ePleasing ecommerce website visitors is difficult: Consumers seemingly have an ever-changing, ever-growing list of things that they believe make for a good experience. Moreover, these likes tend to vary significantly among different demographics.
Annoying ecommerce visitors, on the other hands, is easy. For the most part, the things that people dislike most about sites are consistent over time and are common across all groups.
In particular, consumers regularly bring up the key issues below when surveyed about what makes for a poor ecommerce experience. Given that, it’s essential for brands to avoid these five big mistakes with their websites.
Mistake #1: A Bad First Impression
When asked what the most important feature of an ecommerce site is, and where brands often fail, consumers give a clear answer: usability/responsiveness.
This makes sense. If visitors can’t easily use a site — for example, if they can’t get it to work on their devices or intuitively figure out the navigation — they’ll just leave.
Put another way: once a site makes a bad first impression, everything else becomes moot.
What’s important to remember is that first impressions are made quickly. A study by Google found that visitors often judge websites within 50 milliseconds. This means that above all else it’s essential to immediately present consumers with a clear, device-optimized, well-designed, experience.
Mistake #2: Low-Quality, Small Images
It’s hard to overstate the importance of images for ecommerce websites.
This is true across the entire experience, but it is especially relevant when it comes to product areas/pages.
Why? Because people want understand what they’re buying, and images are often the best medium for accomplishing this.
The key is that consumers don’t just want images: they want good ones.
Some 50 percent ecommerce shoppers say they want high-quality photographs and 70 percent want the ability to zoom in on images. Need more proof? A separate study of ecommerce behavior found 71 percent of shoppers regularly use the zoom-in feature on product pages.
Mistake #3: Too Little Product Detail
Along similar lines with product images is product descriptions.
Too often ecommerce brands go with a less-is-more approach when it comes to the text on product areas/pages. While this is often a good aesthetic choice, it isn’t necessarily what people want.
Some 68 percent of ecommerce shoppers say they expect ecommerce sites to provide enough detail so that it’s possible gain an in-depth understanding of products/services and to also determine if what’s being offered will properly meet their needs.
One thing to keep in mind is that there are many different types of product details that consumers like. For example, 40 percent of ecommerce shoppers say they expect to find Q&As about products on ecommerce websites.
Mistake #4: Inadequate Reviews and Ratings
Ecommerce shoppers don’t want to just hear from you about your products/services, they also want to hear from experts and peers.
Some 50 percent of consumers say they want to see third-party product reviews on ecommerce websites and 73 percent want to see what their other shoppers have to say before making a decision.
Why are reviews and ratings valued so much? The top reason cited is that it makes people feel comfortable about a purchase.
However, there are other motivations as well. Some 45 percent of consumers believe reviews make companies more accountable and 41 percent say reviews help ensure the safety/quality of products.
In other words, if you don’t include product ratings and reviews, site visitors often think you have something to hide.
Mistake #5: A Bad On-Site Search Experience
Finally, here’s a simple fact: people won’t buy your products if they can’t find them.
Discovery occurs in many ways — including via navigation and external search — but one of the most important methods is your site’s internal search. In fact, 71 percent of shoppers say they regularly use the search tool on ecommerce sites.
What brands often forget is that an on-site search tool shouldn’t just deliver a big, daunting list of things. Some 70 percent of shoppers say they highly value being able to not only find products via a site’s search but also to filter products.
A good search should feel manageable; it should present results in a clear format and give users the ability to reorder/refine easily. Ultimately, it’s that sort of simple, but essential, functionality that turns ecommerce site visitors from uncommitted browsers into loyal buyers.