What does Add to Cart (or Add to Basket) mean?
Adding items to your shopping cart is a key part of the online shopping experience. Let’s begin with a simple definition of what it means when you click “add to cart”.
Add to cart, sometimes referred to as “add to basket” or “add to bag”, is a feature on eCommerce sites which allows you to save products as you shop before completing the checkout process later. As a result, customers can enjoy a smoother shopping experience, enabling them to conveniently buy multiple items in a single transaction.
Monitoring your add to cart conversion rate is important for optimising overall online sales. This measures the percentage of website visitors who add at least one item to their cart.
What is Add to Cart (or Add to Basket) in eCommerce?
In the context of eCommerce, “Add to Cart” serves as a crucial component of the customer journey. It not only facilitates the organisation of purchases but also enhances user engagement by allowing customers to take their time in making decisions. This feature is essential for streamlining the buying process, as it provides a seamless transition from product discovery to final purchase, ultimately contributing to a more satisfying and efficient shopping journey.
What is the difference between Add to Cart and Buy Now?
It’s easy to confuse add to cart with similar checkout buttons like “buy now”. However, each button has its own purpose and appeals to different shopping behaviours:
- “Add to Cart” enables you to continue browsing and adding more products before paying. Your selected products remain temporarily reserved in your shopping cart.
- “Buy Now” typically takes you directly to checkout to immediately purchase that singular product.
In essence, add to cart provides a more flexible shopping experience, while buy now encourages quicker one-off purchases. The effectiveness of these options—”Add to Cart” and “Buy Now”—largely depends on your target audience and the type of ecommerce store you operate.
How to calculate your eCommerce Add to Cart (or Add to Basket) Rate
To measure your website’s add to cart rate:
- Take the number of online sessions where a visitor adds to cart
- Divide this by your total website sessions
- Multiply the result by 100 to get a percentage
What is considered a good Add to Cart (or Add to Basket) rate?
A healthy add to cart (or add to basket) rate typically ranges between 5% to 15%, although this can vary by industry and product type. Factors influencing this rate include website usability, product pricing, and the effectiveness of marketing strategies. A higher add to cart rate suggests that customers find the products appealing and are more likely to complete their purchases, while a lower rate may indicate issues that need addressing, such as complicated navigation, lack of product information or lack of messaging and tools that help shoppers make more informed and confident decisions.
Monitoring the add to cart rate over time highlights trends and pinpoints issues. An improving add to cart rate suggests a smooth purchasing process that nurtures conversions. Whereas a declining rate could indicate problems with product pages or the overall shopping experience. Maximising add to cart conversions is crucial for reducing cart abandonment further down the line.
How to optimise your Add to Cart Rate (or Add to Basket) Conversions (and how Taggstar can help!)
Improving your add to cart rate leads to higher conversion rates and greater revenue. Here are ideas to help:
- Optimise product page design – Ensure add to cart buttons are clearly visible. Include sufficient product information like images, descriptions and reviews.
- Improve site navigation – Make it easy to browse and find relevant products. Use menus, filters and site search to aid discovery.
- Offer incentives and include threshold messaging – Consider promotions like ‘Spend $X get Y% off’ to encourage larger basket sizes.
- Implement social proof – Displaying messages like “Trending. 34 added to cart in the last hour” provides shoppers with confidence to buy. Solutions like Taggstar’s social proof messaging can deliver over 20% conversion rate uplifts.
Monitor your analytics dashboard to measure improvements over time. A/B test different ideas and double down on what converts best. This will steadily optimise your add to cart rate. Hopefully this article has explained the meaning of “add to cart” and why the feature is so popular for retailers.
Customer Stories
Discover how Joules increased revenue and improved ‘Add to Cart’ conversions. Read more.
Learn how Ideal of Sweden achieved a 2.94% uplift in Black Friday ‘Add to Cart’ conversions. Read more.
Discover how JD Williams reduced cart abandonment by 2.9% with social proof. Read more.
