The shopping cart is one of the most familiar online metaphors. Most people are able to understand the concept of adding items to your cart, whether in the supermarket or on a website, and then heading to the checkout to pay. Recently, we have seen an increase number of sites whose shopping cart and checkout process have caused confusion for users. This is in part due to designer trying to move away from traditional, apparantly boring cart design, but also because online shopping now caters to products for whom the standard “add to cart” analogy may not apply.
Organisations such as Oxfam Unwrapped sell a product online that does not immdiately lend itself to a standard purchase experience. Users do not always simply choose an item and check out, especially not if they are choosing several items for different recipients. Have a look at the site and you will see what I mean. Oxfam Unwrapped have an interesting challenge in guiding users through the purchase process.
I was recently involved in testing for another charity site. This site allowed users to place votes on user submitted content. On the site, users could vote, vote and pay for their votes, purchase votes for later use and make a standard donation to the charity. As you can imagine, a traditional select item and check out process would not have applied here.
When developing an online checkout purchase, it is important to imagine how the user will view the process. They may not understand the various options and modifications available to them, or even why they are available. Users must be guided through the process in a way that reassures them that they are doing the right thing, and are not confused with the other completion paths that may exist. More importantly, if a standard shopping cart process can be used, use it. Do not confuse your customers by trying to be smart or cute, you will only frustrate them and lose their sale.
Some further reading on online checkout processes: