Continue Shopping Choices

[Sean Williams]

The trouble with using "yourself" [sic] as the "customer" model is that "you" know how to buy things online and are completely OK with it.
You are also so infused with the "Actinic Way" that it blinds you to better more intuitive ways that put more profit into your business.
Most people do not order regularly from one particular shop, even Amazon customers shop elsewhere, and are easily confused by the plethora of different shopping cart systems out there.

If it wasn't such a relaxed, sunny Friday morn, I'd be inclined to take some offence at the inference here that as an Actinic groupie my ability to recognise, even appreciate, different ways of shopping is by definition severely impaired.
Were it raining I have a feeling my impressions under those conditions could be that the Ol' Bamboo's sentiments may possibly be construed as poppycock.

[TraceyHand]

LOL

Can we please all hope for NO rain on Actinic Conference day?
Please?

[Sean Williams]

The sun will always shine at an Actinic conference

[bamboo]

All I had was a simple request for something that many other shopping cart systems, including , have as an option. I do not see Actinic as the only way to do e-commerce online. Like all of the carts it has it's good points and its bad points.
Complexity in general and inflexible checkout process are Actinics big weaknesses. Everything else it does is brilliant. It's inbuilt SEO and the way it works in the wild are excellent.

s one page checkout solution is dead easy to use. I came across it by buying something from a store using and was impressed by how easy it was to use and how it kept me on the same page and kept the running update down the right hand side of the page and thanks to it's nested display I could go back to correct something very easily.
Compared to Actinics linear, clunky and over long checkout it was a breeze.

If some bright developer takes the best bits from each cart system and puts them together well they will wipe the floor with all of existing competition.

So I'll have another go to say what I wanted to say without implying or inferring offence or being sarcastic.

We all tend to use ourselves as the measure of whether something is good or not and I am highlighting my findings that that is the completely wrong approach if you are in the business of selling products for maximum profits online.
You should research, test and ask.
I am not trying to be an all seeing God here because up until 9 months ago I thought testing was for geeks and served no purpose in the real world. Boy was I wrong.


All I was doing was trying to explain my request which came about because I did the research, did the testing and asked people questions which resulted in the basic question which was
"Why does the continue shopping button take me back to the product page?"

However if you follow Amazon at all they don't even assume anyone would want to "continue shopping" as although their add to cart page is stuffed full of navigation and recommended product links there is no "continue shopping button"!
They do ask you if you are ready to order but don't give you any method of going back to the product page other than a making the product title a blue link.
Rumour has it that they make a bob or two so perhaps binning the "continue shopping" button is a test worth doing.
However Amazon force you to register before you can buy from them and that flies in the face of accepted wisdom so what do they know?

[Mike Hughes]

Rumour has it that they make a bob or two so perhaps binning the "continue shopping" button is a test worth doing.

You could be right. Or you could change the text as I suggested in my original reply.

Of course, binning the continue shopping button is a completely different suggestion to asking for several of them as originally posted.

Mike

[bamboo]

You could be right. Or you could change the text as I suggested in my original reply.

Of course, binning the continue shopping button is a completely different suggestion to asking for several of them as originally posted.

Mike

Hi Mike
I have been trawling round Actinic sites since the fiery reception my request received and there seems to be a definite three way split. I know Fridays should be busy but this one isn't!

The majority leave everything the way it is as it comes out of the box.
Of the remainder some rename the button as you suggested and the others have done away with it altogether.
The buttons on my sites just say "continue" so I will have to go down the deleting the "continue button" road and see what impact it has on profits.

Binning the button has come about because once I broaden the search to shopping carts other than Actinic many of them either have "where do you want to go next" type buttons giving multiple choices or they do an Amazon and don't give people the option to "continue".
As a lot of these companies do a great deal of business online and many of them are doing the same thing, this shows that "no button" or "next destination options" both out perform "continue shopping" buttons.

I have discovered that getting the "add to cart" process right for the majority is key in maximising the profits from people who are at least committed to adding products to baskets. Getting them quickly and successfully through the checkout is a related but different fundamental, if that makes sense.

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Derek,

I absolutely agree. Customers are going to be in two different modes when on the cart page:

1. Still Shopping

2. Finished shopping and and looking to complete.

The challenge is to get the right mix of getting the next product in the cart and leading them painlessly through the checkout once they're ready.

I don't think it would be very hard to add some additional 'Where would you like to go next' navigation to the cart page. Whether this works better than the other navigation on the page (or taking them back to where they were) is open to question.

If you end up doing any comparative testing then I would certainly be interested to hear how it goes. I'm sure the others would as well.

Mike

PS. You can change the 'continue shopping' text to say anything you want. Its a standard actinic text field.

[bamboo]

Going off on a slightly different tack here is an example of Actinics confusing and illogical complexity. I want to say stupid complexity but I might cause offence
Dagnabit I've said it now, what the he**!

To change the text of this variable <Actinic:Variable Name="ShipAndHandLabel"/> all you do is click on it and edit the text.

To change the text on the variable right next door in the checkout <actinic:variable name="ShipMessage" /> you have to go to Business Settings, Shipping and Handling and enter the text in the field provided!

Madness, sheer madness.

OK how do I change the text on this variable?
<Actinic:Variable Name="InvoiceTitle"/>
Found it. It's in the text, website ctd, Invoice address tab.

[bamboo]

I may look as though I am talking to myself here but ...
I don't think this is possible in Actinic but here goes.

Can I have the Text Header on the view cart shopping grid say "These Products Are In Your Shopping Cart" and then when the customer moves to the checkout process it says "Products You Are Buying" ?

I realise this doesn't appear like a wish list item but from a customer usability viewpoint it would be a winner as it removes any ambiguity from the customers vision and is much better than "Description" or "Product Description" so if it isn't possible today can it be made possible in the future?

[leehack]

The checkout is one of the last big areas they have not yet attacked, with V10 this should finally be addressed, enabling a much slicker process and more importantly one that can react to their customer needs (like on GC) in a far better timescale.

[Orchid]

You should be able to change the cart heading now by testing against PageType Variable...

[leehack]

Can I have the Text Header on the view cart shopping grid say "These Products Are In Your Shopping Cart" and then when the customer moves to the checkout process it says "Products You Are Buying" ?

Learn about blockifs (Gabe's tutorials are great for this) and you can then talk to each page and the separate parts to your heart's content. What you want to do is very easy with blockifs, once you understand them and the concept, a whole new world will open up. Things such as checkout progress bars become easy etc.

[bamboo]

Thanks Lee
More learning but I know it will be worth it. Block Ifs are something I have always fought shy of as they can really bu**er things up if I get them wrong but I will make the tutorials my "step outside of my comfort zone" for tomorrow.

I have just run some phrases through Glyphius and it shows the best combination for the heading to be
"These Products Are In The Shopping Cart"
so until I gain the wisdom I am running with that phrase.

[leehack]

Well worth it Derek, if i ran V8/V9 courses, they'd be right up there on what i teach people first, variables go hand in hand so they need to be there too.

[leehack]

I have just run some phrases through Glyphius and it shows the best combination for the heading to be
"These Products Are In The Shopping Cart"
so until I gain the wisdom I am running with that phrase.

'The' sounds a bit impersonal to me, it may only be a trolley, but it is mine while i am using it.