How to Clear Cart & Sessions in WooCommerce?

June 25, 2024,

Customers add items but then leave before checkout, leaving you with lingering data. That's why managing your customers' shopping carts is really important when running an online store. A key aspect of this is providing a smooth way to clear the cart.

By allowing your customers to easily remove all items at once, without needing to confirm each item individually, adding a "Clear Cart" button to your cart page will simplify the shopping process and enhance the overall customer experience.

Why Need to Add WooCommerce Clear Cart & Sessions in WooCommerce?

Let me explain a few benefits of using WooCommerce clear cart on your store.

Flexibility: Customers can quickly clear their cart and start fresh if they have accidentally added items or want to add other products to their carts.
Convenience: Customers can remove all items from their cart with a single click, saving time and avoiding the frustration of deleting items individually.
Abandoned Carts: It can help address abandoned carts. Sometimes, customers add items but leave before checkout. A clear cart button allows them to return later and potentially make a purchase.
Session Management: In combination with session expiry settings, it can help manage inactive sessions. Customers who leave their carts for an extended period can clear them upon returning, freeing up server resources.
Streamlined Shopping: A clear cart button simplifies the checkout process, leading to potentially higher conversion rates.
Reduced Confusion: It can help avoid situations where customers have unwanted items lingering in their cart, leading to a more focused shopping experience.

By providing this functionality, you offer greater control to your customers and potentially improve the efficiency of your WooCommerce store.

Common Issues and Best Practices with Cleaning Sessions

Clearing customer sessions can improve website performance and security, but it's not without its drawbacks. Here are some common issues to be aware of:

Data Loss: Clearing sessions deletes customer information, potentially wiping out data they've entered (like partially filled forms). This is especially problematic for unfinished purchases.
Best Practice: Consider displaying a warning message before clearing WooCommerce session data.
Payment Gateway Issues: Clearing sessions can disrupt payment gateways. If a user starts checkout and their session is cleared before completion, cart and payment information might be lost, leading to processing problems.
Best Practice: Use payment gateways that handle session management or avoid clearing sessions during checkout.
Forced Logins: Clearing sessions often requires users to log in again. This can be inconvenient for WordPress users, especially if they're mid-task or forget their login details.
Best Practice: Warn users before clearing sessions or only do it during low-traffic times.

Clear Cart and Sessions Using WooCommerce Plugin

Customers often add items to their carts but may leave the site without completing the purchase. This can result in lingering cart data that clutters your system and may affect performance. The WooCommerce Clear Cart and Sessions plugin addresses this by:

Automatically clearing carts and sessions after a specified time.
Redirecting users to a desired page after clearing their cart.
Providing a customizable "Empty Cart" button for user convenience.

Let’s discuss how to install, activate, and configure the Clear Carts and Sessions for WooCommerce

Installation

First of all, you need to download and install the plugin to configure its features.

Download the Plugin: Obtain the Clear Cart and Sessions for WooCommerce plugin in a .zip file from fmeaddons.com
Go to the WordPress admin panel.
Navigate to the Plugins section and click 'Add New.'
Upload the .zip file to proceed with the installation.
Activate the Plugin: Once installed, activate the plugin to begin configuration.

Configuration

After activating the plugin, go to WooCommerce > Settings and click on the Clear Cart and Session tab. You will find three main sections: Session Expire, Empty Cart Button, and Redirection Settings.

Need detailed documentation? Click here to check our documentation on WooCommerce Official Marketplace.

Session Expire

Here, you can configure settings related to cart session expiration:

Activate: Enable or disable custom cart session time.
Time Format: Choose time in hours, minutes, or days for clearing carts and sessions.
Time of Cart Session Expiration: Specify the time duration.
Expire Cart Session Regardless of User Activity: Enable this to clear the cart session even if there is user activity after the specified time.

Empty Cart Button

This section allows you to configure the empty cart button:

Activate: Enable or disable the empty cart button on the cart page.
Activate Widget: Enable a custom clear cart widget.
Widget ShortCode: Use this shortcode to enable a custom widget.
Custom Button Text: Customize the text displayed on the empty cart button.
Use Default Theme: Use the default theme button design.
Custom Button Colors: Choose background and text colors for both normal and hover states.
Custom Button Padding and Border Radius: Set padding and border radius values.
Custom Button Icon: Choose an icon to display on the empty cart button.
Show Confirmation Dialog: Ask for confirmation from the customer before clearing the cart.

Redirection Settings

Redirect customers after their cart is cleared:

Activate: Enable redirection after clearing the cart.
Redirection Address: Choose to redirect customers to the shop page or any custom store page.
Custom Redirect URL: Specify the URL for custom redirection.

Save & Share Cart Section

Enable and configure the save and share cart feature to enhance user experience:

Save Cart Button Settings

In this section, you can customize and configure the settings of “save cart button”

Activate Save Cart Button: Enable the save cart button.
Button Customization: Set text, background color, text color, padding, border radius, and icon.

Share Cart Button Settings

Activate Share Cart Button: Enable the share cart button.

Button Customization: Similar to the save cart button, set text, background color, text color, padding, border radius, and icon.

Save & Share Popup Options

Here, you can customize the appearance and functionality of the save and share cart popup:

Popup Heading Text: Set the heading text for save and share cart popups.
Popup Colors: Configure the background and text colors for the popup wrapper, header, and body.
Popup Border Radius: Set the border radius for the popup.

Share Popup Button Settings

In this section, you can configure the share options for various platforms:

Share Text: Enter the subject text for sharing the cart.

Platform Buttons: Customize text, and upload icons for Facebook, Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Twitter, Email, and link sharing.

Buttons General Settings

In buttons general settings, you can set the alignment of the save and share cart buttons:

Buttons Alignment: Choose left, center, or right alignment.

Managing Saved/Shared Carts

Check and manage all saved carts in the Saved Carts section under WooCommerce > Saved Carts. This section allows you to view and manage carts saved or shared by your customers.

Conclusion

The Clear Cart and Sessions for WooCommerce is a powerful tool to manage customer carts & effectively and allow customers to clear their cart with just one click. By following this guide, you can ensure a smoother shopping experience for your customers while keeping your store organized and efficient.

Install and configure the plugin today to take control of your WooCommerce store's cart management!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I set a custom time for clearing carts and sessions?

Yes, you can set a custom time for clearing carts and sessions in hours, minutes, or days. You can configure this in the Session Expire section of the plugin settings.

Can I track and manage saved carts?

Yes, you can view and manage all saved carts in the Saved Carts section under WooCommerce > Saved Carts in the WordPress admin panel.

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