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Your beige Shopify checkout is hurting conversions: brand it, properly

Default checkouts and generic live chat scream untrustworthy. Add your logo, colours and voice - then test your call-to-action colours with a simple plan.

10 min read
Free Guide

The beige checkout problem

Too many Shopify stores ship a default-looking checkout and a bright blue live chat bubble that has never met the brand guidelines. It is a small thing that costs real money. Customers get to checkout, hesitate for half a second because it looks off, and ghost you. You are not losing sales at the ad level - you are leaking them at the finish line.

Be dramatic about the details. They are where trust lives.

What to brand (exactly)

  • Logo: a clean, high resolution logo in the checkout header. No pixelated exports. Transparent background preferred.
  • Colours: set the primary buttons, links and focus states to brand colours that still pass contrast. Use the same accent on the order summary and any upsells so it feels cohesive.
  • Typography: keep it simple and readable. If your theme supports checkout fonts, choose the closest match to your body font.
  • Favicon and icons: do not forget the tab and mobile icon - it appears in saved checkouts and email clients too.
  • Microcopy: the tiny lines matter. Help texts, error messages and the discount field label can carry your voice without being try-hard.

Where to set it in Shopify

Do it where you actually manage design - not in a code editor at midnight.

  1. 1In Shopify admin, open Online Store, then Themes.
  2. 2Click Customise on your live theme.
  3. 3At the top where you choose page templates, switch to Checkout.
  4. 4Add your logo and adjust the colours for buttons, accents, backgrounds and errors. Save. Then run a quick real-world check on mobile.

If you are on Shopify Plus, you get deeper control via Checkout Extensibility, but even standard stores can make a big difference with the basics done well.

Live chat needs a suit too

Your chat widget is part of the checkout experience whether you like it or not. Make it look like it belongs.

  • Change the widget colour to your primary or secondary brand colour. Ditch the out-of-the-box blue.
  • Add your logo or a simple mark to the launcher if your provider supports it (Intercom, Gorgias, Crisp and friends usually do).
  • Rewrite the greeting so it sounds like you. Friendly, short, and specific beats chirpy corporate any day.

A funny image: a heritage watch brand with a neon lime chat bubble shouting HELLOOO!!! at 1am. That is how you lose expensive trust for free.

A quick experiment plan for CTA colours

On-brand does not mean you should stop testing. Your call-to-action colour on the checkout continues to pull weight - and different audiences respond differently.

Here is a simple, practical plan:

  1. 1Choose two on-brand options that both have strong contrast with the button text. For example, brand navy versus a warmer, high-contrast orange used elsewhere.
  2. 2Pick one metric: checkout completion rate. Do not chase add-to-basket or time-on-page here.
  3. 3Run an A or B variant only. If you have a testing tool (Convert, VWO, Optimizely), use it. If you do not, switch the colour for a set window and compare against the previous period - just note this is less clean.
  4. 4Give it time and volume. Smaller stores should plan roughly eight weeks; larger brands with steady traffic can see stable results in two to four weeks. Aim for a few hundred completed orders per variant before you call it.
  5. 5Do not peek every day. Looking early is how random noise becomes a confident but wrong decision.

Expect that the best performing colour is sometimes not your prettiest. That is fine. Keep it if the lift is meaningful, but make sure the result is not seasonal or campaign-driven by re-checking later.

A simple checklist for busy teams

  • Logo added and crisp at checkout.
  • Primary, hover and focus colours set - and readable.
  • Error states visible without shouting.
  • Live chat bubble, logo and theme colour match the site.
  • Greeting copy rewritten to sound human.
  • One CTA colour experiment in flight, with a set end date.

Make it sing with Unwrite

  • Tighten your microcopy - field labels, error lines and reassurance text - with Unwrite GPT
  • Make your favicon, touch icons and manifest match your brand with the Unwrite Favicon tool
  • Need to refresh a size guide or returns PDF so it matches your checkout styling? Use our PDF Tools