The Best Add to Cart Options for Ecommerce

Video Transcript: The Best Add to Cart Options for Ecommerce

Hi there. I’m Lauren. I’m a conversion specialist here at Command C. Today we are talking about add to cart options. In this video, you’re going to learn what types of options are available, the pros and cons of each, and see some examples and get some inspiration for your own site.

First off, we’re talking about notification text. Here on Agua Madre, you can see that after you click add to cart, there is a notification right below the button that says that you add it to cart, and they give you the option to view the cart or continue shopping. The pro of this style of add to cart is that it keeps visitors on the product page. It doesn’t choose for them where they should be going. But one of the cons is that it’s easy to miss. Visitors might not see it, they might not realize that something was added to their cart, which can cause friction.

Up next, the side cart and drawer cart. This has become increasingly popular over the years in the e-commerce space. Some of the pros are that it’s a very clear confirmation. You stay on the product page and the side cart pulls out, and you can see a lot of information, including what is in your cart, the total, perhaps if you get free shipping, if there’s taxes, and you can also show other information like cross-sells. One of the cons is that it might be a bit too much information. It might be too overwhelming. Visitors might get confused and think some of the add-on items or the recommended items are actually in their cart, which can cause friction.

Another option is the mini cart. In the screenshot here, we can see this notification that pops up, mentioning that something is added. It repeats what the item is and then allows visitors to exit out, view the cart, or continue shopping. It keeps them on the product page. There’s no friction of pushing them into the cart or checkout, but it could feel distracting, and there’s not a lot of space to display other information. That is a downside there.

We also have overlays and pop ups after adding to cart. In this case, you can see the item that was added here with the green check mark, but then they also display a lot of other products that the visitor might be interested in. This can help increase AOV. It’s an easy way for people to add similar items. But it could also be very distracting.

We also have the option after clicking add to cart to go straight to the cart. This can help get visitors closer to the checkout. It’s a clear confirmation that they added something to the cart and it was successfully added. And there’s a lot of space to add other information. In this case, you can schedule a pickup, you can add special instructions and other information like that. But the con is it takes visitors out of the browsing experience, it already forces them into the cart. Now, if they want to shop for more items, there’s a bit of friction involved in going back to where they came from.

And lastly, we have the ability to mix and match the different add to cart options. Here, for this brewery, on the right, for mobile, they just have a side cart that pops up confirming what’s in the cart, and then showing the total. On desktop, there’s a little more room to display additional information. They have the side cart and then they have recommended items in case visitors want to add something else. Clear confirmation, ability to try to increase AOV. It could also be distracting, but visitors could also easily click out of the recommended items and focus on the side cart.

Lots of different options to test out. One is not better than another, and it really depends on your type of store. Make sure to look around at the different options, consider what is best for your audience, and test out different to cart options. I’ll see you in the next video. Thanks.