Usability Review: “Confirm Order” Pages
What does that page look like just before you “confirm” or “finalize” an order? This can be a big deal in ecommerce. Ecommerce Web sites should consider what their confirmation page offers, just before online shoppers are completely committed.
I think this Abercromie & Fitch page offers a good example.
Some of the features that make this confirmation page a good example include the following:
- Full navigation to the rest of the ecommerce Web site.
- Includes tax and shipping, offering the whole total to be paid.
- Alternative payment (in this case a gift card) option.
- Picture of the item, so you can verify the product.
- Addresses (note: mine is fake) of shipping and billing, for verification.
- Progress bar so that you can see how far along you are in the process.
One thing that is missing, that I would like to see on the above Abercrombie “confirm order” page is the ability to change quantities in the cart.
As you can see below, Drugstore.com does offer the option to change quantities inside the cart. I also like that this page reminds you of the gift wrap option and allows you to look at your credit card information (also fake in my examples). The security measure showing only the last four digits is a good move as well.
Another “confirm order” page I find interesting is this page from Palm. This is, in fact, the final step before submitting an order. But because you have to sign up for a service package, even when buying smart phones online, a credit check is run. So in addition to entering your basic credit card information, you also have to enter information used in a credit check. I like how Palm explains the purpose of this step in the checkout process.
This page includes the payment option of a check. This is quite interesting to me, since it is rare to see an ecommerce Web site that accepts a check. Unfortunately, I think it looks a little “busy” with all the blank lines. I don’t know if I like filling everything and placing the order without being able to review it before finalizing.
Netflix offers a rather interesting “confirm order” page. If you are a member, you have the option of having automatic billing to your credit card. When you go to buy a DVD from those offered for sale, a pop-up appears, asking you to confirm automatic billing to your card — and shipping to the same address your rental movies are sent to.
Here are more examples of “confirm order” pages. What do you like, or dislike about them?
Tags: confirm order, eCommerce, ecommerce design, ecommerce Web site, online shoppers, online shopping, usability design
Posted by Miranda | February 20, 2008
Nathan February 20th, 2008
Great stuff!
Would be nice if I could click on the thumbnails and get a full view of these screens.
Miranda February 20th, 2008
I’m still working out exactly how to do that with the updated system we’ve been using, and how that would work out in a practical sense. I’ll be getting on it for the future, though.
Thanks for having a look!
Adam Creare February 21st, 2008
The most important thing to me is an overview of the steps taken and the steps to come such as:
Address - Order Overview - Confirm
Play.com does this the best.
Miranda February 21st, 2008
I agree that having the progress bar is the best. It’s nice to know what stage you’re at…
Dan Shields February 21st, 2008
We are in the process of redoing our entire checkout. The new implementation will allow the user not only to change the quantity but also change other options like adding it to be gift wrapped or adding a hand written gift card. Pretty much all of the functionality on the cart is on our review page. Some of us have mixed theories on this. Some think it is not good to add all this same functionality on the review page. Lets take this scenario; say someone accidentally adds 500 of this item on the review page and hits the submit button and not the update button. You have no way to go back because the order has been processed. How do you handle that situation.
Crowdstormer February 22nd, 2008
I find reading stuff on the ‘perfect’ checkout process really interesting. From everything I’ve read, though, I thought that the ability to navigate away to the rest of the site was bad in terms of conversion (Abercrombie & Fitch example), as you don’t want people to be distracted until the buying process is complete?
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Chris February 22nd, 2008
Crowdstormer,
It is really a business logic decision, whether or not you want customers to have the ability to be able to add additional items by being able to browser away, or to keep them locked into purchasing the cart they have, like Amazon does, but from a customer standpoint it is helpful to be able to navigate back to the site.
Chris
Miranda February 25th, 2008
Good points Dan! An “update cart” button would probably be a good thing to add before the “final step.” I myself am not entirely comfortable with “one click” checkout.
James March 11th, 2008
I think the key to a good confirm order page, is to reassure the customer before they commit. Like what you said Miranda, allowing the customer to see the whole site with links, etc, shows that they are not being forced through. Also I like confirm order pages that have really clear and simple overviews of what you are buying, and exactly how much it is going to cost.
Miranda March 13th, 2008
I agree James (especially since you agreed with me!). It’s nice to know how much it costs, and prefer those that include shipping costs and sales/use taxes on the confirm order page.