. And they spend millions on ads and split testing. A great article, and good highlights of the biggest issues consumers face at the checkout page. 10/10 :)