Improvement / Admin

Checkout customer information settings now come with
recommended changes

Eligible stores now see personalized recommendations for their customer information settings on the Checkout settings page in the Shopify admin. Applying them means collecting more complete customer information at checkout, making it easier to re-engage past buyers and personalize marketing. Existing settings stay unchanged unless you apply the recommendations.

On this page
  1. In 30 seconds: what was added
  2. How it works: from recommendation to applied
  3. The 3 settings a recommendation can cover
  4. Existing stores vs. new stores
  5. How to review and apply
  6. What the announcement does not say (no guessing)
  7. 5 points developers should know
  8. 3 practical use cases
  9. A one-line summary you can use in a pitch

1In 30 seconds: what was added

Eligible stores, from the Checkout settings page in the Shopify admin, can now receive personalized recommendations for customer information settings .
You can review the recommendations and apply them as-is.Existing stores' settings do not change unless you apply them.

Where it appears

The Checkout settings page in the Shopify admin — not a separate app or screen.

What appears

Recommendations for your customer information settings, personalized per store.

Why it exists

To collect more complete customer information at checkout, so you can re-engage past buyers and personalize your marketing.

2How it works: from recommendation to applied

Eligible store (eligible stores) Open Checkout settings Shopify admin Recommendations are shown Contact method → email only Require first and last name Collect shipping phone as optional Personalized to each store Review and decide Whether or not to apply is up to the merchant Act on it directly from the settings page If you apply it Settings change to the recommended values If you don't apply it Existing settings stay as they are
Nothing changes on its own — that's the most reassuring part.The recommendations are just suggestions: an existing store's settings won't change unless the merchant takes action to apply them.

33 settings the recommendations may include

The article gives these three as examples (note the wording — "may include").

Example 1

Set the customer contact method to email only

A recommendation to set customer contact method to email-only.

Required Example 2

Require first and last name

A recommendation to make first name / last name required.

Example 3

Collect the shipping address phone number as optional

A recommendation to collect the shipping address phone number as optional.

The recommendations arepersonalized for each store, according to the article. So these three won't necessarily show up the same way for every store — you'll need to check your own admin to see which ones appear.

4Existing stores vs. new stores

ItemExisting storesNew stores
Status of the recommended settings Not applied Current settings kept as-is Applied by default Recommended settings are the default
What to do Review the recommendations in your checkout settings and decide whether to apply them Nothing to do (already running with the recommended settings)
If you do nothing, your settings stay exactly as they are —
Scope The post only says "Eligible stores." The detailed eligibility criteria areNot stated

5How to review and apply

1

Open your checkout settings

Go to the Checkout settings page in the Shopify admin.

2

Review the recommendations

Check the recommendations shown for your customer information settings.

3

Apply from the same screen

You can apply the changes directly from checkout settings. Nothing changes unless you apply them.

6What the announcement does NOT say (don't guess)

Not stated

Eligibility criteria for stores

There is no mention of which stores qualify — plan, country, store size, or anything else. The only way to find out is whether it shows up in your admin.

Not stated

How the recommendations are generated

It only says "personalized"; there is no explanation of what the recommendations are based on.

Not stated

API / webhook support

There is no mention of whether recommendations can be retrieved or applied via API. It is described purely as an admin-side action.

Not stated

Impact numbers and rollback steps

There are no figures on how much conversion rate or information capture improves, and no steps for reverting after applying.

Changes like "email only" or "name required" areadding or removing input fields = changing the checkout experience. Before making claims about impact, the safe approach is to measure your own store before and after applying.

75 things developers should know

Existing New

1. Existing and new stores start in different states

New stores already have the recommended settings by default; existing stores do not.On projects involving multiple stores, assume the actual customer information settings differ from store to storeand take inventory accordingly.

2. Applying is an explicit action (opt-in)

Existing settings are never rewritten automatically.No unintended checkout changes are introduced, so you can decide the timing of review and rollout yourself.

3. Changes that affect customer record quality

Settings like requiring a full name or email-only contact directly become thedefinition of required fields on customer records. Review them together with the required-field assumptions on your CRM/MA integration side.

API ?

4. No mention of API handling

The article does not say whether fetching and applying recommendations can be automated.If you want to align multiple stores at once, for now assume manual work in the adminwhen estimating effort.

5. "Complete information" and "input friction" are a trade-off

What the article describes is the benefit of collecting more complete customer information , not that conversion rates go up. Requiring full names and similar changes add input fields, soapply them together with measurement. Record your settings before applying, and only proceed once you can compare order volume, completion rate, and customer-info completeness before and after.

8Three practical use cases

Store A Store B Store C
USE CASE 1

Taking inventory of inconsistent customer-information settings across multiple stores

Problem
You run multiple stores by brand and by country, and the customer information settings differ from store to store with no record of who changed what or when. Newer stores collect different fields than older ones.
Approach
Open the checkout settings for each store and flag any store showing a recommendation as one that has drifted from the recommended settings. Decide store by store whether to apply or leave as is, and keep the decisions in a single list.
Result
It costs less to understand the current state of your settings. New stores use the recommended settings by default, so bringing existing stores in line gives you a consistent customer-data standard across the board.
Technical note
The article says nothing about whether bulk fetching or bulk applying is possible via the API. For now, budget this as manual verification work in the admin.
USE CASE 2

Restarting MA campaigns that were blocked by "customer records with no name"

Problem
You want to insert customer names in email campaigns, but because full name was never required at checkout, many customers have blank name fields and you cannot build personalized segments.
Approach
If your checkout settings recommend "require first and last name," apply it and build your merge-field segments from the data collected after that point. Also consider the recommendation to narrow the contact method to email only.
Result
The customer information collected at checkout becomes more complete, making it easier to re-engage past buyers and personalize marketing — exactly the benefit the article cites.
Technical note
Record the date you applied the change and report name-completion rates for customer records separately before and after. Note that existing records are not filled in retroactively.
Before applying After applying
USE CASE 3

Running a "before and after" comparison of checkout changes with minimal effort

Problem
Proposals to touch checkout input fields tend to get shot down internally with "won't that hurt conversion?", and the discussion ends without any supporting data.
What to do
Because applying the recommendations is an explicit action, pick a date, apply them, and compare completed order counts and customer information completeness before and after. Use that as the basis for deciding whether to revert. No development work required — just checkout settings changes.
Impact
Without writing any code, you get real data on "completeness of customer information vs. friction at input", which you can reuse as evidence for future proposals.
Technical notes
Be sure to record the settings values before applying, e.g. with a screenshot (the article does not document a rollback procedure). Make the measurement period long enough to absorb seasonal effects.

9One-line summary for your proposal

"The checkout settings screen now surfaces personalization recommendations for customer information settings (email only, name required, optional collection of shipping phone number, and so on).
New stores have them applied by default; existing stores see no change unless you explicitly apply them.
Start by checking whether recommendations appear — it works as a health check on your current settings."