Amazon A/B Tests And Keeps Both Add-To-Cart And Buy Now Buttons

Leak #52 from   |   May 4, 2020 Product

For the longest time I could remember, Amazon's product pages would display two purchase oriented buttons with a very subtle difference. The "Add to Cart" would appear first and move customers into a confirming shopping cart screen with potential upsells. While the "Buy Now" button below would skip the shopping cart and try to send customers one step ahead into a shipping address selection page - essentially a very subtle shortcut. 

Two months ago I managed to detect that Amazon was actually a/b testing the removal of the second "Buy Now" button on a specific product page. Finally today it looks like the experiment has completed with both buttons still being displayed - like in the old days. And so, as far as you and me are concerned, we'll count this as positive evidence in favor of shortcut buttons

IMPLEMENTED Confirmed May 4, 2020
A - Mar 27, 2020 Screenshot
B - Mar 27, 2020 Screenshot

Highlighted UI Changes From This Leak

  1. Buy Now Button Removal

    The variation shows a product page with only the "Add to Cart" button. Given that the B variation was tested and not implemented, we'll assume that A is probably better. 

    0.5 Repeatability has been assigned to Pattern #51: Shortcut Buttons as evidence that it's getting better

    Repeatability is a net count of evidence for or against a pattern. It’s how we can predict which patterns are better than others. :)

Comments

  • Ali

    Ali 5 years ago 01

    If you are going to buy one product this experiment eliminates the add to cart step and sends you directly to complete your purchase.

  • Julien BIJOUX

    Julien BIJOUX 5 years ago 10

    The "Buy now" button seems to answer to those problematics :
    * Let the user choose (or make him believe) !
    * Scarcity you should buy it now because it's available
    * Subtle nudge with the arrow icon - to continue just follow the button
    * Cart icon is a real enabler : it's a common icon everyone knows,
    part of clients might be afraid of the "buy now" because they need to
    control all the process