Bring Interactions to Touchable Areas

Buttons shouldn't impact a purchase.

But they do.

Customers evaluate purchase decisions by imagining two scenarios:

• Consuming a product (outcome)
• Acquiring a product (process)

Easy-to-click buttons can strengthen process simulations. Customers can easily imagine themselves completing the next step, blaming this vivid imagery on their desire to complete the next step.

Place Buttons In These Locations

• Bottom. Bottom locations feel physically closer to us (Vecera et al., 2002). On mobile devices, purchase buttons should usually be located near the bottom of the screen. But it can vary on desktop. Interestingly, in a pilot study with a desktop mockup, I confirmed that short people prefer buttons at the bottom, while tall people prefer buttons at the top.
• Right. My pilot studies also confirmed that right-handers prefer buttons on the right, while left-handers prefer buttons on the left. Right-handers comprise most of the population, so these locations will usually convert better. That's why product pages typically place buy buttons toward the right side.
• Foreground. Insert something behind buttons so they look physically closer to the user.

• Vecera, S. P., Vogel, E. K., & Woodman, G. F. (2002). Lower region: a new cue for figure-ground assignment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131(2), 194.