In e-commerce, every interaction with your online store can make or break a sale. One often-overlooked opportunity to enhance the customer experience is how your WooCommerce store handles an empty cart.
Typically, when users land on the cart page and find it empty, they’re met with a simple message—end of the journey. But what if you could turn this dead-end into a strategic opportunity by automatically redirecting users to a more engaging page, like your shop or homepage?
You can keep the shopping momentum by redirecting users from an empty cart to a page featuring ongoing sales, promotions, or new arrivals. This improves the user experience and increases the likelihood of conversions by showcasing products that might catch their eye.
In this blog, we’ll guide you through the steps to implement an automatic redirect from an empty cart page to a URL of your choice. This will ensure your customers are always engaged and ready to explore more of what you offer.
Why Redirect the Empty Cart?
1. Improved User Experience: If a user lands on an empty cart, it’s often a dead end. Redirecting them to your shop or a specific page keeps the shopping flow active.
2. Conversion Optimization: By redirecting to a shop or a special offers page, you can recover a lost sale by encouraging users to continue browsing your products.
3. Professionalism: A seamless shopping experience contributes to a more polished and user-friendly website, which can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
How to Redirect an Empty Cart in WooCommerce
You can use a simple snippet of code added to your theme’s functions.php file to achieve this redirection. This method is straightforward and requires no additional plugins.
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Access your theme’s functions.php file: This can usually be done via the WordPress admin dashboard by navigating to Appearance > Theme Editor.
2. Add the following code:
/**
* @snippet Redirect Empty Woo Cart Page
* @author Technocrackers
* @compatible WooCommerce 8
* @authorURI https://technocrackers.com/
*/
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'technocrackers_redirect_empty_cart', 9999 );
function 'technocrackers _redirect_empty_cart() {
if ( is_cart() && WC()->cart->is_empty() ) {
wp_safe_redirect( wc_get_page_permalink( 'shop' ) );
// OR wp_safe_redirect( 'https://example.com' );
exit;
}
}
How It Works
- Hooking into template_redirect: The template_redirect action is a WordPress hook that fires before the template for the page is loaded. By hooking into this action, we can check the cart’s status and perform a redirect if necessary.
- Checking if the Cart is Empty: The function is_cart() checks if the current page is the cart page. The WC()->cart->is_empty() method checks if the WooCommerce cart is empty.
- Redirecting the User: If the cart is empty, wp_safe_redirect() is used to redirect the user safely to the specified page. This could be your shop page, homepage, or any other URL. The exit; statement is used to terminate the script execution immediately after the redirect, ensuring no further code is processed.
Customization Options
You can customize the redirect destination based on your needs:
- Shop Page Redirect: The example above redirects users to the shop page using wc_get_page_permalink( ‘shop’ ).
- Custom URL Redirect: If you prefer to redirect users to a custom page, replace the shop URL with any other URL by modifying the wp_safe_redirect() function like so:
wp_safe_redirect( ‘https://yourcustompage.com’ );
Conclusion
Implementing an automatic redirect from an empty WooCommerce cart page to a more strategic destination is a powerful yet straightforward way to elevate your store’s user experience. By seamlessly guiding users away from potential dead ends and back into the shopping journey, you boost conversion opportunities and create a smoother, more professional online experience.
This lightweight code snippet is easy to implement and fully compatible with WooCommerce 8, making it an invaluable enhancement for any store looking to optimize its customer journey and maximize sales potential.
