WooCommerce: Move Email Field to Top @ Checkout

This tutorial is a spin-off of a previous article (WooCommerce: Move / Reorder Checkout Fields) as I feel there is a huge boost of requests for this task alone.

Moving the billing email field to the top of the WooCommerce checkout gives you many benefits: because it’s the first field customers need to fill out, you can capture their email address (upon marketing permission) and send them cart reminders, feedback requests and similar if they do not complete the checkout.

Also, having the email first can make you save time in case the user is already registered, and you could save them time while checking this against the list of customers, so a prompt can be displayed to load all their billing/shipping details for example.

Either way, it’s super easy to move the email field to the top. Enjoy!

Moving the Billing Email checkout field to the top couldn’t be easier!

PHP Snippet: Move Billing Email Field to Top @ WooCommerce Checkout

/**
 * @snippet       Move Email Field To Top @ Checkout Page
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    Woo 4.9
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */
 
add_filter( 'woocommerce_billing_fields', 'bbloomer_move_checkout_email_field' );

function bbloomer_move_checkout_email_field( $address_fields ) {
    $address_fields['billing_email']['priority'] = 1;
    return $address_fields;
}

Where to add custom code?

You should place PHP snippets at the bottom of your child theme functions.php file and CSS at the bottom of its style.css file. Make sure you know what you are doing when editing such files - if you need more guidance, please take a look at my guide "Should I Add Custom Code Via WP Editor, FTP or Code Snippets?" and my video tutorial "Where to Place WooCommerce Customization?"

Does this snippet (still) work?

Please let me know in the comments if everything went as expected. I would be happy to revise the snippet if you report otherwise (please provide screenshots). I have tested this code with Storefront theme, the WooCommerce version listed above and a WordPress-friendly hosting.

If you think this code saved you time & money, feel free to join 17,000+ WooCommerce Weekly subscribers for blog post updates and 250+ Business Bloomer supporters for 365 days of WooCommerce benefits. Thank you in advance!

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Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza.

10 thoughts on “WooCommerce: Move Email Field to Top @ Checkout

  1. Works like a charm, thanks!
    I’m using your custom php code that asks for a account password

    add_filter( 'woocommerce_checkout_fields' , 'bloomer_custom_override_checkout_fields' );
    
    function bloomer_custom_override_checkout_fields( $fields ) {
         $fields['account']['account_password']['placeholder'] = '';
         return $fields;
    }
    

    How do I get this password field right under the email field (on top of the page)?

    I tried something like

    //PASSWORD second during CHECKOUT
    add_filter( 'woocommerce_billing_fields', 'move_checkout_password_field' );
     
    function move_checkout_password_field( $fields ) {
        $fields['account']['account_password']['priority'] = 2;
        return $fields;
    }
    

    But this didn’t work

    1. Hello Markus, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

  2. hi there
    great idea, but this does not seem to work with your email validation snippet
    the email box came up, was half width, then went on to first name, 2nd name was on a different line and the validation box still in the orignial place

    woodmart theme

    Thanks

    Amy

    1. Thank you Amy. I guess they’d need to be coded so they’re compatible. Does this specific snippet work ok on its own?

      1. hi there

        I just deactivated the email vaildation and put this one in, and it didnt work and, so I suspect it is my theme.

        There isn’t an email notification for replies for messages, or am I missing something?

        Thanks for all these great things.

        Amy

        1. Hi Amy, weird. Did you try switching to another theme temporarily to verify that?

  3. I love it, it is a great enhancement.

  4. Thanks for this great and short tutorial. How could we validate the email address against our user database and if existing, ask the visitor to login?

    1. Hi Daniel, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

Questions? Feedback? Support? Leave your Comment Now!
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If you are writing code, please wrap it between shortcodes: [php]code_here[/php]. Failure to complying with this (as well as going off topic, not writing in English, etc.) will result in comment deletion. You should expect a reply in about 2 weeks - this is a popular blog but I need to get paid work done first. Please consider joining BloomerArmada to get blog comment reply priority, ask me 1-to-1 WooCommerce questions and enjoy many more perks. Thank you :)

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