👖 Abercrombie removes the friction of choosing Guest Checkout or Sign In by unifying the first step to simply the email address. This also allows them to recover checkouts that abandon early

🧭 Journeys removes the friction and allows all customers to jump right into checkout. A bold Sign In CTA sits at the top for returning visitors. This shortens the checkout flow by a full step!

🎽 Under Armour uses button copy to add the value prop that logging in makes checkout faster — many customers are lazy and choose guest checkout every time, this helps steer them towards Sign In

Here’s the CTA on desktop:

👗 Reformation presents Guest Checkout first with an open email field. As users scan screens from top-to-bottom, it’s less likely new customers will fill in the wrong form

👗 Tory Burch’s layout is slightly different, without an email field for Guest Checkout. Section headlines are larger than the button CTAs, and the form fields are faint. New customers are less likely to mindlessly start entering text to the wrong fields

👖 Levi’s styles its Guest Checkout button more prominently than its Sign In option. Both appear above the mobile fold. Sign In fields are not styled as rectangular fields, and don’t compete with the Guest Checkout button (although their unconventional design and disabled Log In button may have their own UX issues)

👢BootBarn’s Sign In step teases users with open fields — they’re so close to the Guest Checkout button it’s easy to misinterpret their context and get frustrating error messages

👢 This Sign In accordion prevents accidental entry by guests into the wrong form

🔨 Build.com uses microcopy to explain Guests can save their information to an account at the Review step

🤷‍♀️ OK, it’s a little weird to see a green and blue button (which is intended as Primary?), but points to J.Crew for showing both options with attention grabbing CTAs above the mobile fold

👚 Chico’s folds its checkout options including express buttons behind a single sticky Checkout button on mobile saving tons of real estate

Desktop version below for comparison:

🙁 This design is focused on Sign In. Guest Checkout is an afterthought

☠️ It’s not obvious to users they’ve left the Cart and are now inside the Checkout. PayPal and Sign In buttons compete with the Progress Bar and exposed cart contents above the mobile fold. The strongest CTA is to Sign In (and most won’t read the microcopy)

🙁 With buttons side-by-side, it’s unclear if users can proceed to Guest Checkout without entering Email and Password, or what.

🙁 This looks like a headline, not a clickable button

🙁 This Sign In drawer has a few issues — the blue CTAs draw the eye, with the input fields and Guest Checkout button practically invisible against them. Microcopy is not styled in a hierarchical way — nothing really is. What’s the Primary CTA?

😬 Above the mobile fold, it appears you must Sign In & Checkout…

😬 The Checkout as Guest section, with PayPal and Affirm was hidden below the mobile fold, suggesting you can only Sign In & Checkout!

🙁 At least this style doesn’t make the form fields stand out?

🙁 Prioritizing Guest Checkout doesn’t mean marginalizing returning customers - the Login is placed out of the main focal area, making it confusing how to proceed without create a new account

🙁 Points for styling the Sign in link in blue, but it’s still hard to see, competing with its surrounding elements

🧪 There’s a growing number of retailers charging shipping to guest checkouts. While there may be pragmatic reasons to do this, the decision must be weighed against the impact of conversion and customer trust. How many customers would return after seeing this once?