The checkout stage presents a prime opportunity to increase average order value (AOV), optimize conversion rates, and deliver a personalized experience for your customers. With Shopify Plus, merchants can leverage checkout tools to implement cross-sells, trust-building elements, and creative upsell strategies. This guide outlines the best practices and tools to optimize your Shopify Plus checkout.

The types of products you offer in checkout are crucial to optimization. There are two considerations to make when deciding exactly which products to offer in checkout: Clarity and price.

As you select a product to offer in the checkout, prioritize products whose purpose is clear and that require no additional information to understand. Remember, the only information shown to the customer will be a product photo, the product and variant titles, and the price. The product’s purpose should be clear enough that the customer can make the buying decision on-the-spot with no further research.

The next consideration is the price of the product. Think of cross-sells in checkout like the candy rack as you are checking out at the grocery store. Lower-priced items work best. Through testing, we have seen that cross-sells in checkout have the highest ROI when the price of the product being offered is between 15-30% of your target AOV.

Here are two examples from Primal Kitchen and Gamer Supps:

These implementations are great examples of the standard Shopify Checkout Upsells. Let’s look at two other slightly more creative ways to do upsells and cross-sells in the Shopify Plus checkout.

Offering a Mystery Gift in Checkout is an excellent way to clear any excess inventory and push specific SKUs. It's also a fun and engaging way to entice shoppers to try products they normally would not.

In the example below, Fanjoy is cross-selling a mystery gift at a steep discount.

Another great way to leverage upsells in the checkout is by offering a ‘Skip the Line’ product. This works by creating a Shopify flow that automatically tags orders that include a ‘Skip the Line’ product as PRIORITY and triggers fulfillment to ship those orders first. Not only do ‘Skip the line’ products offer a valuable service to interested customers but they also deliver a 100% profit margin to your store.

There are many ways you can use upsells and cross-sells in checkout! Be sure to test and try new and different things to help fine-tune what works for you and your brand. Don't hesitate to reach out to our team for more ideas!

Offering a product recommendation during checkout that will bump a customer up above the free shipping threshold is an effective strategy to increase revenue and improve the customer experience. Studies have shown that when customers see shipping costs during checkout, they are more likely to abandon their purchase, with up to 60% of customers abandoning their carts due to unexpected shipping costs. By offering a product that will allow customers to qualify for free shipping with a single click, you remove a significant barrier to purchase and encourage customers to complete their transaction.

Additionally, offering a product recommendation in checkout provides an opportunity to upsell and increase the average order value (AOV). By recommending a product that is closely related to the customer's current purchase, you can increase the likelihood of the customer adding it to their cart, and thus increasing their total order value.

To implement this strategy, ensure that the product recommendation is prominently displayed during checkout and is closely related to the customer's current purchase. You can also consider offering a discount or promotion for the recommended product to incentivize customers to add it to their cart. By utilizing this strategy, you can increase revenue and improve the overall customer experience during checkout.

Recommending a subscription-eligible product during checkout is an effective strategy to increase customer lifetime value (LTV) and average order value (AOV). By offering a subscription option, customers are given the opportunity to automatically reorder their favorite products and save money over time. This approach is especially effective for businesses with eco-conscious missions, like tentree.ca, which offer subscription-based carbon offsets.

Not only does offering a subscription option align with the brand's mission, but it can also positively impact conversion rates. By suggesting a subscription-eligible product during checkout, customers are encouraged to add one more item to their cart, increasing AOV. Additionally, customers who subscribe to a product are more likely to purchase from the same company again, leading to an increase in LTV.

Overall, recommending a subscription-eligible product during checkout can benefit businesses in several ways, including increasing AOV, LTV, and conversion rates. By promoting products that align with a brand's mission and values, businesses can also build stronger relationships with their customers and create a more loyal customer base.

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Trust badges reassure customers about payment security, product guarantees, and brand credibility, reducing hesitation during the final stages of checkout.

Examples include a lock icon with the message “Your payment is 100% secure,” a badge stating “30-Day Money-Back Guarantee – Shop with Confidence,” or a review badge like “Rated 4.9/5 by 10,000+ happy customers.”

Use Rebuy’s checkout content blocks to position trust badges near the payment summary or final call-to-action. A/B test different placements and messages to find the most effective setup.

Adding trust badges increases customer confidence, reduces cart abandonment, and improves conversion rates.

A/B testing allows merchants to compare variations of checkout components, such as content blocks, product recommendations, or upsell offers, to identify the most effective configurations.

For example, test the impact of including secure payment icons versus customer reviews or compare the performance of upselling a specific product against offering a bundle.

Use Rebuy's A/B Testing functionality to set up these tests and follow Rebuy’s documentation to analyze results. A/B testing provides actionable insights that help refine the checkout process, improving conversion rates and creating a more seamless customer journey.