WooCommerce Empty Cart After Adding a Product: A Comprehensive Guide

Is an empty cart after adding a product in WooCommerce an issue or not? Well, the answer is ambiguous, and its clarity depends on what the intention is.

While emptying the cart after adding a product or more is deliberate, it becomes an issue when the cart gets empty after a product is added, no matter how many times the user adds an item to it. Here in this blog, we will explore things with the context to the latter point—that is, clearing the cart after adding products.

So, let's explore this succinct blog to understand what a WooCommerce clear cart is and how to add a button to fulfill this functionality.

Top 4 Reasons to Empty Cart After Adding Product

Before we hop onto the answer of how to clear cart and session in WooCommerce, let's just explore the reasons behind this practice.

Some reasons why there is a need for an empty cart after adding a product are:

There Was a Mistake In Adding a Few Items

One of the entities emptying the cart after a product is added is the user himself. The user has added multiple items to the cart while scrolling through the products; in this case, the user wants to empty the cart instead of removing unwanted items one at a time.

This functionality will help the user:

• Save time removing unwanted products from the cart
• No additional effort is required to clear the cart

The User Is Not Interested In Purchasing at The Moment

The user’s buying intent is paramount for successful checkouts and there are instances where the user is not mentally prepared to make a purchase. Not even after adding a number of items to the cart, you read that right.

The reasons why users want to empty their cart after adding products at the moment include:

• The user is waiting for a sale on your products and may purchase later
• The user is not able to complete the purchase due to time constraints

The User Wants To Start Adding Products From Scratch

You must have heard of the proverb “Think before you speak," but online buyers improvise this for their buying as well. They think a hundred times before checking out and reconsider their purchase decision. In this battle of thoughts, the user may want to reconsider their product choice and start all over again.

Other reasons why the user wants to add items from scratch are:

• Increased cart total
• Addition of irrelevant items to the cart

Freeing Up Reserved Resources

Another significant entity involved with the empty WooCommerce cart practice is the store admin. There comes a point where the admin has to clear the user cart after a given time interval to free up the resources reserved by the users. 

The instances when the admin presses the WooCommerce empty cart button are:

• The session for a given user has expired
• The user has abandoned the cart
• Clearing the WooCommerce cart is troublesome for the user

Benefits of A Clear Cart WooCommerce Button

As the clear entities practicing the cart empty after adding products are the website users and the store admin, the perks are there for both.

We have segregated the benefits that come along with the WooCommerce clear cart button for both entities below:

Benefits of A Cart Empty Button for Users

Improved User Experiences

There are numerous features WooCommerce stores need for an enhanced user experience. A single push on the empty cart button and the job is done for the user without getting into a mess is one of them. This ease of clearing the cart after adding products enhances the user experience, and the users proceed with their purchase again.

Reduced Cart Complexity

A complex cart is the last thing the user is expecting from your site and on top of that, not having the option to empty cart is a struggle on its own. An empty cart after adding product functionality reduces the user’s struggle to associate with all the tasks related to the cart, be it clearing the cart.

Quick Decision Making

The user is perplexed to make their buying decision when they are not given enough flexibility with their purchase. With the empty cart button, the buying decisions are quick because the user does not have to struggle removing items from the cart and choose the ones they actually want to buy.

Improved Mobile Experiences

The struggles for mobile users with a limited or more precisely smaller screen space are higher in adding or removing items from the cart. The WooCommerce empty cart button helps you in offering a seamlessly smooth experience to your mobile users.

Benefits of A Cart Empty Button for Admin

No Frequent Support Requests

Enabling the customers to empty carts after they have added one or more items can do a lot more favors for the store admin. The continuous requests for support to clear the cart keep the admin occupied and hooked, which leaves them with no time and energy for other crucial tasks. With a clear cart button for the users, the admin does not have to worry about entertaining any requests related to clearing the cart and session.

Complete Control Over the Cart

The admin is in charge of the entire website and they are also responsible for managing the user carts. With a clear cart and session button, the store admin gets complete control over the reserved carts. This control gives the store admins the authority to clear the cart for users whose sessions have expired and are no longer participating in the checkout process.

Manage Abandoned Carts

Managing abandoned carts also becomes convenient for the store admin with a clear cart or an empty cart button. Not only this, but the prevention of cart abandonment is also possible with an empty cart button for WooCommerce. The users will not have to struggle to empty the cart and start over again even if they are unable to clear it; a single request to the admin will do the job.

How To Add An Empty Cart Button In WooCommerce?

Now let’s get straight to the point on how to add an empty cart button in WooCommerce. It is not a mystery anymore with our clear cart and sessions for WooCommerce plugin.

Before hopping onto the “how-to” part, let's explore what this plugin is capable of doing:

• Clear cart and sessions after a specified time
• Redirecting the users to their desired page after an empty cart action
• A clear “Empty Cart” button for the users 
• Admin can clear the cart and session from the backend

Our clear cart WooCommerce plugin is all that you need to ensure your customers have the best experiences interacting with the cart and proceeding to the checkout. So, install this plugin now!

Need help with the installation process?

We are here to fulfill your wish. 

Here are all the necessary steps you need to perform to make the clear cart and sessions plugin work.

Installation and Activation

Before proceeding to other steps, the first step is the plugin installation, and here is how to do it:

• Download the “clear cart and session” plugin in a .zip file
• Now go to your admin panel
• Click on the “Add New” option from the plugin section
• Now, upload the plugin’s .zip file and install it
• Once installation is complete, activate it

Now your plugin is all set for configuration settings.

Configuration

The configuration settings involve 3 primary tab settings: session expire, empty cart button, and redirection settings.

Let's explore each of these configuration settings in detail here:

Session Expire Setting

Here in this setting tab, you can configure all the settings related to the session expiry. 

You can:

• Enable/Disable custom cart session expiry time
• Select the time format, i.e., hours, minutes, and seconds
• Specify the time duration for the cart expiry session
• Enable the cart session expiry regardless of the user activity 

Empty Cart Button

In this section, you can enable the empty cart button for the users after they have added a product or more to the cart and want to clear it.

• Enable or disable the empty cart button on the cart page.
• Enable a custom clear cart widget.
• Use this shortcode to enable a custom widget.
• Customize the text displayed on the empty cart button.
• Use the default theme button design.
• Choose background and text colors for both normal and hover states.
• Set padding and border radius values.
• Choose an icon to display on the empty cart button.
• Ask for confirmation from the customer before clearing the cart.

Redirection Setting

After the user clears or presses the empty cart button, you can choose where to redirect the user in this section.

You can:

• Activate and enable the redirection by checking on the checkbox 
• Choose the redirection address: shop page or a custom URL
• Place the custom URL address if you have chosen custom URL in the previous step

Apart from these three settings, you can also manage the “Save and Share Cart” setting.

The changes you can make in this tab involve:

1. Save Cart Button Settings
2. Share Cart Button Settings
3. Save & Share Popup Options
4. Share Popup Button Settings
5. Buttons General Settings

Each of these settings will allow you to work with the color combinations, along with the customization of the empty cart button for WooCommerce.

Key Finders!

Empty cart after adding a product in WooCommerce is a unique and one-of-a-kind feature that you need to add to your online store. It offers the best shopping experience to your web users by allowing them to clear the cart whenever they want and start over again. Moreover, the store admin can manage the cart sessions and clear them to offer a seamless experience to the users. So, get this amazing clear cart and session plugin and embed this much-required feature for the best results.