Where to go after "Add to Cart"

Product page or shopping cart

[ChadSEO]

We're currently in the process of redesigning our site, and there is some discussion on what to do when a customer clicks on the "Add to Cart" button.

In the past, we had taken them to the shopping cart. Due to a small number of complaints that they didn't need to see their cart every time an item was added, and that they had difficulty navigating back to the product listing they had come from (the page before the product page), it was changed to take them back to the product page after adding to cart. We are discussing changing it back to the shopping cart to 1) make it more obvious that the item was added to the cart (no confirmation as it is now), and 2) try to emphasize the cross-sells, which currently are limited to the product page, well below the fold.

I was wondering what experiences people had with both scenarios, taking customers to the product page or to the shopping cart. What complaints have you gotten with each one? Any changes seen with regards to avg. order size or conversion numbers? Any usability studies done to support either one?

Thanks!

[Jorb]

Our answer of where to go after "Add to Cart" is to keep them on the same page. It is what Amazon does and some of the e-commerce software out there. This is okay because there is a "minicart", in the side navigation of each page, that is updated.

When someone adds a pair of pants, lets say, the minicart displays:

pants x1 $34.99
Total $34.99

Then they two pairs of shoes:

pants x1 $34.99
shoes x2 $67.98
Total $102.97

Each listing is a link to view the detailed information on that product. There are also two additional links: "View Cart Details" and "Proceed to Checkout".

It allows our customers to go through the buying process quickly and efficiently, and gives constant feedback about what is happening.

[iProgram]

I use iframe to display the Add to Cart button and after customer clicks the button, the iframe will change to Checkout button. Customer won't leave the current page.

[incrediBILL]

The concept of the cart being "elsewhere" is so 1990s.

The simple solution to this problem which is elegant and very useful which most of my customers use is the "mini cart" in the page. As you add items it shows the list on the side of the screen, totals, you can remove or increase quantity on the same page and if you're very good you'll even give them a shipping guesstimate.

[psage]

Jorb: Go back to Amazon and add something to your cart.

It does not stay on the same page.

You go to a shopping cart page with the title "Amazon.com Shopping Cart", which shows you your cart on the right with two "Proceed to Checkout" buttons and one "Edit Shopping Cart" button.

To the left is a page of upsells: "Customers who bought 'product name' also bought:" or "Top products in 'categoryname':", etc.

It may look like a mini-cart page, but it's just a shopping cart page with most of the page area devoted to upsells.

After leaving this page to continue shopping, the only way to get back to your cart is to add something else to it, or to press the Cart icon or link in the upper right of the page.

So no, Amazon does not have a floating cart.

[incrediBILL]

Amazon is a mess - my wife was shopping over there the other night yelling about it.

I wouldn't hold them up as the end-all-be-all of shopping as I don't like them much either.

They win out like Wal-Mart does, momentum.

[incrediBILL]

BTW, I forgot to mention you should head over to the Nielsen Norman Group web site and plunk down the money for their eBook on ecommerce design. The best $129 you'll ever spend reading how they did the focus groups, what works and doesn't work, etc.

If you're rebuilding from scratch I seriously think their information will help you avoid many pitfalls from the start, I highly recommend it.

[lgn1]

You be surprized, of the number of sites that I visited that had, little tiny return to cart, or impossible to find checkout buttons.

This would be the equivalent of Walmart having one tiny checkout register, buried somewhere in the womans underwear section.

[perkiset]

Our stores put surfers back on the detail page they clicked "Add To Cart" from, but we put a "mini version" of the shopping cart in the left area of the web page, a little note at the top of the page "XYZ was added to your cart" and "Pay for my order" at the top right. The mini cart shows them what they have, and also allows them quick access to a full cart view if the surfer chooses. This system now has about 2 years under it with marvelous user feedback. All custom written though in a combination of Kylix and PHP... we found that throwing the surfer to the shopping cart often disrupted their shopping spree - we don't want to get in the way of their sponteneity, so letting them know "It Happened" but letting them continue down the aisle they've currently chosen into works well for us.

[incrediBILL]

If you feel you must drop them on the cart page then upsell everything in the cart, put it to use.

[ace2000]

I really like the way Overstock.com does their checkout. As soon as you add something to the cart, you'll see a checkout progress bar at the top that encourages customers to continue on with checkout. The progress bar shows "Review Cart" as the first step, and then it continues on from there. They do about $20+ million per year.

[jsinger]

Overstock.com is traded on the NASDAQ and has revenue of about $578 million. My guess is they spend about that much on TV ads.

[Deab]

BTW, I forgot to mention you should head over to the Nielsen Norman Group web site and plunk down the money for their eBook on ecommerce design. The best $129 you'll ever spend reading how they did the focus groups, what works and doesn't work, etc.

I took your advice, and I've only skimmed the book so far, but it looks like a very good read. Thanks for the tip!