April 2000   

A poll conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) during the fourth quarter of 1999 revealed that 57 percent of North American Internet users shop online, spending an average of $460 a year. Yet 28 percent of online purchasing attempts fail. Buyers either leave the e-store site or abandon their shopping carts before completing the purchase. Some even express that they'll never buy from a specific site (and its offline store) again. What are their problems?

"I give up!"

Shoppers don’t seem to have any trouble finding the products they want to buy online. The proliferation of ad banners and affiliate programs give prospective shoppers convenient ways to get where they need to go to order their desired items. They can type in the obvious "productname.com" address to access popular brand name sites, or punch in a product name on any search engine and a results list will lead them to the top shopping sites. But when they click on the e-store site itself, it's another story.

When a buyer tries to "enter" an e-store, and the site takes more than 13.2 seconds to load, it’s like trying to elbow through a sale-crazy crowd at a department store. Online shoppers want buying online to be convenient, so if they can't get past the "door" quickly, they quit and mouse away to another "less crowded" store site.

Let's say the store's homepage loads in less than 13.2 seconds (the expectation of the average online shopper, according to the BCG study). If the buyers can't find the products they're looking for within 5.8 minutes, they surf away to another site. Homepages that don't have interactive search utilities or some organized way of presenting product offerings tend to lose their buyers in the first five minutes.

And if the specific products are not available or out of stock, the buyers don't hang around that Web site trying to find substitutes -- they know that some other online store will have exactly what they want.

"I don't believe this!"

Now, if the store site has managed to keep the buyers inside the virtual establishment, with a homepage that loads in a flash, and an organized, easy-to-find, comprehensive selection of products, what else can go wrong? Plenty.

BCG's report showed that 9 percent of online purchases failed because an e-store didn't accept credit cards. It's not surprising that most Internet users believe that printing out an order page, writing a check, stuffing an envelope, licking the stamp, and walking to the mailbox altogether defeat the very concept of online shopping. Snail mailing a check may be the safer alternative over spelling out one's credit card info onto the World Wide Web, but electronic transactions are now largely accepted and are far more convenient.

Aside from not accepting credit cards, some online stores put a virtual "bump" on an online buyer's shopping flow by requiring contact with a customer representative. This may be some establishments' way of "connecting" with the buyer -- adding personal touch to the experience -- but many Internet buyers are online specifically because they do not want to talk to (and be swayed by) a customer rep. Result: they abandon their shopping carts and go to sites where they can shop incognito -- i.e., choose a product, authorize debit, and wait for delivery, period.

Buyers who do try to get in touch with customer service also end up abandoning the purchase because they either couldn't reach the rep, or were never attended to. According to the BCG survey, the average online shopper expects to complete an order in 4.5 minutes. Online shopping carts that take more than 5 minutes to process are most often abandoned.

"I'm never coming back here!"

The online purchase, however, doesn't end with the message "Thank you for your order!" Buyers expect the products to be in their hands in the soonest possible time. Unfortunately, between the time their credit cards are promptly debited, and the time the packages reach their doors, many unpleasant glitches can still happen.

For example: the product takes much longer to deliver than promised, the wrong product arrives (and there's no return policy), not all the products arrive, or worse, none of the products arrive. Worst case is, credit card transactions are erroneous or unauthorized; or additional costs are charged -- charges that are sometimes in near-invisible fine print that momentarily flash while the virtual shopping cart is being processed.

Online buyers deem delivery and transaction problems as unacceptable causes for failed purchases and justifiable reasons for them to never shop in that e-store, and its offline entity, again.

"Online business owners should..."

One of the most compelling goals of an online business owner is to keep the buyer clicking back for more. This might as well be the underlying purpose of every bit of functionality operating within an e-retailer store. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as it seems, nor does it follow the traditional customer care models of brick-and-mortar-based businesses, mainly because online customers have unique and fast-evolving demands and expectations.

The e-stores that can effectively address these dynamic electronic shopping demands are the sites where online buyers will key away their money. E-businesses that evolve with these ever-changing expectations are the ones online shoppers will believe are attuned to their needs and wants, and therefore trustworthy.

Considering today's consumer expectations of the total online shopping experience, what should you, an online business owner, provide in your electronic storefront to ensure that intended purchases are not aborted, abandoned, or abominated? Here are some specific solutions:

1. Ensure site integrity and functionality.

Andersen Consulting found late last year that the most popular online stores could be logged into only 75% of the time. So, if you don't want to be part of this statistic, be sure all your site pages work -- especially the homepage. The inter-play of content, layout, graphics, and functionality gives your site the look and feel that can either draw or repel your shoppers. Aside from quick loading time, your pages must be simple to understand and convenient to navigate.

White-Wolf.com, one of the leading online shopping haunts of computer gamers and role-playing enthusiasts, has Brad Butkovich, direct sales manager, in charge of catalog mailings, Internet relations, and the 800 line. He says, "Having a clear, concise and easily navigable website is the key. Having a clearly understandable website can reduce most of the problems. Pictures of your products will also reduce questions and let customers know what they are buying. If possible, having your catalog pages on one server, and your secure transaction pages on a separate server will speed up transactions quite noticeably since it allows the catalog pages to load quickly. Having software that automatically charges the credit card at the time of purchase is a must."

Michael Krupit, chief operating officer of CDNOW.com, asserts the site continues to be a leader in the online audio and video industry specifically through "advanced search functionality... and 98.6% overall site availability."

Aside from ease of access and navigation, to address the problem indicated by 26 percent of the failed purchases in the BCG study, your virtual store should never be the cause of system crashes, log-offs, or related online glitches. Always expect rapid growth of data and traffic and employ only the most reputable Web design and hosting services with the most reliable connections.

2. Apply customer relationship management strategies.

A close second to your online store's site integrity and functionality is the relationship it cultivates with the customers. In order to build a one-to-one interaction that fosters loyalty and trust, give your customers not just a brief on their rights, privileges, and privacy, but also all the information they need to exercise their power to browse, decide, and execute a purchase.

But don't just cram them with thousands of product lines. Show them you are constantly there to assist in what may strike them as a complicated, revolutionary buying process. Provide help screens, contact numbers and addresses, as well as account monitoring capabilities. Make your shopping cart interactive, and respect your buyers' intelligence. The customer-focused innovations cropping up in many shopping sites today include account histories, order status screens, shopping lists, reminders, and gift services.

How to keep the buyers coming back for more? Give them a personality in the site -- sign them up as members of a virtual community. Communicate with them through engaging content and a bustling population of like-minded folks. Give them what they want. Net surfers who feel comfortable, welcome, and heard become loyal shoppers.

Joe and Sue Spataro, husband and wife owners of health and family Web sites, Families First, HotFlash!, and The Homeschool Zone, reveal their awareness: "We do spend time looking at our sites regularly and reevaluating if the layout is working for our visitors. We receive a lot of feedback from our loyal visitors and are thrilled to hear their comments and suggestions. This can make all the difference. People really know who is reaching out for them and trying to make communities which are relevant for them as opposed to putting up a page to just sell a product."

3. Over-deliver.

Forrester Research reveals that between 40 percent and 60 percent of intended online purchases are abandoned when shoppers reach the "Order Now" page. Buyers discover that credit cards are not accepted; international delivery is a future enhancement; shipping, handling, and other charges are unreasonably high; or they have to divulge more personal information than they feel safe about. Be aware of the buying tendencies of your customers, and exceed their expectations. In other words, over-deliver.

Online buyers hang on the word of the e-store when it comes to post-purchase commitments. Your site must reassure the net shoppers that their orders have been taken as they have specifically indicated, and the products will be delivered as promised. Provide reference numbers and contact information in case of unforeseen impediments. Send email confirmations to bolster your commitments. Then put in a little something extra, like a link to the shipper's Web site and a tracking number so customers can trace their own shipments.

Resource E-commerce Watch emphasizes that one of the key success factors of online excellence is efficiency with post-purchase activities. "With a click of the submit button, orders begin the journey from virtual world to real world. Post-purchase activities are the vital steps e-retailers take to reassure customers throughout the process."

"Customer service after the transaction is also a key point," according to Butkovich. "White Wolf tries to satisfy a White Wolf mistake as quickly and easily as possible, even if it costs us a few bucks."

"I bought it online, where else?"

As the mass of Internet users approaches the 100 million mark, and more and more businesses hop onto the Internet to vend their wares, shoppers know that they now have convenient access to goods and services through the computer networks. They can virtually swoop from store to store, inspect, and pick out the items they fancy, and have the goods delivered however, whenever, and wherever they desire -- all with just a few mouse-clicks.

But as these net shoppers mature with the evolution of the Internet, their expectations from online shopping will likewise evolve. They’ll tend to severely frown upon -- if not outright condemn -- purchase failures brought about by system crashes, out-of-stock messages, sluggish Web pages, half-witted shopping carts, or erroneous charges. Only the virtual stores that can offer the best end-to-end shopping experience will survive.