Forum Moderators: buckworks
TIA
Thumbnails of less than an inch do nothing for me unless the item is something like, oh, I dunno.... a big square block with a different primary colour on each side.
I tend to be a bit of a tactile person when i'm buying normally, I'll turn something over in my hands a lot, so online you've got to go the extra mile to get me interested... the best way to do that is great photos, and more than one photo of an item.. a detail shot, a different angle... anything that makes me feel more secure that I'm really going to like the item when it arrives.
Oh, and dimensions or the lack of really annoy me too. So often size isn't given, or isn't given clearly - is it diameter, height, depth, what?
and adding products to the cart then finding they use SSL. i will NEVER use a credit card over plain SSL, only through a recognised payment solution provider. SSL may be 128 bit encryption, but that's only for the transmission of the card details. there is no guarantee that the card details are stored in encrypted form and destroyed after use. anyone hacking into one of those sites could potentially obtain hundreds of card numbers. commercial payment processing companies are generally more secure than the home built website with an SSL certificate - they have to be more secure or the banks won't deal with them.
oh, and finding that products advertised as a special offer or free have lots of "extra" costs attached. like domain names through UK2 - advertised for 1p, but then you find out it's 1p per month plus domain hosting and DNS and registry fees and so on.
and completing an order only to get an email 2 days later saying the product is out of stock and will be delivered next month. i buy things i want now, not next month. if i want it next month i'll buy it next month, not now.
2. Requiring demographic information that's not related to giving me service. When this happens, I suspect the company is selling their list, even if they state otherwise. But also I realize that some of my clients want to go this route for no particular reason than curiosity. No matter the case, I usually back out.
Someone said it recently "let's put the 'World' back in WWW". If you don't trade outside your shores, please make it obvious somewhere.
On the same note, with the increasing tendency for international sites to go for the .com domain names rather than their regional indicators, I never assume where a website is based or what currency they are trading in. You need to tell me where you are, and what currency you're pricing in.
Yes, ok, US sites usually trade in US currency.. but I've seen exceptions... and you can't assume the same of NZ sites, Australian sites, or anywhere else who happens to coincidentally denominate their currency in dollars.
I suppose it could be for general consumer goods if you get down to posting a whole user manual for a toaster... but generally I find less info than I'd like.
I know personally I'd rather see more info than less... but I know that's also my personality.. I can be the micro manager from hell :)
I think it's a matter of presentation, too much information as once can overload the customers.
We work with a small thumbnail + short description displayed 8/10/12 to a page with each product having a "more info" option which brings you to a page deicated solely to the chosen product.
Another one is the over-complication of the checkout process. Don't make me use 6 steps to do what could be done in 3 steps. Simple, simple, simple.
