Website Usability Guidelines

E-Commerce Shopping Cart (3 of 4)

Follow these recommendations:

Buy Button vs. Add to Cart Button - Adding Items to the shopping cart should be effortless and noncommittal. After all, the user is putting items into the cart for possible future purchase.

When users are required to click a Buy button it is often unsettling since they are not necessarily ready to buy. Buying is the final step in the shopping experience and it should not be presumed that adding an item to the cart is a commitment to buy.

Note: Buyers are hesitant to click the buy button and search for an Add to Cart button on the page instead.

Giving No Visual Feedback - Some sites do not automatically take users to the shopping cart page when an item is added. This allows them to continue shopping without interruption. Generally, these sites have a shopping cart indicator somewhere on each page that updates and summarizes the cart content.

A problem with this method, however, occurs when the visual feedback of the change to the cart's content is too subtle or nonexistent, or is not in the user's current browser view. In all cases, users do not believe anything has been added to the cart.

As a result, they click on the Add to Cart button again and add the item a second time (and maybe again for a third time). Users end up having to go to the shopping cart page anyway just to see if the item has been added. Often times, they are surprised with multiple quantities of the same item.

Forcing the User to Use the Shopping Cart with each Purchase - As long as there is adequate visual feedback of the cart's content, there is really no need to take the user to the shopping cart page every time an item is added.

In fact, it is disruptive for multi-item shoppers, requires extra mouse clicks to continue shopping and potentially limits how many items a person buys. Note, they may be more inclined to checkout if they are already at the shopping cart page.

Allow User to Change the Quantity Purchase - Updating the shopping cart's content can be tricky to program but should be effortless to the user. Many sites still require a user to enter 0 in the quantity field and click an Update button or link to delete the item. Use of a Remove or Delete button next to an item is a far more intuitive way to achieve this.

Requiring User to Read Shopping Cart Instructions - Requiring users to read instructions on how to update the shopping cart is, in itself, a sign of poor design. First of all, users do not read such instructions.

Second, if instructions are required, then the shopping cart interface design must not be intuitive. Users should be able to figure out how to remove or change the number of items desired from viewing the cart itself.