How important is your ‘add to cart’ button name? Does it make any difference whether your button is called ‘add to cart’, or ‘buy now’, or ‘purchase now’? Read more and find out how a ‘wrong’ button can cost you hundreds of thousands dollars annually.

What we tested
In this test we wanted to know what the best name for the ‘add to cart’ button is.  So we put into the test the buttons below.

Test background
-    ‘add to cart’ was our control
-    we ran the test for 2 weeks site wide
-    over 43,000 visitors took part

Test results
The test results surprised us a lot because of the relatively huge difference we detected, where ‘buy now’ button decreased conversion rate by 9.61%, and the ‘purchase now’ button decreased conversion rate even further by a whopping 14.50%.

Hypothesis
As we could see from the test result a different call to action name can increase or decrease conversion rate. The likely reason why ‘add to cart’ button won the test was because by adding an item to a cart, you aren’t committed to purchase.  For a visitor it’s just adding an item to a cart.

However, the ‘buy now’ or ‘purchase now’ button psychologically creates/demands visitors’ commitment.  Probably visitors thinks that ‘buy now’ and ‘purchase now’ buttons will lead them straight to a checkout process, without the possibility of backing off, i.e. reevaluating their purchase.

Revenue Implication
I think this is a fantastic example to demonstrate how a ‘small’ change can impact your conversion and revenue. During these 2 weeks of testing, the ‘wrong’ buttons decreased revenue by 19.67% costing $35,000 in revenue, or $70,000 per month, or $840,000 per year.

If you are worried that your site might be affected by ‘wrong’ button, then why don’t you give us a call on (020) 7617-7848 and in less than a week we can start testing your buttons. And as our client you will pay only once we increased your conversion. No increase, no payment.