2. Spare us user-hateful eCommerce

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Fiachra Ó'Marcaigh, Director, AMAS

ReCommerce is over a decade old. But some eCommerce sites still display a lack of customer-focused thinking that makes them more user-hateful than user-friendly. Here are our top requests for better eCommerce service.

1. Have a fast site
Life is too short to spend it waiting for pages to load or searches to run. If your site is slow-loading there are lots more out there

2. Keep it simple
Clear basic specification and pricing information are what I want in the first place. Then, maybe I will want product comparisons, user reviews, and all the rest. Not the other way round

3. Make your navigation consistent and intuitive
If I have to learn a new navigation method (as opposed to navigation labels) to browse your website, I probably won’t

4. Make it easy to move around
If I am at an item that is almost right, but not quite, make it very easy to see other options that are similar

5. Preserve the Back button
It’s my best defence against getting lost, and makes me more willing to go on exploring your shopping space. Breaking it on me is an extreme irritation

6. Ensure that pages print fully and neatly
If I want to show a printout to a friend (or bring it to a meeting for a business purchase) I need a well-formatted printout

7. Don’t hide the shipping information
Lots of online stores don’t deliver to Ireland, or they charge silly prices to do so. I need to check this early on

8. Don’t make me register first to shop
It’s an irritation and there’s a good chance I won’t bother

9. Let me check my cart and shop on
It should be really easy to check the shopping cart, add or remove items, or change quantity, and go on shopping

10. Don’t show me stuff I can’t buy
If it’s out of stock, take it off the shelf

11. Make better forms
Registration, checkout and payment forms are often a nightmare, shredding the patience and confidence of customers who are about to buy

12. Don’t treat me like a fool
Don’t conceal taxes or surcharges until the end, make me opt out of a lifetime of spam from you, or far worse make me opt-out repeatedly of a sneaky extra charge (anyone for travel insurance?)

Back to contents of State of the Net issue 7