WooCommerce Tips

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
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */
 
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 custom PHP in functions.php and custom CSS in style.css of your child theme: where to place WooCommerce customization?

This code still works, unless you report otherwise. To exclude conflicts, temporarily switch to the Storefront theme, disable all plugins except WooCommerce, and test the snippet again: WooCommerce troubleshooting 101

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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. Follow @rmelogli

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

  1. Markus Hattenschweller

    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

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      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!

      Reply
  2. Amy Skea

    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

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

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

      Reply
      1. Amy

        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

        Reply
        1. Rodolfo Melogli

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

          Reply
  3. Vlado

    I love it, it is a great enhancement.

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      Great!

      Reply
  4. Daniel

    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?

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      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!

      Reply
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