How to Skip the Cart Page in WooCommerce
Do you want to learn how to cut down steps and simplify the checkout process on your online store? You have come to the right place! In this guide, we will show you different ways to skip the cart page in WooCommerce with and without plugins.
As a store owner, your ultimate goal is to make the purchase process more convenient for your customers. There are different things you can do to achieve that. For instance, you can introduce a one-page checkout, remove unnecessary checkout fields, organize your products by brand, add a quick view button, and so on.
In this article, we will focus on how you can skip the Cart Page in WooCommerce to simplify the shopping process and boost your conversion rates. Before we jump into the process details, let’s first understand the benefits of skipping the cart page.
Why Skip the Cart Page in WooCommerce?
Having a tedious checkout process is a major turn-off for shoppers and is also one of the main reasons for abandoned carts. In WooCommerce, the default checkout process starts with the customer adding products to their cart, then manually going to the cart page, and from there to the checkout page where they can finally place their order.
As you can see, there are a few steps involved in the process. However, customers don’t like to go through such a cumbersome process to place their order. Buying online should be easy and fast, so if your process is slow you can lose many potential buyers on the way. The good news is that you can easily avoid this by making your checkout process simple and straightforward.
This is especially important when you sell a single product like an ebook or membership plans that can only be bought once. In these cases, you can simplify the checkout process by entirely skipping the cart page. It’s simply a page that shoppers don’t need so you’ll save them time. By skipping the cart page, the customers will click the Add to cart button, go directly to the checkout page, and place their order. A shorter and more convenient process that will make your customers happier and will help you boost your sales.
Now that you know why it is important to cut down steps and simplify the checkout process, let’s see how you can skip the cart page in WooCommerce.
How to Skip the Cart Page in WooCommerce
In this guide, we will show you 3 different ways to skip the cart page in WooCommerce:
- Through WooCommerce settings
- Using Direct Checkout for WooCommerce
- Programmatically with code snippets
All of these methods will get the job done. Let’s describe each of them so you can choose the best one for you.
1) Skip the Cart Page through WooCommerce Settings
1) Go to your WP Admin Dashboard and navigate to WooCommerce > Settings. Then, select the General settings option under the Products tab, check the “Redirect to the cart page after successful addition” option, and save the changes.
2) After that, go to the Advanced tab and select Page Setup. Set Checkout as the default Cart Page using the dropdown menu and save changes.
That’s it! It is literally that simple. Now you can check the frontend and see how your shoppers will skip the cart page and go from the Shop page directly to the checkout to complete their orders.
2) Skip the Cart Page Using a Plugin
Another option to skip the cart page is to use a plugin. In this section, we will use Direct Checkout for WooCommerce developed by QuadLayers. Besides its ability to skip the cart page, this freemium plugin offers great flexibility and several customization options to improve your checkout.
This tool has a free version with basic features and 3 premium plans with more advanced functionalities that start at 19 USD (one-time payment).
Some of its main features are:
- One-page Checkout: Allows users to edit the cart and confirm the order on the same page
- Remove checkout fields: Easily remove unnecessary fields and speed up the check out process
- AJAX add to cart on single products: Allows users to include single, grouped, or variable products in the cart without the need to reload the entire site every time
- Checkout Redirect: Redirect users from the shop page directly to the checkout page
- Quick Buy Button: Enable direct purchases on single products
- A Quick View Button: Displays a quick view of the WooCommerce shop page and product categories
In this guide, we will only use the Checkout Redirect feature but as you can see, the plugin has a lot to offer.
Skip the cart with Direct Checkout for WooCommerce
Now let’s have a look at how to skip the cart with Direct Checkout for WooCommerce.
1) Go to the WP Admin Dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New. Search for Direct Checkout for WooCommerce, click Install Now, and then hit Activate once the installation is complete.
2) From the WP Admin Dashboard, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings. Go to General under the Products tab and uncheck both Cart Behaviour options so that they don’t interfere with the plugin settings.
3) Now move to the Direct Checkout tab and select General settings. Set the Added to cart redirect to Checkout using the dropdown menu and save the changes.
Done! You have learned how to skip the cart page with Direct Checkout for WooCommerce.
As mentioned above, this plugin is an excellent tool to improve your checkout, so we recommend you have a look at the other features and make the most of them to boost your conversion rates.
3) How to Skip the Cart Page Programmatically
If you have coding skills, you can skip the cart page programmatically with code snippets. For this, you’ll need to edit the functions.php file. Let’s better understand how you can do that.
How to Edit the functions.php file
There are two methods to add code snippets to your functions.php file.
- Include the code at the end of the functions.php file
- Use a plugin
Let’s have a closer look at both options.
NOTE: Before you move on, we highly recommend that you create a full backup of your site and use a child theme for editing the functions.php file. If you don’t know how to do it, refer to our guide on how to create a child theme or use a child theme plugin.
a) Edit the functions.php file from the WordPress dashboard
The easiest way to add code snippets to the functions.php file is to do it from the WordPress dashboard.
In your dashboard, go to Appearance > Theme Editor. Then, select the functions.php file of your child theme on the right column and paste the code snippet at the end of the file. Finally, hit Update file.
Short and sweet, wasn’t it?
b) Add a code snippet to the functions.php file with a plugin
Alternatively, if you don’t feel comfortable editing the functions.php file directly, you can use a plugin. For this demo, we’ll use Code Snippets.
First, In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New and search for the Code Snippets plugin. Then install it and activate it as shown below.
Then, go to Snippets > Add New. Paste the snippet in the Code section and save changes. Additionally, you can give a name to your code snippet to make sure you remember what it does.
NOTE: It’s worth noting that if you use Code Snippets, you don’t need to create a child theme. However, we always recommend having one.
Now that you know how to add code snippets to your functions.php file, let’s see how to skip the WooCommerce cart page programmatically.
Add Snippets and Skip the Cart Page Programmatically
Before adding the code snippets, make sure that both Cart behavior options are unchecked under WooCommerce > Settings > Products > General so that they don’t interfere with the code’s functionality.
Add the following code snippet to your functions.php file by either of the two methods explained above. The snippet will send the customers from the shop page directly to the checkout page, bypassing the cart page.
add_filter('add_to_cart_redirect', 'ql_skip_cart_page'); function ql_skip_cart_page () { global $woocommerce; $redirect_checkout = $woocommerce->cart->get_checkout_url(); return $redirect_checkout; }
Congratulations! You are now familiar with all three methods to skip the cart page in WooCommerce.
But that’s not all. There are a few more things you can do to improve your customers’ shopping experience. Let’s have a look at some of them.
Replace the Add to Cart Text
Up until now, you have learned how to skip the cart page on your store. Since there is no cart page anymore, the button “Add to Cart” doesn’t make much sense now. So it’s a good idea to change it to something else like Buy Now or Purchase.
The good news is that replacing the button text is a simple process. You can achieve this in two ways:
- Using the Direct Checkout plugin
- Programmatically
Let’s have a look at each method.
1) Replace Button Text Using the Direct Checkout Plugin
From the WP Admin Dashboard, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings and go to the Direct Checkout tab. Under the Archives settings, set “Replace Add to Cart text” to Yes and type the text you want to display. Finally, hit the Save button to save changes.
That’s it! Your Add to Cart button will now be replaced with a Buy Now button.
2) Replace Button Text Programmatically
If you don’t want to use a plugin, you can also change the text of the button programmatically. Simply add the following code snippet to your functions.php file.
add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_single_add_to_cart_text', 'ql_replace_add_to_cart_button_text' ); add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_add_to_cart_text', 'ql_replace_add_to_cart_button_text' ); //Replace Add to Cart text with Buy Now! function ql_replace_add_to_cart_button_text() { return __( 'Buy Now!', 'woocommerce' ); }
In this example, we change the button text to Buy Now! but you can choose the text you want to display by making a small edit to the last line of code:
return __( 'Buy Now!', 'woocommerce' );
Just replace the Buy Now! text with anything you want to display. For example, Purchase Now, Shop Now, Place Order, and so on. Make sure that the text is enclosed in single quotes.
That’s it! That’s how you change the button text. Now let’s move on to our next tweak.
Remove the Added to Cart Message
If you observe closely, you’ll see that every time a customer purchases a product, the message “Your product has been added to cart” appears on the Checkout Page.
Since we don’t have a cart anymore, this message does not make any sense so it’s better to remove it. For that, we’ll use the following code snippet.
add_filter( 'wc_add_to_cart_message_html', 'ql_remove_add_to_cart_message' ); function ql_remove_add_to_cart_message( $message ){ return ''; }
As explained above, you can add this code snippet directly to your child theme or use the Code Snippets plugin.
Now let’s have a look at our last tweak.
Remove the Cart Page from the Menu
Most of the shop pages have a link to the Cart Page in the main menu to let customers check their cart items at any time. However, since we don’t have a cart page anymore, we should remove the cart link from the menu.
By default, WordPress provides the option to remove menu entries. To do this, simply go to the WP Admin Dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Menus. Select the Cart Page in the Menu Structure section and click Remove. Then, hit the Save button to apply the changes.
Congratulations! You have just removed the cart page from the menu. These small tweaks will help you optimize your store and provide users with a better purchase experience.
Conclusion
All in all, a simple and straightforward checkout process is essential for any online store. The fewer the number of steps involved while placing an order, the better the chances of reducing cart abandonment and boosting conversion rates. By skipping the cart page, you remove one step of the checkout process, making it quicker and more convenient for customers.
In this guide, we have seen how to:
- Skip the cart page in WooCommerce
- Through the default settings
- With the Direct Checkout for WooCommerce plugin
- Programmatically using a code snippet
- Replace the Add to Cart button text
- Using the Direct Checkout plugin
- Programmatically
- Remove the added to cart message
- Remove the cart page from the menu
Have you ever tried to skip the cart page in WooCommerce? What method did you use? Let us know in the comments below.
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hi, I can’t set Checkout as the default Cart Page bcs it’s not shown in the dropdown menu, do you know why?
Hi Devi, your checkout page might have already been set as the default Checkout page. You have to unset that one and save the changes first. After that, you will be able to set your checkout page as the default Cart page.
Remember that you can only set a specific page as a default for only one of the four default pages. Once you have set a particular page as a default, it won’t appear in the drop-down menu for the remaining three default pages.
Hope this helps you! Let us know if the problem persists.
1) Skip the Cart Page through WooCommerce Settings
this option doesn’t work, as after order completion the user get a 404 error page instead of order received page.
Checking the “Redirect to the cart page after successful addition” option and then setting the checkout as the default Cart Page should work. Remember to save the changes in each step. Regards
All works ok for me except, if the customer does not complete checkout then clicks ‘buy now’ for the same product again it adds it again in the checkout so now they have 2x the product. Is there a was to allow the customer to edit quantities on the checkout page?
Hi Simon,
You may need to use a plugin to edit product quantities on the checkout. This one may help you out.
Is there an option in any of the suggestions to remove the checkout button and replace it with “learn more,” at which time when you click that button it goes directly to the amazon page with the item? From there the client just continues on the Amazon store since their code is already inserted in their shopping code and will follow them until they leave the Amazon site, hopefully after spending a lot of money😂.