Most eCommerce store owners are oblivious to the idea of why it is imperative to have a terms and conditions (T&C) checkbox at the checkout or any other part of the website. They only realise its importance once they are hit with a legal complaint or a negative review which wouldn’t happen if there were T&C clearly mentioned.
T&C refers to the rights and responsibilities of all parties. In the context of eCommerce, the parties are usually the site owner and the visitors, including the customers. In simple terms, we can define T&C as a contract between the website owner and the users. Before we discuss how to add one in your Magento 2 store, let’s discuss their importance.
Why Add a Terms and Conditions Checkbox?
- Legal Protection
- Reduce Uncertainty
- Legal Compliance
- Build Trust
By providing your customers with a comprehensive list of T&C, you are making it clear what their rights and responsibilities are. This provides legal protection in case a customer wishes to file a complaint. For instance, you could outline how the customer’s data will be used and handled. If this is not stated anywhere and you use the data for anything, it can amount to misuse of personal data.
By providing clear information regarding refunds, exchange, shipping, privacy, security, or any other aspect of the store, the probability of misunderstanding is reduced. Customers will know that they can claim a refund in X number of days, or they can get an exchange only under specific circumstances.
Many countries and states now require a license to operate an online store. Likewise, they have made it mandatory for online businesses to provide customers with T&C that governs their relationship. Therefore, listing the T&C at the checkout process ensures legal compliance.
According to the below figure, eCommerce sales are set to increase substantially over the coming years. What does it indicate?
It shows that more and more people are going to try their luck in eCommerce. From a business perspective, it means even greater competition. While competition is healthy, too much of it can erode your market share and eat away at your profitability. Therefore, you must focus on differentiating your store from others.
One way to do this is to focus on building trust. When customers associate your brand with high levels of reliability and trust, it will have a positive impact on your bottom-line. By clearly stating what customers can expect from the business i.e. their rights and responsibilities, trust is enhanced automatically.
It is very important, not required by law though, to have terms and conditions for your website. Terms and conditions (T&C), also called Terms of service (ToS) or Terms of use (ToU) outline the rights and obligations for anyone using the site. It is a contract between the user and the site.
Adding a T&C Checkbox to the Checkout Process
The best place to add a T&C checkbox in your Magento 2 store is at the checkout phase. Unless users agree to the T&C, they cannot place the order. It ensures that users are aware of the T&C. They cannot complain that they did not see the T&C even though ignorance is not a valid defence in law.
There are several ways to add a T&C checkbox. Let’s share the easiest and most effective one.
FME Extensions Brings T&C Checkbox Extension
The easiest way to add the checkbox is by using an extension. As a leading Magento Development Company, we have developed a wide range of extensions. You can use our powerful Magento 2 Custom Checkout Fields Extension to add a mandatory Terms and Conditions checkbox to the checkout page.
The extension allows you to add any custom field to any step of the checkout process. It is also compatible with a one-click checkout process. You can use the extension to obtain data from up to 12 different categories. The extension is customisable to your unique requirements. For this, reach out to our Extensions Support Centre.
First, you have to create Terms and Conditions. To do so, do the following.
Step 1: Create Magento 2 Terms and Conditions
- Go to Stores > Terms and Conditions
- Click “Add New Condition” button
- Condition Name – Give any name you want for internal reference.
- Status – Set Status to “Enabled”
- Show Content as – Select either Text or HTML to display terms and conditions content as unformatted or formatted respectively.
- Applied – Select manually (get user consent) to apply the checkbox.
- Store View – Select the store view where the Terms and Conditions are to be used.
- Checkbox Text – Enter the text for the Terms and Conditions link.
- Content – Enter the actual content of the terms and conditions.
- Content Height (CSS) – Enter the Content Height in pixels to decide the height of the text box where the terms and conditions statement appears during checkout.
- Click Save Condition
Next, you have to add the terms and conditions checkbox to checkout page.
Step 2: Add Magento 2 Terms and Conditions Checkbox
- Login to Magento 2 admin panel
- Go to Stores > Configuration
- Under Sales, select Checkout
- Expand the Checkout Options section
- Check if the field Enable Onepage Checkout is set to YES
- Set Enable Terms and Conditions field to YES
- Click Save Config.
This will add the terms & conditions checkbox to your Magento 2 checkout page as below.
That’s all about creating and adding terms & conditions checkbox to Magento 2 checkout page. Please let us know if you have any questions.
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