Persistent cart workflow
When the persistent shopping cart is enabled, the workflow depends on:
- The values of the Enable Remember Me and Clear Persistence on Log Out settings
- The customer’s decision to select or clear the Remember Me checkbox
- When the persistent cookie is cleared
When the customer session expires, a Not Jane Smith?
link displays in the page header under the following conditions:
- the logged in customer has selected the Remember Me option and a persistent cookie is applied
- the customer logs out when the system is configured with Clear Persistence on Sign Out set to
No
.
The system retains a record of the shopping cart contents on the current device, even if the logged-in session expires. The Not Jane Smith?
link allows the customer to terminate the persistent session and start working as a guest, or to log in as a different or the same customer.
If the customer checked the Remember Me checkbox when logging in, your store creates and maintains a separate persistent cookie. This cookie helps keep the customer’s shopping cart accessible even after they close the browser or navigate to a different site and their logged in session expires.
If this same customer visits your store using multiple browsers while logged in or while a persistent session is active, the changes the customer makes to the shopping cart content in one browser are reflected in other browsers when the page is refreshed.
“Remember Me” checkbox behavior
Customers can select the Remember Me checkbox on the login page or when creating a new account to keep the contents of the shopping cart accessible on the current device when the logged-in session expires.
Remember Me? | Result |
---|---|
Selected | Creates a persistent cookie and keeps the contents of the shopping cart accessible on the current device when the customer login session expires. |
Not selected | Does not create a persistent cookie and does not keep the content of the shopping cart accessible on the current device when the login session expires. Note that the shopping cart content is still saved in the customer’s account and reloaded the next time the customer logs in. |
Clear Persistence on Sign Out behaviour
When the customer logs in or registers with the Remember Me option selected, the configuration of the Clear Persistence on Sign Out option determines the Persistent Cart behavior.
Clear Persistence on Sign Out set to Yes | Clear Persistence on Sign Out set to No | |
---|---|---|
Remembered customer logs out | Deletes both session and persistent cookies so that the shopping cart content disappears on the current device until the same customer logs back in. | Deletes the session cookie but the persistent cookie remains in effect. The shopping cart content remains accessible on the current device. |
Remembered customer does not log out but the session cookie expires | The persistent cookie remains in effect, and the shopping cart content is accessible from the current device. | The persistent cookie remains in effect, and the shopping cart content is accessible from the current device. |
An example of an open session on a shared computer
Jane is finishing her holiday shopping as a Remembered logged in customer. She adds a present for John to her cart, and something for her mother. Then, she goes to the kitchen for a snack and her login session expires.
John sits down at the computer to do some quick shopping while Jane is in the kitchen. Without noticing the Not Jane Smith?
link at the top of the page, John finds a nice present for Jane and adds it to the cart. When he checks out, he notices that the shipping and billing addresses are pre-filled and thinks that he is signed in. John is in such a hurry that he does not notice the additional items during Order Review, and submits the order. Jane’s cart is now empty, and John bought all the gifts.
Configure a persistent cart
During the setup of a persistent shopping cart, you can specify the lifetime of the cookies, and which options you want to make available for various customer activities.
To use the persistent shopping cart, the customer’s browser must be set to allow cookies. There are two types of cookies used for shopping cart operations:
-
Session cookie – A short-term session cookie exists during a single visit to your site. This cookie expires when the customer logs out or when the session expires.
-
Persistent Cookie – A long-term, persistent cookie continues to exist after the logged-in session ends. This cookie ensures that the contents of a customer’s shopping cart remains accessible when the customer logs out or the session expires.
For more information about how the these configuration settings affect the customer workflow, see Persistent cart workflow.
Field | Scope | Description |
---|---|---|
Enable Persistence | Website | Determines if the persistence feature is enabled. |
Persistence Lifetime (seconds) | Website | Defines the lifetime of the persistent cookie in seconds. The maximum allowed value is 34560000 seconds (400 days). This is a limitation of the maximum recommended cookie life. |
Enable “Remember Me” | Website | Defines whether the Remember Me checkbox is displayed on the login and registration pages of the store. Options:Yes - Displays the Remember Me checkbox.No - Does not display the Remember Me checkbox, and the persistent cookie is used only for customers who already have it. |
“Remember Me” Default Value | Website | Defines the default state for the Remember Me checkbox. |
Clear Persistence on Log Out | Website | Defines whether the persistent cookie is deleted when a store customer logs out. No matter how this option is configured, if a customer does not log out, but the session cookie expires, the persistent cookie is still used. |
Persist Shopping Cart | Website | Defines whether using the persistent cookie gives access to the shopping cart data of the corresponding account. Options:Yes or No . |
Persist Wish List | Website |
Yes - The wish list contents are saved when the session ends.No - The wish list is not saved when the session ends.
|
Persist Recently Ordered Items | Website |
Yes or No .
|
Persist Currently Compared Products | Website |
Yes or No .
|
Persist Comparison History | Website |
Yes or No .
|
Persist Recently Viewed Products | Website |
Yes or No .
|
Persist Customer Group Membership and Segmentation | Website |
Yes - The state of the customer’s group membership and segmentation data is saved when the session ends.No - The state of the customer’s group membership and segmentation data are not saved when the session ends.
|