By manually reviewing WooCommerce user approval, you can prevent fraudulent activities and maintain a trustworthy online presence. Plus, it’s incredibly easy to set up.
This powerful feature allows you to review each new user registration and keep only genuine and relevant customers on your eCommerce site.
However, this feature is not available in WooCommerce’s native settings. So, you’ll have to use a third-party plugin like User Registration.
That’s why we’ve prepared a guide you can follow to approve users in WooCommerce using the User Registration form. Interested? Read ahead to learn more.
Default WooCommerce Registration and User Approval
WooCommerce does have a user registration and login form, but it has a few limitations.
First, you can’t enable WooCommerce user approval through admin for front-end registrations in WooCommerce’s native settings.
After a user registers in WooCommerce, their account is automatically verified.
The next setback is that you can’t add custom fields like shipping and billing addresses to the registration form.
Customers can only enter this information during checkout or from their dashboard. Making customers fill these fields during checkout can negatively impact the user experience and purchase completion rates.
But there’s a way you can easily overcome these drawbacks.
Best Way to Enable WooCommerce User Approval by Admin in Registration Forms
WooCommerce may not allow admin approval in its registration forms, but User Registration does.
User Registration is a WordPress plugin that allows you to build custom registration forms with its beginner-friendly drag-and-drop form builder.
You’ll be able to manually approve each user registration on your WooCommerce site and use custom forms instead of the default WooCommerce registration.
It also provides a separate WooCommerce add-on that lets you add shipping and billing address fields to your registration forms.
But that’s not even all of it. Here are some more benefits to reap out of this awesome WordPress plugin:
- Customize email templates for both admin and users
- Beautiful user profile account page
- Assign user roles through registration forms
- Strong spam protection with Google reCaptcha, Honeypot, and Cloudflare Turnstile
- Accurate statistics on user registrations
So, there’s no doubt that the User Registration plugin is the best way to approve users in WooCommerce.
Now, without further delay, let’s jump into the step-by-step tutorial on using user registration to approve WooCommerce registration forms.
How to Enable Admin Approval in WooCommerce User Registration Forms?
We assume that you already have the WooCommerce plugin installed on your website. If not, you should create an eCommerce website using the plugin before proceeding with the following steps.
1. Install User Registration Plugin and WooCommerce Add-on
The first step for WooCommerce user approval is to install the user registration plugin on your website.
To do so, navigate to Plugins >> Add New and search for the User Registration plugin. Once you find the plugin, click Install Now.
You could also download the plugin from the official User Registration WordPress.org page and upload it from the Add New section.
Don’t forget to activate User Registration to complete the installation process, regardless of your chosen method.
After activating, set up the plugin and install the Registration and My Account pages. You can use these pages instead of creating a new one from scratch.
2. Allow Users to Register with a Front-end form
Next, you should allow users to register using a front-end registration form. You can do this from the General tab under Settings.
You’ll find the Membership option, which is turned off by default. This prevents your users from accessing a front-end registration form.
By ticking the checkbox next to Anyone can register, you’ll make your registration forms visible to them.
After you’re done, click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
3. Create a New Custom WooCommerce Registration Form
Now, it’s time to create a custom WooCommerce registration form. This is mandatory because you cannot apply the admin approval settings to the default WooCommerce user registration form.
You can only approve users through the custom WooCommerce forms you create with User Registration. So, let’s get started.
You’ll need the WooCommerce add-on, accessible only with a premium user registration account. So, head to User Registration’s pricing page and buy a premium plan.
Then, log into your premium account and download the add-on from the Downloads section of the account dashboard.
After that, install it on your WordPress site following the steps mentioned above.
On the Plugins page, you’ll be asked to enter the license key under User Registration. Enter the license key you received in your email after you purchased the plugin.
You can also install the add-on through User Registration >> Extensions, search for WooCommerce Integration, and hit the Activate button.
If you don’t have the WooCommerce plugin installed, you’ll see a warning similar to the image below.
Once that’s done, go to the User Registration tab and click on Add New. Now, click on Start From Scratch to build a new form or use the pre-built form.
Now, you’ll see that the form builder has all the available form fields on the left and the actual form on the right. Drag and drop the required form field.
If you scroll down under the Fields, you’ll find all the WooCommerce Billing Address fields you might need like Billing Address, Postcode/ Zip, Phone, Address 1, Address 2, and Country.
All you have to do is drag and drop the required fields into the form.
When you’ve completed building the form, press the Create Form button at the top left corner of the builder.
4. Customize Your WooCommerce Registration Form
The next step is to customize the registration form you just created. Simply click on the field you want to edit, which will take you to its Field Options on the left-hand side of the interface.
You can change the field Label, Description, and Placeholder from the General Settings. You can also set the field as Required and hide the label.
Similarly, Advanced Settings allows you to add custom classes to the fields. Better yet, there are some extra options for specific fields like Country, where you can choose which countries to display in the dropdown.
Then, hit the Update button as soon as you’re done making the changes.
You can also view what the form looks like to your customers with the Preview button.
5. Enable Admin Approval after Registration
Now, here’s the most crucial part of this tutorial. You still need to enable admin approval in this custom WooCommerce user registration form.
You can do so from the User login option in the Form Setting. Just select Admin approval after registration from the dropdown and click Update.
This ensures that only the site admin can approve or reject new registrations. Registered users will stay in a pending status and can’t log in until they’re approved.
If required, you can also configure additional settings, such as enabling strong passwords, assigning default user roles, and more.
6. Replace the Default WooCommerce Registration Form with the Custom Form
Finally, you must replace the default WooCommerce registration form with your custom form.
Otherwise, your customers will continue registering through the default form, and you cannot moderate the new users.
First, go to the WooCommerce >> Settings tab. In the Accounts & Privacy section, you’ll see an option called Account Creation.
If you haven’t already, turn on the “Allow customers to create an account on the “My Account” page option.
Hit the Save changes button at the end.
This allows customers to register through front-end WooCommerce registration forms. Now, go back to User Registration’s Settings and open the WooCommerce tab.
Select the custom form you just made from the dropdown. Once you’ve done that, tick the Replace Registration Page option and Save Changes.
Now, your website will display the User Registration login and registration form instead of the default forms.
Plus, the shipping and billing address fields will be automatically filled with the data from this form during checkout.
Regarding the account pages, User Registration and WooCommerce both have My Account pages, which may cause conflict.
You can choose the User Registration’s My Account page to avoid this.
To do that, navigate to WooCommerce’s Settings and open the Advanced tab. Simply set the My account page to User Registration’s My Account.
Distinguishing Between User Registration and WooCommerce Account Pages:
Both User Registration and WooCommerce have pages named “My Account.”
So, to differentiate, look for the following:
a) URL Identifier: Look for a unique ID in the URL of each page.
b) Capitalization: The page title appears as “My account” for WooCommerce, while the page title appears as “My Account” for User Registration.
Select the correct one based on these distinctions when referencing or working with these pages.
So, use the search bar to find “My Account” and select “My Account Page” offered by User Registration.
Don’t forget to save the changes once you select the page.
And with that, you’re done with WooCommerce user approval through admin!
Wrapping Up
This concludes our quick tutorial on enabling WooCommerce user approval by admins in registration forms.
The default WooCommerce registration doesn’t facilitate this feature, so you must use WordPress plugins like User Registration.
However, this only activates user approval for the custom WooCommerce registration form built with User Registration, not the default one.
To approve users through the default form, try admin approval plugins like WordPress & WooCommerce Approve New User Registration instead.
Besides, you can explore more WooCommerce registration form plugins if creating custom registration forms is your priority.
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