As of August 13, 2024, all Shopify Plus users must upgrade their current checkout.liquid implementations to the newly introduced Checkout Extensibility features. Shopify has deprecated the checkout.liquid file, making it essential for all Shopify Plus customers to transition to Checkout Extensibility before the deadline. Checkout Extensibility represents the future of customizing the Shopify checkout experience, offering enhanced customization and efficiency. This shift is crucial for maintaining seamless functionality, as the checkout.liquid file will cease to work after the specified date. Embracing Checkout Extensibility ensures that Shopify Plus users can continue to deliver a superior and tailored checkout experience to their customers. This article will help you to get a better understanding of Shopify Checkout Extensibility and how to upgrade by yourself or with the help of an expert Shopify development agency.

Table of Contents

  1. What is checkout.liquid
  2. Why Shopify deprecated checkout.liquid
  3. What is Checkout Extensibility
  4. Features included with Checkout Extensibility
  5. How to plan an upgrade to Checkout Extensibility
  6. What are the benefits of upgrading to Checkout Extensibility?

What is checkout.liquid

Shopify’s checkout.liquid is a customizable template file that allows Shopify Plus store owners to modify the appearance and functionality of their checkout page. This file enables advanced customization, giving store owners the flexibility to tailor the checkout experience to align with their brand and meet specific business needs. By leveraging checkout.liquid, Shopify Plus merchants can add custom scripts, adjust layout elements, and integrate third-party services directly into the checkout process. This level of customization is especially beneficial for creating a seamless and branded shopping experience, ultimately leading to increased customer satisfaction and higher conversion rates.

Why Shopify deprecated checkout.liquid

In the past, Shopify offered checkout.liquid as a solution for customizing the checkout page, but it had several limitations. Customizations made through checkout.liquid were difficult to test and maintain, often leading to issues with compatibility and stability. Additionally, it was incompatible with Shop Pay, which is a crucial feature for many merchants. The use of checkout.liquid required periodic and complicated upgrades to access new features, creating a maintenance burden for store owners. Furthermore, the way JavaScript was executed outside of a sandbox in the browser made these customizations inherently insecure, posing significant security risks.

Recognizing these challenges, Shopify announced the deprecation of checkout.liquid in February 2023, shifting to Checkout Extensibility. This new foundation for checkout customization is designed to be more secure, performant, and upgrade-safe, allowing merchants to use apps for tailored customizations. By moving away from the obsolete checkout.liquid code, Shopify aims to mitigate risks that could impact businesses. The required upgrade timeline mandates that store owners upgrade their Information, Shipping, and Payments pages by August 13, 2024, and their Thank You and Order Status pages by August 28, 2025. Failure to complete these upgrades by the deadlines may result in disruptions and potential risks to the business.

What is Shopify Checkout Extensibility

Shopify Checkout Extensibility offers a faster, more secure, and better-performing alternative to the traditional checkout.liquid method for customizing checkout pages. Seamlessly integrated with Shop Pay, Checkout Extensibility empowers Shopify Plus store owners to implement advanced customizations without compromising on speed or security. This innovative feature allows merchants to achieve code-free customization and develop custom apps tailored to their unique business needs. By leveraging Checkout Extensibility, Shopify Plus merchants can enhance their checkout experience, ensuring a smoother, more efficient, and highly personalized process for their customers.

Shopify Checkout Extensibility

Features included with Checkout Extensibility

Here is the main features of the Shopify Checkout Extensibility.

Checkout Editor

The Checkout Editor in Shopify’s Checkout Extensibility allows merchants to effortlessly customize their checkout pages with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Store owners can easily edit elements such as the logo, font, colors, and background to align with their brand identity. Additionally, the editor supports the installation of apps, enabling the addition of new functionalities without the need for complex coding. This user-friendly tool streamlines the customization process, making it accessible for merchants to enhance the checkout experience and create a seamless, visually appealing, and highly functional checkout page for their customers.

Checkout Apps

Through the Shopify Checkout Editor, merchants can easily access a variety of Shopify apps specifically designed for enhancing the checkout process. These apps enable the addition of new functionalities, including UI extensions, custom logic, post-purchase pages, and pixels, all without requiring any coding. This seamless integration allows store owners to enrich their checkout experience with advanced features, tailoring it to meet their unique business needs and improve customer satisfaction. By leveraging these checkout apps, merchants can create a more interactive and personalized checkout journey, ultimately driving higher conversion rates and customer loyalty.

Shopify Pixel Manager

The Shopify Pixel Manager provides a centralized, secure solution for managing pixel tracking across your online store and checkout process. Pixels, which are pieces of JavaScript code, run on your online store, including the checkout page, to track customer behavior. With the enhanced security of Checkout Extensibility, these pixels can now track customer behavior during the checkout process more effectively than ever before. By consolidating customer event tracking into a single location, the Pixel Manager simplifies the implementation and monitoring of tracking pixels. This ensures that all customer interactions, from browsing to purchasing, are accurately and securely captured, allowing merchants to gain valuable insights, optimize marketing strategies, and enhance the overall shopping experience.

Checkout Branding API

The Checkout Branding API, part of Shopify’s Checkout Extensibility, empowers store owners to implement custom styling on their checkout pages with ease. Shopify Plus merchants can now add additional styling to their checkout pages, ensuring a seamless and cohesive brand experience. With the Branding API, store owners can change colors, font styles, and logo styles, as well as add custom images. This allows the checkout page to match the look and feel of the rest of the website, providing a consistent and visually appealing shopping experience that enhances customer trust and satisfaction.

Shopify checkout extensibility branding API

Custom Business Logic

Shopify Functions enable merchants to implement custom business logic to validate cart and checkout information and tailor payment and delivery methods to their specific needs. With Shopify Functions, store owners can create new discount types for users, customize payment options by hiding or showing methods based on parameters like a user’s special tag, and rename delivery options offered at checkout. Additionally, merchants can create product bundles by combining multiple products into one single product with a new SKU, and adjust fulfillment rules to streamline order processing. These capabilities allow for a highly personalized and efficient shopping experience, ensuring that each customer’s journey is uniquely tailored to their preferences and needs.

Post Purchase Checkout Extension

Shopify’s Checkout Extensibility includes powerful post-purchase extensions that allow merchants to build bespoke customizations by developing custom apps using Shopify Functions, checkout UI extensions, web pixel app extensions, and post-purchase extensions. These extensions enable store owners to enhance the post-purchase experience with tailored features such as upselling additional products to the order, requesting surveys or feedback from customers who have completed their shopping experience, offering discount codes for future purchases, and encouraging users to sign up for a loyalty program or create a user account. By leveraging these post-purchase extensions, merchants can boost customer engagement, gather valuable insights, and foster long-term loyalty, ultimately driving more sales and enhancing customer satisfaction.

How to plan upgrade to Checkout Extensibility

Upgrading to Shopify Checkout Extensibility requires careful planning to ensure a smooth transition from checkout.liquid. It’s crucial to start by familiarizing yourself with the new features and preparing your customizations for migration. If you do not upgrade by August 2024, checkout.liquid will be turned off in stages, starting with the Information, Shipping, and Payment pages on August 13, 2024, followed by the Thank You and Order Status pages on August 28, 2025. Failure to upgrade by these deadlines will result in a non-functional checkout process, potentially disrupting your business operations. To assist you with the upgrade, we recommend watching the instructional video provided below. If you need further assistance, please contact our expert Shopify Plus developers, who are ready to help you navigate this transition smoothly.

  • Plan your upgrade to Shopify Checkout Extensibility to ensure a smooth transition from checkout.liquid.
  • Checkout.liquid will be turned off in stages: August 13, 2024, for Information, Shipping, and Payment pages; August 28, 2025, for Thank You and Order Status pages.
  • Failure to upgrade by the deadlines will result in a non-functional checkout process.
  • Watch the provided instructional video to assist with the upgrade.
  • Contact our expert Shopify Plus developers for additional help and support during the transition.

What are the benefits of upgrading to Checkout Extensibility

  • Increased Speed and Conversion: Built on the latest platform technology, Checkout Extensibility offers 2X faster checkout interactions and page transitions, leading to an average conversion increase of over 1%.
  • Integration with Shop Pay: Seamlessly integrate customizations with Shop Pay, ensuring a consistent customer experience while benefiting from Shop Pay’s 4X faster checkout process.
  • Powerful New Checkout Features: Access new features such as one-page checkout, Shopify’s bundles offering, stackable discounts, and more.
  • Upgrade-Safe: No need for manual upgrades—gain immediate access to new features as they become available.
  • Enhanced Security: Powered by Shopify UI components and APIs in a sandboxed environment, ensuring additional security.
  • Consistent Buying Experience: Available for Plus merchants on the Thank You and Order Status pages, allowing a comprehensive upgrade of the entire checkout flow.
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Conclusion

In conclusion, upgrading to Shopify Checkout Extensibility is a vital step for Shopify Plus merchants to enhance their checkout experience. By transitioning from checkout.liquid, store owners can benefit from increased speed and conversion rates, thanks to the latest platform technology that offers 2X faster interactions and transitions. The seamless integration with Shop Pay ensures a consistent and efficient checkout process, significantly boosting customer satisfaction. With powerful new features like one-page checkout, stackable discounts, and Shopify’s bundles offering, merchants can provide a more dynamic and engaging shopping experience. Additionally, the upgrade-safe and secure environment provided by Checkout Extensibility eliminates the need for manual updates and enhances security. By embracing Checkout Extensibility, merchants not only future-proof their checkout process but also ensure a cohesive and reliable experience from start to finish, ultimately driving higher conversion rates and customer loyalty. If assistance is needed, expert Shopify Plus developers are available to guide merchants through this essential upgrade.

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How Seamedia Can Help You?

As a Shopify Plus expert, Seamedia is uniquely positioned to assist store owners in migrating from checkout.liquid to Checkout Extensibility. Our team of certified professionals has extensive experience in Shopify development and understands the intricacies of the platform. We provide comprehensive support throughout the entire migration process, ensuring a smooth transition and minimal disruption to your business operations.

Seamedia offers tailored solutions to meet your specific needs, from initial assessment and planning to implementation and testing. We can help you leverage the powerful features of Checkout Extensibility, including enhanced customization, integration with Shop Pay, and access to new checkout functionalities. Our experts will ensure that your checkout process is faster, more secure, and fully optimized for increased conversions.

Additionally, we provide ongoing support and maintenance to ensure that your checkout remains up-to-date with the latest features and security enhancements. With Seamedia’s expertise, you can confidently upgrade to Checkout Extensibility and provide a superior shopping experience for your customers. If you need help with the migration, please contact us, and we will be happy to assist you every step of the way.