Not all sites have an e-commerce section, but many do. Today, in our continuation of the Top 10 ways to Ruin your website series, I want to talk a little bit about your "shopping cart". Any e-commerce site has multiple sections from how products are laid-out to payment options, but I just want to focus on getting through the "cart" area, in other words the process it takes to get from a product to a sale. Not all e-commerce solutions offer flexibility, some are straight-out-of-the-box so to speak. But when you are making the decision, look out for these top ten.

1. Log-in Hell

I understand the need to have customers "log-in" so that you can have their information and contact details. But, this process should be as simple and intuitive as possible. If the log-in frustrates a customer they may give-up and never come back. If you require membership, give your clients an option to sign-up as part of their check-out process.

2. Not saving contact information

Give clients the option to save their information (leave me logged-in, remember my password, that kind of thing). Nowadays we all have 573 passwords we're supposed to remember. Don't let the reason you missed a sale be because a customer forgot how to log-in.

3. Deleting everything when there's an input error

This may be a personal issue but I really hate it when I spend 10 minutes carefully filling out my contact information, my credit card, etc. and then I mistype one number and the page reloads saying: there was an error with your credit card. Then, all the information I painstakingly added, vanishes. I have to do it all over again. This alone has made me give-up and use a different website before.

4. Not making the cart front and center

I don't see this often, so when I do, it stumps me. Put a link saying "Buy now!" next to every product. There should as many opportunities to click to purchase as possible. This does not mean tricking the client into purchasing, but it means make it easy to get the money.

5. Not giving prices up front

Prices vary for a number of reasons: tax, shipping, bulk ordering. However, simplify the question of cost as much as you can. Let them know if tax will be added. Give them an idea of what shipping costs average. Do not let the final charge completely surprise them. Also, make sure you include prices next to each item in a highly visible way.

6. Making the process more than 3 steps

If it takes more than 3 clicks to get from the product to making the payment, you need to simplify. Places you can cut:

• consolidate like information (shipping & tax, membership & credit card information)
• cut out unnecessary personal information requests
• only ask for approval to bill their credit card once
• Send an email confirmation instead of a page they can print

7. Long Load time

An e-commerce site may have heavy back-end coding. The reasons vary from lots of products to automated systems. These things can cause a slower load time. This is a hard problem to fix. You may need to find a new program or solution if wait time becomes an issue. Not all shopping carts are created equal. Don't lose clients because your page won't load.

8. No options:

The average person excepts your site to cater to them. Make sure to give them options. Marketing used to follow the rule: ask forgiveness, not permission. That philosophy went out with the 90s. Now people want to choose. So be sure to offer choices. You have a newsletter? Let them opt-in or out. Give them the opportunity to save their password, or let the site remember their log-in (or even keep them logged in for a period of time). Do they want an email receipt? Why not ask instead of assuming. These are just a few examples of options you can give your customers.

9. Errors

It happens. One misplaced bracket and it throws off the whole page. Check for coding errors. E-commerce requires multiple facets therefore it require extra time to debug. Don't be surprised if your web company charges extra to check these things, or be willing to walk through yourself.

10. Charging the wrong amount

The worst glitch that can ever happen is charging someone the wrong amount. If you charge too little, you have to charge a second time. If you charge too much, you have a pissed off customer. Much like site errors, these things sometimes happen. The best I advice I can offer you is deal with it immediately. As soon as the error becomes obvious, fix it.

I hate to add this but I will. Sometimes companies charge the wrong amount on purpose. They add a few cents or charge twice, just to see if the customer double checks. Its wrong. Don't do it. And if you ever do it and get caught, you'll be lucky to still have a company, so make sure to be honest.

How about some examples of good shopping experiences. If you spend money online, who do you like to shop with?

The next important page we'll deal with in our Top 10 Ways to Ruin Your Website series is the Contact page. Most websites have one. Usually a Contact page consists of some kind of form and also a list of other ways to connect with your business. So how does one screw up something so simple? Easy. Let's discuss the top reasons how.

1. Wrong Information:

Have you ever had this happen? You go to a Contact page, dial the listed number and get that lovely lady's voice on the other end: I'm sorry, the number you are trying to reach is no longer in service. (She sounds so pleased with herself, doesn't she?) If you change your number, update your site. There's no easier way to lose a client.

2. No Information:

Better even than wrong information, is none at all. You're excited about the company, you're ready to talk to them but... no contact information. This is particularly annoying when there is a contact form but no one answers your requests.

3. Contact form error:

Check your site. Make sure it works. Click through everything. If your contact form displays an error when they message you (even if the message actually gets through) a possible client can get very frustrated, even if the problem out of your control.

4. Never hooking up your email to your form:

A contact form must be connected to an email address. However, you can set-up a form without linking it to an email. In fact, funny story, we set one up for a client once and he gave us the email he wanted the message forwarded to. The problem was, he didn't actually have that email set up with his host. Lesson here: you do not magically have an email called info@company.com you can send things to. You set that up or pay a web company to do it for you.

5. Never checking the email connected to your contact form:

This isn't really a problem with the Contact page its self, but its worth mentioning. Actually I wrote a post just on contact forms a few months ago that talks more about this. If you have a contact form, check the email it goes to. Or connect it to your outlook, or forward it to an email you actually check, but make sure you get those messages! I know people who missed opportunities because they didn't stay on top of their contact form.

6. Requiring someone's birth certificate before they can use your form:

Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little. But you've seen what I mean. The contact form requires certain information (usually denoted with a "*") before you can hit send. Now, I agree, its a good idea to require some information, like an email or phone number so you can get back in touch with people, but don't expect people to give you their life story and social security number just to ask one question.

7. Making the form look too long:

This kinda pairs up with #6. You don't want to scare people away by requiring too much from them. If the form scrolls down two pages I'm probably going to skip it and look for another way to get in touch with you. Most people contact companies through websites to either immediately fill a need or ask basic questions. There should be as few roadblocks as possible to get in touch with you.

8. Hiding your phone number:

Apart from wrong information and no information there is much more sinister: purposefully hidden information. For some reason, certain companies only want feedback through one channel. So they put a phone number up but they hide it at the bottom or it takes two clicks to get to. Or they hide their email, or they hide everything but the sacred contact form. My thoughts are, give people as many ways to contact you as possible, but if you have a preferred method, list it. Or let them know that your response will be via your preferred contact method. AKA, please include you phone number in your email so we can call you back.

9. Excessive Text:

I'm not sure why people feel the need to write an introduction paragraph to their Contact page. But then again, I'm a fan of simplicity. It says (or should say) Contact at the very top of the page, isn't that enough ? But if you feel you must preface your information, than do so minimally. Get to the point as quickly as possible. Make sure your information or form still shows up on the screen without having to scroll down.

10. TMI (Too Much Information):

I mentioned earlier, you give people as many avenues to contact you as possible. But I want to add a disclaimer. Don't overwhelm people. Don't list 7 different phone number with no explanation. Don't list a bunch of names and then their emails addresses with their department. Make sure not to  overload people, sometimes they just want to send one generic email and be done with it. Give your customers that option.

Note: If you do any trouble-shooting or have a customer service department you Contact page is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT! Everything I say here should be in bold for you.

Do you get contacted through your website? If so, which method do people use most often?

Image by AussieGal