When you’re next shopping online, take note of where you add products to. I bet it’s wrongly named.

It’s only recently I’ve noticed this mistake but I guarantee the majority of websites get it wrong.

“Add to bag”.
“View shopping bag”.

Think about it.

When you go shopping in the real world, you don’t add items to a bag – you place them in a basket (or trolley). It’s only after you go through the checkout to pay for those items do they go in a bag. In essence, this is your parcel at the end of the online purchase.

If you were to add items to your bag before you pay for them, you’d be treated as a potential thief. Let’s not go down that route for now.

Lesson learned? Think about your language and how it correlates to the user’s perception when designing your experience.

(Icons courtesy of John Caserta and Erin Standley)