Why do people shop online?
Last month, the Pew Foundation released the findings from a new survey (conducted
late 2007), where they asked American Internet users why they shop online.
You can view the full report here http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/237/report_display.asp or read our summary below:
The top 4 reasons stated (in order) were:
- Shopping online is convenient
- Best place to buy items that are hard to find
- Shopping online saves me time
- Best place to find bargains
According to Jakob Nielsen, the four reasons are almost the same as they were in a similar 1999 survey, which were (in order):
- Easy to place an order
- Large selection of products
- Cheaper prices
- Faster service and delivery
Despite the huge growth in the Internet (well over 3,000% since 1999) it goes to show that we are thinking about it in roughly the same way, and using it for roughly the same reasons.
Users fear inputting their credit card details
The survey reports that 75% of respondents "don't like giving my credit card number or personal information online."
That amazes me... and I'm not sure I totally buy into it. In doing our own (limited) research, we find that users are quite happy entering financial and/or personal information online if they are confident in the sites credibility and trustworthiness.
Here's our top 5 tips for ensuring a user is confident on your website:
- Don't ask for information you don't need to complete the transaction - if you want to ask those questions, fine, but make them optional.
- Don't ask for information prematurely - especially at a stage when a visitor hasn't actually decided to buy from you.
- Reduce your checkout to as few a number of steps as possible - this will help avoid 'shopping cart abandonment'.
- Make it bloody obvious how to complete the order - use clear 'calls to action' throughout the shopping process to help the user along.
- Clearly state postage, shipping, handling, or tax charges in advance of the last page in the checkout process - don't surprise your visitors with a hidden cost just before they are ready to buy, make it clear early on in the checkout and you'll see your order completion rates rise.
If you'd like to discuss your e-commerce project, why not get in touch?