Add to wishlist:
The Shortcut Between Want And Buy
Company
OCG
Industry
E-commerce
Customer
Merchant, Buyer
Type
Product
(Introduction)
Quick overview
Our goal was to make “Save for Later” feel native, effortless, and meaningful for both sides: simple for sellers to set up inside the Website Builder, and intuitive for buyers to use across their shopping journey.
(01 - Background)
When interest got lost
It started with a familiar story: A buyer scrolls through a store, finds something they love — but doesn’t buy. Maybe they’re waiting for payday, comparing options, or just not ready yet. Next time they return, the product’s gone, the link’s lost, and the intent fades away.
For sellers, this moment was invisible. They saw traffic but couldn’t tell who was actually interested. Without a way to capture that silent intent, both sides lost: buyers forgot, and sellers never followed up.
That’s where Wishlist came in — a quiet bridge between emotion and action.
(02 - Key insights)
Seeing what buyers really want
When we started designing Wishlist, we thought it would be a small feature — just a heart icon that lets buyers save products.
But once we began talking to people, we realized it touched something much bigger: the way people make decisions.
For buyers: Wishlist was about control — the ability to save what they liked, take a break, and come back later.
For sellers: It was about visibility — understanding what their visitors cared about.
For the company: It was about connecting both sides through better data and a smoother experience.
Key findings from
Our Discovery Phase
(1)
Interest was strong, but invisible
Buyers showed clear interest —viewing, comparing, revisiting — but sellers couldn’t see or measure it. Without visibility, potential sales slipped through unseen.
(2)
Carts were used as memory, not intent
Most shoppers added items to cart just to remember them. This confused data, inflated conversion metrics, and made sellers chase the wrong signals.
(3)
Buyers had no way to save what they loved
Without a Wishlist, people relied on screenshots or notes. Cross-device browsing broke their memory, and hesitation turned into abandonment.
(4)
The system measured transactions, not emotions
ShopBase tracked what was bought — not what was wanted. Sellers, buyers, and the company were disconnected, each missing the moment between want and buy.
(scroll down for more details)
From Buyers
“I wasn’t ready to buy — I just wanted to keep it somewhere.”
We all know that feeling: you see something nice online but aren’t ready to commit. Maybe you’re comparing colors, waiting for payday, or hoping for a discount.
We surveyed 500 buyers and watched session replays across 100+ stores. Most of them weren’t abandoning carts out of disinterest — they were keeping track.
What we saw in behavior?
Buyers weren’t impulsive — they were thoughtful. They needed a way to save things without pressure. We noticed three repeating patterns:
01
The comparison loop
Most buyers didn’t buy immediately because they were still comparing.
They opened multiple tabs, switched between stores, and often forgot which product caught their eye first.
02
The cross-device gap
Over 60% browsed on mobile but completed purchases on desktop. With no synchronized state, these “maybes” vanished during device switches.
03
The waiting period
Buyers were waiting for confirmation — reviews, discounts, or stock updates — before committing. Without notifications, that “pause” often became permanent.
What it meant for design
Buyers didn’t need a “Buy Now” nudge. They needed a “Remember Me” button. Wishlist became that safe space.
It let them collect things they liked, come back when ready, and make decisions on their own terms — not the store’s timeline.
And because those saved items stayed visible and updated (stock, price, discounts), it gently reminded them, “You liked this — it’s still here.”
“We knew people liked our products — we just couldn’t tell who.”
During discovery, we interviewed over 120 ShopBase merchants across categories like fashion, home décor, and print-on-demand. Many already tried to track buyer interest manually — through carts, Google Sheets, or even screenshots of conversations.
What we found behind the numbers?
Sellers weren’t struggling with tools — they were struggling with invisibility.
They could track what was sold, but not what was loved.
01
“Add to Cart” didn’t mean intent
Buyers were using it like a bookmark — to compare or remember items. That inflated the data and made it impossible to know who was actually planning to buy.
02
Hidden potential products
Some items had hundreds of views but zero sales. Sellers thought they were unpopular and stopped promoting them — but when Wishlist launched later, many of those same products became the most saved.
03
Lost opportunities to reconnect
Without knowing who had shown interest, sellers couldn’t send a simple “It’s on sale now” email. Every untracked favorite meant a missed second chance.
How this shaped our thinking
Sellers didn’t need a new way to “push sales.”
They needed a quiet way to see interest before it turns into action.
We realized Wishlist wasn’t just a feature — it was a feedback loop.
It tells sellers what’s loved, even when it’s not bought yet.
From The Company
“We realized we were measuring the wrong thing.”
Behind all these experiences was a bigger realization:
Our data told us how many people checked out, but not how many people cared.
Across 100+ stores, we noticed two patterns that didn’t line up:
Cart abandonment rate stayed high (around 70–72%)
Repeat visit rate stayed low (around 18%)
01
What this told us?
Buyers weren’t abandoning because they changed their minds — they were using the cart as a storage place.
But since the system counted that as a “failed checkout,” it made the data look worse than it really was. This misunderstanding affected everything:
Sellers thought their products were underperforming.
The company prioritized checkout fixes instead of memory features.
Support tickets kept asking, “Why are my Add-to-Cart numbers high but my sales low?"
In reality, it wasn’t a conversion problem — it was a memory problem.
02
What changed after Wishlist?
This is the moment when bundles, accessories, and quantity discounts become powerful.
Upsell opportunity:
Suggest product combos: Bundles, Quantity Discounts, Accessories.
Recommend based on history or behavior: Recently viewed, “Who bought this also bought,” Same collection.
Current pain points:
Merchants must manually create bundles for each target product.
Buyers cannot select product variants in Bundles.
Some sellers don’t understand the differences between block types, leading to misconfiguration.
(03 - Design Challenges)
The questions we had to answer
How can sellers set it up without extra effort?
Most ShopBase merchants already juggle multiple tools and blocks in their Website Builder.
We didn’t want Wishlist to become another setup headache.The challenge was to make it feel like a native feature, not an integration.
How do we keep the experience consistent across devices?
Buyers often browse on mobile and purchase on desktop.
If the products they saved disappeared between devices, the trust would break immediately.We had to make every saved item follow the buyer seamlessly through login sync and persistent sessions.
How can we balance freedom for buyers with control for sellers?
Not every store behaves the same. Some want to show the “Add to Wishlist” button everywhere, others only on product pages, or even behind a login wall.
We designed flexible controls so sellers could decide:
show or hide the button, require login or not — all inside the builder.
(04 - Solutions)
Turning hesitation into opportunity
We realized that shoppers didn’t just want to buy — they wanted to remember. So instead of pushing them to check out faster, we gave them a quiet place to keep what they cared about.
Wishlist became that home: built right inside the Website Builder, where sellers can set it up in minutes and buyers can return anytime.
The Add to Wishlist button: Capturing intent at the right moment
Challenge it solved:
Buyers often saw something they liked but weren’t ready to buy. If the site didn’t let them save that moment instantly, it was lost.
Our approach:
We created a dedicated Add to Wishlist block, usually placed on the Product Detail page.
With just one click, buyers can save a product without leaving the page. A small animation and toast message confirm the action — making the moment of “saving” feel personal and satisfying.
Behind the scenes, the system syncs the product to My Wishlist, keeping it connected to the buyer’s account across sessions and devices.
The Wishlist block: Where buyers return to what they love
Challenge it solved:
Buyers had no place to find the products they had saved, and sellers couldn’t offer a consistent “memory space” inside their stores.
Our approach:
We added a Wishlist block directly into the Website Builder.
Sellers can drag it anywhere on the site — most often on the header — so that buyers can access their My Wishlist page from any screen.
Once clicked, the Wishlist opens a My Wishlist page where buyers can:
View all products they have saved.
See updated prices, stock status, and variants.
Move items to cart with one click, or remove them anytime.
Product card in website settings: Giving sellers full control
Challenge it solved:
Not every store or audience behaves the same way. Some merchants want “Add to Wishlist” visible on every product; others prefer to keep it minimal.
Our approach:
We gave sellers the flexibility to control everything inside the Website Builder. From the Product Card settings, they can:
Toggle the “Add to Wishlist” button on or off for product lists.
Decide if login is required before saving — (for example, stores with repeat customers may skip login; others may use it to collect buyer accounts).
This made Wishlist not just simple to use — but also adaptable.
(05 - Reflection)
What I’ve learned
Design doesn’t end at the click
A feature like Wishlist only works if the story continues. After buyers click “add,” what happens next — email reminders, synced sessions, or a price update — is what turns intention into action.
We learned to design not just for interaction, but for continuity.
Emotion is also a feature
That tiny heart icon isn’t just decoration. It represents connection — a promise that the store will remember what buyers care about.
When we designed Wishlist, we learned that emotion can be just as measurable as conversion.
Give users control, not pressure
Wishlist succeeded because it respected timing. It didn’t push people to buy; it waited with them. Sometimes, the best shopping experience is the one that lets people breathe.
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