• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 6, 2006

According to a recent national study conducted by Allurent, an overwhelming 82% of respondents said they would be less likely to return to a site where they had a frustrating shopping experience, and nearly a third said that a frustrating experience when shopping online would make them less likely to buy at that retailer's physical store. 55% of the consumers surveyed said that a frustrating shopping experience online negatively impacts their overall opinion of that retailer.

The Holiday Shopping Online Customer Experience Survey identified other critical issues that led to negative online shopping experiences including poor site navigation, problems with checkout, inadequate browsing capabilities, and not enough product details to close the sale. Previously reported issues include high shipping costs, inventory problems, and pricing.

Other findings of the survey include:

• 51% of the respondents said they abandoned their shopping cart even though they intended to buy products on that site. Significant reasons included having to click through too many pages to checkout and the checkout process being too long.
• 76% of respondents said that they were more likely to buy products on a site that offers rich features, such as product zoom, 360 degree product views, and online videos of the product in context.
• 54% of respondents who choose to shop in a physical store vs. online do so because shopping in a store allows them to understand a product better.
• 81% said shopping online this holiday season was convenient, but only 57% said it was trouble free and 29% described shopping online as fun.
• 66% of respondents said that they would be more likely to buy products online if it was more like a positive shopping experience in a physical store.

Esther Dyson, editor of Release 1.0, said "... In order to increase conversion rates and build brand equity, retailers need to take advantage of the Internet by providing a better experience than users can have offline... The retailer needs to offer both better browsing to attract and convert the 'just-looking' customer, and a seamless checkout experience for the purposeful buyer."

The complete study is available here.