The 'Next>' button in checkout

[chrisbrown]

I am looking for some suggestions which might solve a problem that some of our customers inadvertently cause.

When checking out it seems that some customers don't realize that their order has been placed before the receipt page is displayed. It would appear that they assume that they can backup and modify the order. This behaviour results in two (or more) orders being placed.

The volume of online orders is fairly small on this site and the order processor is usually awake. Two orders from the same customer is rapid succession gets noticed. An email or telephone call to the customer quickly resolves the issue. But it is annoying to have to do this and one day it will be missed...

The principle reason for customer confusion seems to be the "Next>" label on the last page before the receipt page. If it were possible to change this label (without changing the "Next>" label on other checkout pages) I think that the consequences of pressing could be clarified.

Or maybe we need some "instructional" text on the checkout pages... Anybody got any suggestions?

[TraceyG]

Hi Chris,

You can change the text on the next button by finding the relevant template (this will be either Act_Order02.html or Act_Order03.html depending if you are using our java applet or not) and locating:

<input type=SUBMIT name=ACTION value="NETQUOTEVAR:BACKBUTTON">

Change the NETQUOTEVAR:BACKBUTTON for the text you want to display (ie. Click here to finalise order). Save the file and update your site.

The text can be changed on any of the buttons in this way, just find the template that you want to change it on and then find:

<input type=SUBMIT name=ACTION value="NETQUOTEVAR:BACKBUTTON"> for the back button or;

<input type=SUBMIT name=ACTION value="NETQUOTEVAR:CANCELBUTTON"> for the cancel button

I hope this helps.

[chrisbrown]

Thank you Tracey.

I haven't tried your suggestion yet but I had already seen a problem with that solution.

We don't use the Java applet so order03.html is out of the equation. However, the customer will be taken from order01.html to order02.html to order04.html if they specify a different delivery address but directly from order01.html to order04.html if only an invoice address is specified.

The Next> button on order01.html has two different potential outcomes. So what would be a good label for the button on order01.html?

Should we perhaps start using the Java applet so that they always visit order03.html?

[TraceyG]

Hi

As far as I can see Act_Order02 is used for the customer to choose which payment method he/she wants to use, so it should always be used. Is this not the case with your site?

[chrisbrown]

My mistake Tracey, you are correct of course. Act_Order02.html is indeed always used.

I was misled by the delivery address fields which may (or may not) be displayed. The payment method selection is lower down.

I will apply your suggestion. Many thanks.

[chrisbrown]

Works a treat

Just a bit of extra info that might be useful if anyone else wants to do this.

The "<Back", "Cancel" and "Next>" labels are all approximately the same width and therefore so are the buttons. If you change "Next>" to be significantly wider then its button will grow as well. This causes the horizontal layout to be distorted - the "Cancel" button is shifted way over to the left. You can correct this by specifying WIDTH attributes in the three <TD> tags (e.g. 33%, 34% and *).

[chrisbrown]

Oh dear!

I thought that this was working just fine - everything looked OK, etc. But now I have discovered a problem with this solution. No wonder no orders were coming through...

The os000001.pl script compares the button label (passed as the action value) with the text values specified in the database:

#
# Get the button names
#
my ($sStartButton, $sDoneButton, $sNextButton, $sFinishButton, $sBackButton, $sCancelButton, $sChangeLocationButton);
$sStartButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 113);
$sDoneButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 114);
$sNextButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 502);
$sBackButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 503);
$sFinishButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 504);
$sCancelButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 505);
$sChangeLocationButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(0, 18);
#
# If the progress is forward
#
my ($sHTML, $sAction, $eDirection);
$sAction = $::g_InputHash{'ACTION'};
#
# Check the checkout started flag
#
if ($sAction =~ m/$sStartButton/i)
{
$::Session->SetCheckoutStarted();
}
elsif (!$::Session->IsCheckoutStarted())
{
@Response = ACTINIC::BounceToPageEnhanced(5, ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 2300),
$$::g_pSetupBlob{CHECKOUT_DESCRIPTION},
$::g_sWebSiteUrl,
$::g_sContentUrl, $::g_pSetupBlob, $::Session->GetLastShopPage(), \%::g_InputHash,
$::FALSE);
$sHTML = $Response[2];
goto THEEND;
}
#
# Processs the possible actions
#
if ($sAction eq "" &&
$::g_InputHash{ACTIONOVERRIDE})
{
$sAction = $::g_InputHash{ACTIONOVERRIDE};
}
elsif ($sAction =~ m/$sStartButton/i ||
$sAction =~ m/$sNextButton/i ||
$sAction =~ m/$sFinishButton/i ||
$sAction =~ m/^AUTHORIZE/i ||
$sAction =~ m/RECORDORDER/i ||
exists $::g_InputHash{$sNextButton . ".x"} ||
exists $::g_InputHash{$sFinishButton . ".x"})
{
$eDirection = $::FORWARD;
}
elsif ($sAction =~ m/$sBackButton/i ||
$sAction =~ m/$sChangeLocationButton/i ||
exists $::g_InputHash{$sBackButton . ".x"}) # move backwards
{
$eDirection = $::BACKWARD;
}
elsif ($sAction =~ m/$sDoneButton/i ||
exists $::g_InputHash{$sDoneButton . ".x"})
{
etc...

Does anybody have an idea for how the script could be adapted to handle a different label (i.e. "Execute Order - Uitvoeren") on the order02.html page? Even a quick and dirty patch is acceptable. My perl knowledge is not upto the job.

[cdicken]

The latest Advanced User Guide contains information about using images for these buttons, and includes advice on editing the Perl to get them to work.

You should be able to use this for your issue.

[chrisbrown]

I get it. I'll give it a go. Many thanks.

[John Jessen]

I've been searching for the location where the text for the 'Change'-button in Checkout is located. Apparantly it is not located among the below labels texts (the below is copied from Chrisbrowns post in March). I would have assumed that it was somewhere near (-1, 505) ??

my ($sStartButton, $sDoneButton, $sNextButton, $sFinishButton, $sBackButton, $sCancelButton, $sChangeLocationButton);
$sStartButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 113);
$sDoneButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 114);
$sNextButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 502);
$sBackButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 503);
$sFinishButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 504);
$sCancelButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(-1, 505);
$sChangeLocationButton = ACTINIC::GetPhrase(0, 18);

John

[cdicken]

The 'Change' button is quite well hidden. Rather than being in the Perl, the HTML format for it comes from prompt 2067 in 'Design | Text'.

You can use the 'Go to' button to go straight to this particular prompt.