It’s not unknown to us that today more and more people are engaging themselves in online business. So how are you performing in the competitive market? Well your analytical report might say that people have been into your site, clicked on different links and spend a good amount of time, only to find they end up doing nothing.  Why?

Figuring out the “Why” may be difficult and time consuming – but it’s not impossible.  Out of the endless reasons, the different survey results throw some light about how modifications can be done to improve the online shopping experience for the customer.

According to PayPal’s survey results with 753 online customers, it highlights some of the reasons why the customers clicked on the “check-out” button but didn’t complete the purchase at the last time.

• The shipping rates were more than they wanted to pay – 24.4 %.
• Don’t feel confident that the website would be able to secure the debit card, credit card or bank account information – 2.3%.
• The payment option they wanted was not available – 7.6%.
• Long check out process – 1.7%.
• Couldn’t contact the customer support – 2.3%.
• Wanted to look for a coupon – 4.4%.
• Wanted to look at other websites before they made a purchase – 14.9%

Further to this survey, when PayPal asked “What if the online retailer have done differently that would have caused you to complete the purchase at that time?” According to the survey answer 29.3% of people said “Nothing”. But the remaining 70.7% highlighted different opinions which could have caused them to complete the transaction. Some of them are:

• Offered payment options other than credit cards – 17.7%.
• Provided shipping information including cost estimates before the check out process began – 43.0%
• Allowed me to checkout as a guest without creating an account or logging into the merchant’s website – 11.8%

The above findings helps to identify the different changes that can be made to reflect better online shopping experience for the customers which further gears up the sales process.Apart from the above scope of improvements for our online customers, we should also focus on the common made e-commerce mistakes and try to avoid them for better results.

Also,we often fail to consider a ‘return policy’, an important reason for the success of your online business. Return policies are a bigger factor in consumer’s online buying decisions.  Businesses that make it easier and less expensive for customers to return their products derive an advantage over the competitors – and are likely to, in the long term, see increases in sales, customer loyalty and incremental revenue.

Also from the consumer’s perspective, the consumers are eager to do online shopping from retailers who have generous return policies and whose return policy is hassle free.  At times we often fail to figure out that Retailers – not consumers – are frequently responsible for customer returns.   Some of the unavoidable scenarios like:

• The item they received was the item not ordered.
• The item they received was not displayed online.
• The item they received was damaged.

are obstacles to online shopping. Considering the fact that consumers cannot touch or feel the products before their purchase, a generous hassle free return policy can in fact be a source of competitive advantage.

Let’s take a look at the SnowValley report, where 229 UK Online Stores were tested, the findings highlight both the negative and the positive results of the survey.

Negative Findings of the Survey

a)  13% of cases had to e-mail or call the retailer’s customer service department before they did so.
b)  7 out of 22 courier pick-up’s that were arranged involved in e-mailing or calling the retailer first and then having to contact the courier themselves.
c)  22% of the retailers failed to provide return instructions with the order, forcing them to call the customer service centre or visit the website.

a)  6 returns/refunds failed for variety of reasons.
b)  7% of the returns being made had to be followed up with a phone call several weeks later to choose funds.  

Positive Findings of the Report

a)  88% of the returns that were made were processed and the money was refunded to the account without any further follow-up.
b)  56% of the refunds were credited within 4 working days of the return.

The negative and the positive results of the survey not only highlights the necessary changes that have to be made with the online business, but also gives us an insight about how the competitors are performing.