Gripes of the Web Shopper

[mandy]

89% of online consumers experience problems when conducting transactions. More than one-third of them say they go to competitors' sites when glitches happen.

The top problem, reported by 40% of the people surveyed, was getting an error message. They put items in their shopping cart, enter their payment information, then they get a screen that says, "Error encountered," or "We're sorry, but we're currently experiencing system downtime." At that point, they either have to abandon the effort or start all over. It's really an insult to the customer, who has put a lot of time into browsing the site, picking out items, and preparing to complete the transaction. No wonder people get angry and leave.

The other top problems reported were poorly navigable Web sites (37%), the inability to complete a transaction due to an endless loop (31%), and difficulty logging onto the Web site in the first place (31%). The problem with all these errors is that they're endemic to the system because the seller isn't face-to-face with the customer and can't observe problems and take action to fix them.

What were the top priorities identified by online consumers?

Among those who have conducted an online transaction in the past year, Web site security was listed first by 25% of respondents and ease of completing the transaction was listed second,

full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20060105/bs_b...0104600474

[valleygirl]

I'm surprised the error message and endless loop numbers are so high.  Planning for high traffic promotions and periodically testing your store can fix both problems.

[maggie777]

I've had very little downtime with MonsterCommerce.