The default WooCommerce checkout asks for about a dozen things. Some of them you need, some of them your courier needs, and at least two of them nobody has looked at since the shop was built. Every one of them is a place a customer can stop.
Contents
Which fields to remove and which to keep
Keep anything required to deliver the order, charge for it or issue the document that goes with it. Remove everything else, and apply the test field by field rather than screen by screen.
The company name field is the usual first casualty in a store selling to consumers. It is shown to everybody, filled in by a small minority, and in most shops exists because the default template includes it.
The second address line is the second. It is genuinely needed in some markets and for some couriers, and genuinely dead weight in others, which makes it a question about your own delivery data rather than about checkout theory.
The phone number is the one worth arguing about. Couriers increasingly require it, customers increasingly resent it, and the resolution is usually to keep it and say in one line why it is being asked for. A field with a reason attached is answered far more often than the same field without.
What is worth adding
Anything that prevents a failed delivery or a support message, which is a much shorter list than it sounds.
Delivery instructions is the strongest candidate in a peak season, because a parcel left in the wrong place in December is a complaint with a deadline attached. It costs one optional field and removes a category of problem.
A gift message field earns its place in November and December and should be removed afterwards. The same is true of a requested delivery date where your fulfilment can honour one, and not at all true where it cannot.
What is not worth adding is anything you will not read. A how did you hear about us field that nobody analyses is a question asked of every customer for no return, and the same information is available from your analytics. Our guide to shipping and billing address fields goes through which of the defaults are genuinely required.
What to check before the traffic arrives
Test the checkout on a phone, with one hand, in a hurry. That is how most of December's orders will be placed, and it surfaces problems that are invisible on a desktop, such as a field that triggers the wrong keyboard or a validation message that appears above the fold the customer is looking at.
Check every field's validation against a real foreign address. Postcode rules in particular are a common source of checkouts that work perfectly for domestic customers and reject everybody else.
And count the fields. Not as an exercise in minimalism, but because the number is the single figure most correlated with abandonment, and most stores are surprised by their own total.
Adding a seasonal field in November and taking it out in January should not involve a template. Flexible Checkout Fields PRO adds, removes, reorders and relabels checkout fields from the admin, including per country.
Summary
Keep any field required to deliver the order, charge for it or issue the accompanying document, and remove the rest, testing field by field. The company name field is usually the first to go in a consumer store, since it is shown to everyone and used by few. The second address line depends on your markets and couriers rather than on any general rule. The phone number is the contested one: couriers want it, customers resist it, and the usual resolution is to keep it with one line explaining why, because a field with a stated reason is completed far more often.
Worth adding is anything that prevents a failed delivery or a support message. Delivery instructions is the strongest seasonal candidate, since a parcel left in the wrong place in December is a complaint against a deadline. A gift message field earns November and December and should come out afterwards, as should a requested delivery date unless fulfilment can honour it. Nothing should be added that will not be read. Before the traffic arrives, three checks: use the checkout on a phone one-handed, since that is how December orders arrive; test validation against a real foreign address, because postcode rules routinely reject everyone outside the home market; and count the fields, as the total is the figure most closely tied to abandonment and most stores guess it wrong.
Frequently asked questions
These three come up in every checkout review.
How many fields is too many?
There is no universal number, but every field past the ones needed to deliver and invoice should have a reason somebody can state out loud.
Should fields be removed or just made optional?
Optional still costs attention, since the customer reads it before skipping it. Remove what is not needed and make optional only what some customers genuinely use.
Can checkout fields differ by country?
They should, since address formats and courier requirements differ. A single field set applied worldwide is how stores end up asking for a state from customers who do not have one.
