Online shoppers shop from eCommerce websites because they want to experience the kind of shopping that is quick, convenient and helps them make an informed decision. But what will they do if this experience is frustrating, time consuming and beset with problems? Even when all the features required for successful shopping are in place on, there might be some reasons due to which the visitors fail to finalize their purchase on eCommerce sites. Technical snags, some bug in the system or sky-high prices, it can be anything that discourage the users from closing the deal.
Place yourself in the shoes of a user that frequents e-commerce sites and you can very easily make a list of what can stop you from making your purchase, even when the product needs to be purchased urgently. Let’s take a look at six such common factors that displease e-commerce website users.
Slow website
Very often due to reasons like third-party plug-ins and cloud issues, the website can become frustratingly slow , this is not appreciated by users who are short on time and patience. Obviously, they will not want to waste time on your site and leave the site (many a times they don’t even wait for the site to load).
A website that is far too complex
Users find it really tiresome to go through multiple steps, when they have decided to buy your product. Adding unnecessary steps does nothing, but increases the complexity of the overall website. Hence, the steps must be kept minimal and should be around five in number, including– Welcome page, Billing, Shipment, Payment module and last step for confirmation and thanking.
Too much Shipping charges
Users can get massively disappointed if they have to pay a significant amount (more than 10% of the shopped items) as shipping charges. It turns them off and they are most likely to abandon your shopping cart midway and will think twice before ordering anything from your site the next time, with the shipping charges constantly hovering in their mind.
The site is not compatible with various browsers
Although there are a number of web browsers for mobiles and desktops, some e-commerce sites are still not compatible with most of them, for example some websites perform badly on the older versions Internet Explorer. You never know which user is trying to access your website with which browser, and hence, it is better to be prepared beforehand.
Flooded with irrelevant offers
When an online shopper visits your site, they must have pre-decided the type of product he/she wants to buy. If your website has too many offers in the same category, it confuses a shopper. For instance, a user needs an mp3 player but upon viewing various discounts and offers on a large number of mp3 player models, he/she is unable to select any one from them and so, abandons the shopping altogether in a state of confusion.
Focusing upon the points mentioned above will help you get a better idea about what your eCommerce website’s target audience likes and dislikes when it comes to shopping on eCommerce websites. This will help you work towards building a better e-commerce website that will have a higher success rate.
Author Bio Hazel Raoult is working with PLAVEB; a Los Angeles based Ecommerce Website Design company. She has worked on many projects in web design and development. She likes to be updated with the latest news regarding the tech world. With a love for the written word, she likes to share her experiences and opinions with other like minded people. Like PLAVEB on Facebook.