Shoppers Leave Poorly Developed Websites

For online shoppers, leaving is the first line of defense against a poorly developed website. A number of factors contributed to Sally's frustrating experience. Fortunately issues like poor usability can be fixed.

Usability More Important than Price

• Online shoppers look for e-tailers that make shopping an easy, pleasant, and efficient experience. While price is important, convenience, and a positive experience is more important.
• Online shoppers spend 95% of their time on non-buying tasks like product research, reading reviews, comparison shopping, etc. Assist shoppers with their non-buying tasks and you'll receive more customers.
• Imagine that you're shopping online. You click an ad that takes you to a website. Immediately the site begins playing music. If you're not alone what's your first reaction? Turn down/off the music. If you absolutely have to include music in your site, make it an option that shoppers can initiate.
• Be sure that your website is accessible to both experienced and novice shoppers. Use simple easy-to-understand content and navigation, and clear but simple visual elements to lead them through your site. Invest in fast servers to minimize website download/downtime.

Don't Force New Customers to Register
Repeat shoppers are more familiar with your website and will look for a way to sign in. Shoppers that are new to your site do not have the same interests. Remove sales barriers and focus on giving shoppers what they need to make a purchase without having to register.

Shoppers See, Shoppers Get
If you've delivered a positive experience for shoppers and they're ready to make their purchase, make sure that your customer and fulfillment services are prepared to help the customer in anyway that they can. Answer shopper phone calls, send out confirmation emails, fill orders quickly; exceed customer expectations whenever possible.

Watch For Bugs
What areas of your site tend to crash or create problems for shoppers? How does your website function with certain things like JavaScript turned off? If you know about errors you can fix errors. Error handling protects the visitor experience, important because leaving is the first line of defense.

Move Forward, Take Action
No two businesses are exactly alike, and no two websites are exactly alike. Focus on helping shoppers who want to make a purchase but need more information. There are thousands of things e-tailers can do to improve their website's performance. If you're unsure about where to start, download our whitepaper 15 Ways to Lower Shopping Cart Abandonment. Our guide provides you with practical information that you can integrate into your e-store right away.