WooCommerce Account Settings
WooCommerce provides many options regarding account creation.
When using the ActiveMember360 WooCommerce Extension the recommended settings are shown below. The rationale for these settings follows thereafter.
However we must emphasise these are recommended settings. You could of course use whatever settings you desire. ActiveMember360 does not place any restriction upon how WooCommerce functions.
Guest checkout
Allow customers to place an order without an account
Recommended setting: Unchecked
There is a perception that allowing a customer to place an order without an account (i.e. a guest checkout) provides a smoother checkout experience.
However for a purchase, typically an intital purchase, where the customer does not yet exist as a WordPress user and when you use the settings recommended for account creation here the checkout process is identical whether allowing a guest checkout or not.
Also WooCommerce does not allow the purchase of subscription products using the WooCommerce Guest checkout. A WordPress user account must always be created to purchase subscription products so the recurring subscription can be configured correctly and payments can be collected in the future.
Allowing a guest checkout also means that your existing customers may not benefit from ActiveMember360 WooCommerce Extension Tag Based Pricing if it has been configured.
Most importantly, if you allow a guest checkout, those orders made using a guest checkout will never be associated with a WordPress user with the guest checkout email address unless you manually associate them by editing the order in retrospect. Whilst there are plugins that can automate that process they are extremely inefficient and could cause performance issues with your site.
All these factors combine and hence our recommendation for Allow customers to place an order without an account to be unchecked.
Allow customers to login to an existing account during checkout
Recommended setting: Checked
If the visitor exists as a WordPress user before purchasing and they use the email address of that user on the order form they will need to login before the order is submitted.
It is more convenient for your customers to login on the checkout page, and remain on that page, rather than them having to navigate elsewhere to login.
Account creation
Allow customers to create an account during checkout
Recommended setting: Checked
If you are not using Guest checkout you must provide a way for a user account to be created.
The most appropriate time for creating a user account is when the visitor places an order.
With the recommended settings for account creation the account will be created automatically without any required intervention by the visitor.
Also if you are not using Guest checkout and this setting is unchecked the visitor must create an account by other means and login before they are able to checkout.
Allow customers to create an account on the "My account" page
Recommended setting: Unchecked
The most appropriate time for creating a user account is when the visitor places an order rather than when visiting the WooCommerce "My Account" page.
If the user hasn't purchased, or attempted to purchase, anything from you there is no good reason for having WooCommerce create a user account.
When creating an account, automatically generate an account username for the customer based on their name, surname or email
Recommended setting: Checked
When checked the ActiveMember360 WooCommerce Extension will automatically create the account username equivalent to the submitted email address.
This is consistent with how ActiveMember360 operates when creating any WordPress user.
If unchecked the visitor will need to provide an account username prior to account creation.
When creating an account, send the new user a link to set their password
Recommended setting: Checked
When checked a password will be automatically created however this will not be emailed to the user.
Instead they will be sent an email with a link to enable them to set a password of their choosing.
If unchecked the visitor will need to provide a password prior to account creation.