Improve the shopping experience on your eCommerce store with the best UX practices.
Get useful pointers on e-commerce user experience, tablet interfaces, mobile UX, responsive design, holiday banners, email design and more.
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Things to take care when you opt for a single page checkout
Data validation - Don’t wait until the user submits the form, validate and notify the user in real-time. Real-time inline validation will help your customers complete the checkout quickly with less effort and fewer errors. Make sure the notification is prominent...
read moreSingle page checkout
One-page or express checkout: As the name implies, shipping information, delivery information, billing and payment details will all be in one page for easy access and to make the checkout process as quick as possible. Customers need not go back and forth between the...
read moreCheckout design
Think of how you feel when you have to deal with a cashier in a brick-and-mortar store who takes a lot of time to bill your items or doesn’t know how to process your gift voucher. The more time it takes, the more frustrated you get. You are also far less likely to...
read moreAllow to print the cart content
Your shopper might buy for someone else or have to get the order approved by someone else. So make the approval process easier for them by providing an option to print or email the contents of the shopping...
read moreCross-sell/upsell
Use the shopping cart page to increase the cart size and the average order value by recommending personalized products or add-ons or simply sections such as customers who bought this also bought, top sellers or you might like. Test the placement, design, the products...
read moreShow different payment options
Shoppers might abandon their cart if their preferred payment method is not accepted by you. Offer multiple payment options and show the different payment options that you accept on the cart page as it will increase the chances of your customers continuing with...
read moreCreate urgency
You can reduce cart abandonment by creating urgency. Specify the number of units still available in stock if there are only few left. Or if you offer a deal on the products added to cart and that it ends in a day or two, then shout that...
read morePersuade your shoppers with offers
When on the cart page, you can persuade your shoppers to add more products to the cart by offering something. Say, if you offer free shipping or discount on orders above a certain amount, then you can remind your shoppers of how much more they need to spend to get...
read moreWhat if shoppers buy gifts for someone else?
When possible add a gift wrapping option to purchases on your store and allow buyers to add a personal note to their gifts. Also, let the shopper choose whether or not to include the price information in the invoice during...
read moreAllow shoppers to save items for later
If an user feels that they cannot afford the total cost of their order, they might remove a few items from the cart. Provide an option to save or move those products to a wishlist so that they don’t lose track of it. You could also remind them of the products in the...
read moreShould you save the shopping carts?
Save the contents of an abandoned cart, just in case the shopper returns in a day or two. Specify on the cart page how long you will retain their selection. It is possible that they might forget their selection when they visit your website again. Greet the shopper...
read moreLet the shoppers easily remove items from cart
Provide a clear text link to remove an item from cart and name it remove instead of delete. Also allow the user to set the quantity to zero to remove an item from cart. Once the user clicks the remove link, instead of removing the item immediately ask if the click was...
read moreAllow the user to edit cart items
Allow your customer to easily edit the quantity or the product options on the cart page itself without having to navigate to the product page. If inline editing is not allowed, then provide a quick look feature in the cart page so that the users don’t have to navigate...
read moreNotify when an item has been added to cart
When a shopper adds an item to their cart don’t make them guess whether the item has been added or not, provide a prominent confirmation message. You can either provide the confirmation message on the same page or redirect them to the cart page. When you keep the...
read moreShould you provide an option to calculate shipping in the cart page?
If you ship to multiple countries or your shipping charges differ for different locations within the same country, then you definitely have to allow your customers to choose the shipping location or specify the zip code in the cart page so that they can calculate the...
read morePromo code option
If you offer something with a promo code, then allow the user to enter it in the cart page and check the order total with the applied code. Downplay the promo code section and make sure you link it with the promo listings. You can use this section to grow your email...
read moreTrust and confidence factors
Would a shopper trust you if they don’t know you well? Remind your customers that their information will be safe with you by including security certificates and privacy policy as security concerns would stop them from completing their purchase. Don’t forget to include...
read moreProvide an option to add more products to cart
When on the cart page allow your customers to continue shopping. But don’t take them to a default page or homepage, let the shoppers choose where to go next. Provide a list of recently viewed pages to choose from. Instead of cluttering the cart page with a bunch of...
read moreCheckout button
This is the most important button on the cart page. Highlight it so it attracts attention. Keep meaningful text on the checkout button such as Pay securely now or Proceed to checkout etc instead of using contextual words such as continue. Place the primary CTA above...
read moreSubtotal and final cost
Before proceeding to checkout let the user know the total order cost. In the total include tax, packaging or shipping costs if any. Don’t hide any cost in the shopping cart. Also, shout out if you offer free shipping and specify the amount that the user has saved by...
read moreAvailability of the products in the cart
If a product goes out of stock after the user added it to cart, then specify that right on the cart page itself so that the user doesn’t have to end up paying for a product that is not...
read moreSummary of the products in the cart
Provide the name of the product and a clear product image. Clicking on this should take the user to the appropriate product page. Also, provide a brief description of the product along with info on the size and color selected which the shoppers can use to check if...
read moreEmpty shopping cart design
When the shopping cart is empty, remind your users to add products to cart instead of just saying that it is empty. Provide shopping instructions and a call to action that entices users to do so. You can also include product recommendations or your store’s unique...
read moreMini shopping cart
Having a mini shopping cart is definitely not an alternative to the full page cart as decision making will be tedious with just a mini cart. It will help shoppers keep track of how much they spend and what they buy. Provide a link in the mini cart to view the full...
read moreFull page cart
Users make their final purchase decisions when they are in the cart page. Shoppers add products to cart so that they can review or compare the items they have chosen, check whether the order total meets their budget or whether they qualify for free shipping etc. So,...
read moreWhere should the shopping cart icon be?
Allow your users to easily locate the shopping cart. Place the shopping cart icon on the top right of every page in your store. Indicate whether the cart contains products or not by specifying the total number of items. Also specify the total value of the items...
read moreIs the search box easy to use?
After you make your sitesearch easy to find, make it usable. Text in the search box: Keep some meaningful text in the search box and make it disappear on clicking so that the users can enter their search term without any confusion. If shoppers don’t find the desired...
read moreIs your search box clearly visible and quickly noticeable?
Let your shoppers hunt for products, not for your search box. Make your search box stand out so that people can easily find it. Sitesearch elements: Avoid using only a submit button without the text field. That will make the search box hard to find. Also avoid having...
read moreDo you need to have sitesearch on your eCommerce store?
Whether you are a large eCommerce store with a wide range of goods or a small one with simple navigation, you definitely need to have sitesearch on your store as it would help you learn what your shoppers expect from you and shoppers who use sitesearch are more likely...
read moreTo improve the shopping experience
You can use pop-ups that are triggered by shopper’s interaction with the site to improve the shopping experience. Say when shoppers use the search field, to make the search more relevant you can provide them the choice to enter the age and gender of their kid if your...
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