WooCommerce is the best option for setting up an online store for e-commerce businesses. However, if you want to know how to improve your store, knowing WooCommerce – its plusses and its limitation; is fundamental.
On your store, there are several details displayed on each page. And there are a few options for the visitor/customer to add details from their end. These are managed and displayed via fields.
You can add additional information to your site with Custom Fields, a convenient way of customizing.
WooCommerce Custom Fields
With the help of custom fields, you can add extra data and display them on your website. Most of them do this by programming. But there’s another way to get it done that doesn’t require technical knowledge and is easy for non-developers.
Custom fields can undoubtedly be added using codes; apart from that, it can be done using tools like WooCommerce plugins – which is the easiest way, so far.
Here, in this blog, we will discuss the custom fields and their uses in product pages, and at checkout, also learn how to add custom fields using plugins.
When we say Custom Fields, in a general context, they are versatile and have different use depending on the pages they are added.
At checkout, they are used to alter the checkout form.
While on a product page, it is mainly used for adding extra product info.
WooCommerce custom product fields
On a product page, the WooCommerce custom field mainly has two uses – one, for adding more about the product, and second for giving extra options, i.e., allowing customers to choose product add-ons (as they are commonly known).
When do you usually require to add custom fields to your product page? The most common use of extra fields to add additional information on products – like the technical specification, manufacturing, and raw material information, nutritional value, shipping, and pricing information, custom pricing, etc.
Another requirement of having additional fields on the products pages is when we offer options for customizing with the help of custom input fields like text fields, checkboxes, and select options for customers to choose. These are the two typical uses of custom fields on a product page.
There are a few limitations to customizing options available on the product page and adding custom fields required with Woocommece.
As said earlier; undoubtedly, plugins are the ideal method for adding custom fields for various functionalities; Woocommerce Extra Product Options by Themehigh is the best among the rest.
The plugin allows you to easily add any custom field to WooCommerce products and display product add-ons in simple clicks. It also lets you create sections and group similar fields together (for premium users).
To have this plugin on your store, you need to download the plugin and activate it to get it started. For a trial, probably, you can use the free version of the plugin and then switch to the premium one from Themehigh, which, of course, is loaded with a lot more advanced features and offers around 26 field types.
How to add custom fields to display extra information
This is a classic example of showing extra details on a product page. With the help of even a primary field type like the ‘text field,’ you can add those additional data about the product.
How do you add paragraphs/headings (a few basic types of fields) to your product page?
- Go to Product Options
- Click on the Add New button
- Select the field type depending on the kind of details that you want to share on the product page
- Add the details to the space given
- Select – Enable & click on the Save button
What are the advantages of using Custom fields for displaying additional information?
- Add additional fields to any product in your store.
- If custom fields are not required for each product on your site, you can choose to display fields based on products, categories, tags, and users that you specify.
- Display different information, fields, or even altered pricing depending on which variation the user has selected by a setting conditional rule.
- Organise multiple similar custom fields into groups into a separate section to make it easier for the user to view additional product information
How to add custom fields to display extra product options (product add-ons)
We have made a detailed preview of the custom product fields for additional information. We will now take a look at WooCommerce product add-ons. This example is for a better understanding of what is meant by – extra product options or add-ons. Here you can see a ‘color palette field type’ displayed as an added option for the customer to pick.
There are several options available to use. From image group fields to select fields, radio button or multi-select, date picker, and so on (just a few as an example) to use depending on the type of product – its uses and the product add-ons.
How do you add extra product options? Just like the additional product fields, the steps for adding add-ons are the same. You may have to select colours for the colour picker or upload product images for the image group to use those as your extra product option fields.
The WooCommerce product add-on field type includes:
- File upload
- Date and time picker
- Select and multi-select
- Checkbox and checkbox group
- Switch
- Slider
- Radio
- Image group and more
What are the best and most common uses of these field types?
It is most notably used in personalising products giving customers to select from the options and customize the products.
A few typical scenarios are listed below:
- For brandings; like uniforms, merchandise, or anything similar
- Engraved objects – like jewelry, show pieces, and artwork
- Food items like pizza, cakes, and sandwiches for personalized choices and extra add-ons
- For specifying configurations like for phones and laptops
There are a few more unusual use cases of this plugin for its uniqueness that you may love to learn from this interesting article – Best ways to use WooCommerce Add-ons by Themehigh for better customer satisfaction.
The added custom product fields can be displayed at several places, depending on your choice – on the cart page, checkout page, customer order page, and admin order detail page. The details in an admin order detail page help the store owner quickly know what the customer wants from the admin order. These details also appear at the checkout before the customer finally makes the payment.
So this concludes the easy way of adding custom fields to the product page and its best uses. We know now that with the help of a simple plugin from Themehigh – WooCommerce Extra Product Option, you can customise the product pages and add product add-ons by its unique features and add custom fields out of the 26 different field types available.
So far, we have understood the custom product fields and their 2 different uses in a product page. The subsequent very crucial use of custom fields comes at the checkout page. Now let us learn the other uses and how to add custom fields to the checkout.
WooCommerce Custom Checkout Fields
The default woocommerce checkout is excellent for primary kind of use of the checkout page. It includes everything a basic checkout page would consist of – like name, addresses details, payment, and so on, just as the example shows.
As this is the place you gather details from the customer, it is vital that you must have all the correct information you may need and at the same time also have a better user experience and trust.
The checkout page again can be customised in 2 ways – by using a plugin and then doing it with the help of coding. Here in this blog, we will learn how the plugin will let you add custom fields and modify the checkout page.
How to add custom fields to the checkout
There are several options when choosing a plugin to add custom fields. Still, here we will be taking up the best and the most popular one – the Checkout Filed Editor (Checkout Manager) plugin by Themehigh again. This plugin, too, offers a free and a premium version for paid users with excellent features that are very convenient.
- Get the plugin, activate and install it on your store
- Then you first have to go to the Checkout section from the dashboard
- Click on the Add New button
- Pick a field type from the 24 types listed that you want to use
- Enable and Save.
Say you want a file – like an image or maybe a PDF file to be uploaded at the checkout (for example, a medical prescription or any personal identity certificate). If you want your customer to choose a delivery date, then you need to have extra fields to add these features.
You can have fields from text fields, number, email, telephone, select, radio, checkbox, and many more, just mentioning a few, which can be added to the checkout. You can also edit, delete, move or modify the existing fields.
Apart from adding fields, creating separate sections; or similar fields can be grouped into separate new sections within the checkout.
You can display fields and sections conditionally using specific logical rules and similarly repeat them using logical rules.
You can use a validator to validate the input from the user’s end.
Alter pricing; say, while picking the type of shipping or adding a tip or a donation as an example.
The plugin has several functionalities to help you create, modify, and manage the checkout page of your store. Hopefully, this plugin will help you get the best for your checkout page, getting the right kind of custom fields and supporting features for your store.
Hoping that the details shared about woocommerce custom fields and their uses in the product pages and the checkout page have been helpful and informative. Please let us know if this was useful, and share your views, comments, and queries below.