Today I received the following from MarketingProfs:
‘Because your customers will abandon online purchases if they encounter a tedious checkout process, it’s critical to make your e-commerce functionality simple and efficient. In a post at the Conversation Marketing blog, Ian Lurie offers recommendations like these:
Never make a customer log in before checkout. “If you show any kind of form requiring a password on the first checkout page,” he says, “you’re losing customers.”
Display shipping costs on the same page as shipping options. There’s almost nothing more frustrating than getting to the confirmation page and discovering the two-day option costs much more than anticipated. A surprised customer might abandon the purchase, rather than going to the trouble of
choosing a cheaper alternative.
Request information you actually need. “Don’t need their phone number?” says Lurie. “Don’t ask for it. Don’t need their full ZIP+4 code? Don’t ask for it! Are 99% of your customers in the USA? Have that pre-selected in the billing and shipping form.” Make it quick. Small conveniences count for instance, let customers check a box if billing and shipping addresses match, and make any edit from the order confirmation page.
The Point: “If your developer says they can’t make these changes, or even tries to bill you for it after swearing they could build a great site for you,” says a tongue-in-cheek Lurie, “slap them. When they fall down, kick them. When they stop crying, tell them to fix the damned site.”‘
Now I think the main reason this annoys me is his last paragraph which to be fair makes him look like a complete moron and shows just how little he actually knows about what he’s talking about. This is my repost:
All these suggestions are valid, but actually he show’s his ignorance in that most developers or agencies are more than happy to make these changes. The sticking point is generally the business analysts, which actually invalidate the simple logic by looking at the bigger picture.
For example: with his point about not needing the full zip code - is valid from a usability point of view as it takes time to fill in, yet from a business point of view the cost of orders getting lost due to not having a zip code could be substantial so the drop off at this point ends up costing the business less than not having the field at all.
It could be argued that having a more usable form is more profitable in the long run due to brand experience and word of mouth i.e. you may get more customers returning due to a nicer experience, but this is impossible to measure and collate statistics on so it inevitably loses the argument.
I know I’ve had it several times.