Observations on the shopping cart
The shopping cart links in the system bring someone to the old, familiar shopping cart, which has a "Proceed to Checkout" button that is pretty intuitive; clicking it goes to a page with a number of buttons but no instructions.
When I first came to the page, I didn't even realize the big "1 Shopping Cart" "2 Payment Method" "X Confirm Your Order" things at the top were buttons.
There's a Payment Method area, but it's empty, and a Select Payment Method button. Sometimes there's payment info in the Payment Method area, sometimes not; I.m not quite sure why and I had expected there to be a default payment method.
It's not clear that clicking on the "X Confirm Your Order" button doesn't actually confirm your order even though it's called "Confirm Your Order", and that it's the only way to transition to the next screen. However, there seems to be nothing else on the page to click on, so I nervously click on "Confirm Your Order" and hope it's lying.
- Suggestion 1: label the button Review Your Order instead of Confirm Your Order; the "Confirm Order" button is actually on the "Confirm Order" page.
- Suggestion 2: have a small line of text between the big buttons and the nested table that says "Click Review Your Order to continue."
- Suggestion 3: have some sort of indicator of what step the customer is on. For example, Amazon has a little shopping cart on the current step and the line is colored orange up until that point. For this system, I'm not sure ... maybe spread the big buttons out and have some sort of line behind them? Or maybe have a bold golem-colored outline around the current step?
- Suggestion 4: have a Continue button at the bottom right of the nested table.
- Suggestion 5: Number the Review Your Order button like the others instead of using a check/X.
So now I'm on the confirm order page, and haven't confirmed it yet, but the "(check) Conform Your Order" thingy (which is confusingly both a button and a status indicator) is now green with a check as if my order was already placed.
- Suggestion 6: Don't color Confirm Your Order green unless it's confirmed (which it will never be). Keep it red so the shopper knows the order isn't placed.
Nowhere in the process did I see a "how do I ship this" option, but at the bottom of the confirm page it tells me the items are in my sidecart and will be shipped with the earliest possible subscription.
However, there appears to be no way to change this so they'll ship in any other way than with my subscription.
It's also unclear that the screen you're on changes to black from green to show it's the current screen until you click back and forth; this is particularly confusing on the abbreviated screen with only 3 status button things.
Now, I now know that part of the oddness of the screens is due to the items all being pre-orders ... but even for pre-orders I should have the option to choose how it's shipped, so I'd expect the full "1 Shopping Cart" "2 Shipping" "3 Payment Method" "4 Review Order" sequence regardless. It might be that the state machine is a little too smart for its own good. Even for gift certificates and/or PDFs, it would be good for the "2 Shipping" page to have relevant information.
- Suggestion 7: Include the Shipping page for all orders, even if it only says "You will be able to download PDFs from your download page when the order is completed" or the like.
I concur.
I would also add that section "2 Shipping" should:
- Display the additional shipping fee when combining with an existing order. (Currently, everything is made to make you think you will pay full shipping for the combined order instead of the difference with what you already agreed to pay for the first order.)
- Stick to what it shows the customer. (It happened again yesterday: I was quoted a $22.33 shipping fee and seconds later, the order confirmation page showed me $30.89 [package 1 at $8.89, package 2 at $22.00]. And what's unbelievable is that if I were to tinker with my shopping cart and simulate a new order combined with this one, the shipping fee would change even if I wouldn't place the order in the end!)
The pre-update shopping cart had its idiosyncrasies but at least it was possible to work through them and know what you were going to be charged in the end. Even best: it knew how to split 4+ lbs packages destined to International addresses to make you save on shipping.
I didn't notice this when you posted it, but I've also had some issues navigating my way through the "new look" order process. It could use some tweaking - I especially like the final idea of always clicking through all the steps. Even if I never change my shipping options, it would be nice to be reminded that I could.
I also agree. In addition the sidecart it option is wonky again, sometimes it appears and sometimes it does not.