Exploring advanced Shopify Functions for seamless checkout customization

The launch of Checkout Extensibility for Shopify has enabled more customization options that can be done easier than ever before. Alongside this update came Shopify Functions, the successor to Shopify Scripts, which has extended what you can do when it comes to personalizing the checkout experience from the backend of your site for greater functionality.

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Want to know what Shopify Functions can do for you? Keep reading.

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What are Shopify Functions?

Shopify Functions are ways that you can interact with the backend of Shopify. They unlock the ability to control more of your checkout experience through custom functionality and features that improve conversions, grow average order values, and help your business grow. You can build unique promotions, edit checkout requirements, adjust payment and delivery methods, and more. 

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Best of all, Shopify Functions can be custom-built to suit your needs or reused between multiple stores so that it’s easier to find an app that extends your checkout without requiring personal customization.

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Why are Shopify Functions better than Shopify Scripts?

Shopify’s previous version of Shopify Functions, Shopify Scripts, was a similar feature that enabled customizations to the checkout process. However, there are key differences between the two versions.

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Shopify Scripts were implemented into Shopify directly by adding code to the Script Editor App. Here you would enter all of the customizations you wanted to make or paste in the code for pre-built functionalities you received from elsewhere. As a result, there was a risk of the code being incorrectly edited or pasted in, causing catastrophic problems for your checkout page.

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Shopify Functions are app-based, minimizing the need to touch or even look at the code that goes into your Shopify Plus custom checkout. It’s also easy to install apps from others and add them to your store without the need for coding experience or a developer on your staff because the apps access backend data that changes between stores for simple compatibility.

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How you can use Shopify Functions to customize your checkout

Shopify Functions unlock a lot of the elements of your checkout that you wouldn’t expect to be customizable. They also let you access data about customers and their carts that allows for complex changes, customizations, and added features that make your checkout experience better.

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Here’s what you can do with Shopify Functions.

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Discounts and bundling

Everyone loves a good discount - and with Shopify Functions, you can create special discounts, bundles, and other offers that dynamically adjust pricing and update your customers’ carts.

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You can create a discount that applies to orders over a certain amount by referencing the current cart value, checking that the total exceeds your threshold, applying the discount rate, and displaying the new cost to the customer. Volume-based discounts are another option that can help you create buy one, get one promotions or encourage customers to purchase more products while you increase your average order values and save on shipping. Simply check that the cart’s quantity is a certain value and apply the discount similar to the scenario above.

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Custom bundling is also possible with Shopify Functions by checking which products are in the cart, determining if they’re part of the promotion, and applying the respective discount. This could include a mix-and-match deal so that customers can build their own bundles without requiring you to pre-package them together.

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UpsellPlus is a tool that helps to make discounts, bundling, and offers easier to create and provide to your customers. You can use it to create upsells and cross-sells that utilize discounts and encourage product bundling to increase your shop’s AOV throughout the entire checkout process.

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Payment option customization

It’s important to have sufficient payment methods available to avoid cart abandonment, but you also don’t want to offer a method you’d prefer not to accept. In this case, using Shopify Functions lets you control which payment methods you offer, even if they aren’t offered by default.

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If you’re a local business, you may want to offer cash payment options for deliveries or pickup orders to local customers. Alternatively, you may want to offer other payment methods that aren’t supposed by default so that customers have more options for payment. Or, certain payment options may be more expensive to use in certain locations, so you want to hide those for customers in those areas.

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With Shopify Functions, you can add, remove, or edit these options so that you’re offering the options you want and your customers need.

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Shipping option customization

Shipping is an important part of business, especially for retail locations and international stores. Shipping costs and times play a major role in cart abandonment, so making sure that you’re providing enough options and providing accurate delivery times is crucial.

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With shipping option customizations through Shopify Functions, you can add options like hand delivery or pickup to your offerings based on the customer’s location. You can also remove shipping options based on where the customer is from so that you can keep costs low and provide accurate estimates.

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Cart and checkout validation

Whether it’s for exclusivity, security, or fairness, cart and checkout validation through Shopify Functions helps you to take control over the orders your customers make.

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If you’re launching a new product and want to be sure your customer base has a fair chance at getting one before they sell out, you can use cart validation to limit purchases to one per customer. You can also set a minimum cart value to help enforce things like custom product minimum purchases or set a limit on how much someone can spend as a new customer to help avoid fraud. Businesses that only serve a certain location can even use checkout validation to prevent orders from outside your service area, reducing the administrative work associated with refunds.

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Build your custom Shopify checkout with Checkout Extensions Plus

Shopify Functions can help you make impactful changes to how your checkout experience works, but that’s not all the customization that’s available.

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Checkout Extensions Plus utilizes Shopify’s Checkout Extensibility upgrade to make it easy for you to change the look of your checkout as well. The app lets you change colors and styles, add trust elements, edit checkout fields, and perform Shopify Function tasks like hiding payment methods so that your checkout is truly yours.

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Arm yourself with the right tools so that you can create the best checkout experience possible. Get started with a free 7-day trial today.

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