Online Shopping Still Increasing – Be Aware of Shopper Frustrations

April 15, 2009

Internet Retailer had a great article about a recent survey of online spending by Opinion Research Corp. 

According to the article, 22% of online shoppers plan to buy more on the internet this year, even though 45% say they are cutting spending.  Additionally, 36% said they bought more online last year. 

That leaves a great big opportunity for etailers, but it’s important to remember that expectations of online shopping have gotten higher too.  To get – and keep – valuable customers, you need to make sure your site is up to their standards. 

The survey also revealed some of the top frustrations that online shoppers have.

“Here are the top frustrations with online shopping mentioned by those responding to the Ouch Point survey, with the percentage of respondents citing each one in 2009 and 2008:

  • Not being able to speak to anyone who can answer questions: 25%, 21%
  • Learning that items are back-ordered or out of stock after they are in the shopping cart: 11%, 17%
  • Receiving an item that doesn’t look anything like it did on the Internet: 11%, 21%
  • Web sites that malfunction as the payment is being processed: 9%, 14%
  • Not being able to find an item: 8%, 13%
  • Unclear shipping information: 5%, 5%
  • An uncertain return policy: 5%, 7%
  • Not receiving an acknowledgement after an order has been placed: 2%, 5%”

I think it’s really interesting to see that the vast majority of shopper frustrations have improved from 2008 to 2009.  All improved or held steady, except the biggest complaint: not being able to speak to anyone who can answer questions. 

Since this is the main frustration of online shoppers (at least in this study) wouldn’t it make sense to improve this area as soon as possible?  Wouldn’t that give you the biggest impact for the most shoppers?  I’d venture to say yes – especially since the fixes can be pretty easy. 

A ProfitABILITY Blog post from January of this year talks about the importance of making sure you have alternative communication options for online shoppers. 

Prominently displayed customer service numbers and Chat options can help to reduce shopper frustration and keep your shoppers from going elsewhere.  Shopping online doesn’t mean that your customers no longer need service.

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Posted by Anna Slyter

Help the Lost Ecommerce Shoppers

January 20, 2009

Even if you have the best designed and most clearly organized website on the internet, you’re bound to run into some customers who just can’t find what they need on your ecommerce website. 

Maybe the words they are using to search for products are different than the ones you (and the majority of your other shoppers) use.  Maybe they have a question that your product page didn’t address to their satisfaction.  Maybe they just haven’t had their coffee yet. 

So what do you do?

  1. Put your customer service number in the header of every page, and make it really easy to see.  Don’t make shoppers hunt for it – if they have to search for contact information, they are much more likely to leave and go to one of your competitor’s sites instead. 
  2. Give your customers the option to connect with a live customer service rep via Chat.  For shoppers who don’t want to pick up their phone, Chat can be a great way to reduce site abandonment.  Customer service reps can use Chat to “push” the exact pages to your shoppers are trying to find or transfer to shoppers to product specialists for technical information.   

The simple fact is this – no ecommerce website can predict and address every single question your online shoppers have.  That’s why other contact options are so important.

2 Comments | Call Center, General eCommerce, MulitChannel Retail, eCommerce Usability | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Anna Slyter