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Building Successful Online Shopping Carts

Using Clear and Simple Graphics on Your Shopping Cart Pages.

One of the biggest mistakes that web designers can make is to put too much energy into the graphic images they put on web sites. Specifically some of the 'buttons' that are used for the shopping cart design. This problem is compounded when the text on the buttons are unclear and not intuitive.

A good example of unclear text on a button are the words 'Buy Now'. Does that mean 'Add to Cart' or 'Check-out Now'? That would depend on what other buttons or text is included. For example if you also have a button or text that says 'Check-out Now', then 'Buy Now' is clear. Sometimes designers forget to think about this.

The best policy is to include buttons or text that gives your customer as many options as you can. Each product page should include at these options:
  1. Add to Cart.
  2. View Cart Contents.
  3. Check-out Now.
  4. Continue to Other Products.
  5. Remove From Cart.
    6. A good 6th button to include would be:
  6. View Related Products.
Including a separate button or text link to view related products doesn't impose on your customers and frustrate them when they are browsing through your web site. Successful online shopping carts are clear, concise and do not over-use graphics