Comments on: Top 10 Things Customers Expect from Your Online Store

By: Blanshik

Blanshik — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:51:17 +0000

Thanks for an article ) Though from a customer point of view I would like to add some tips.
I do agree with search function. I think it’s one of the most important thing. Of course any web site should be usable, but if it’s not, there should be good search feature. It definitely keeps me on site.
As to reviews… Well, they are important, but I don’t believe them much. Especially knowing that anyone can register and write anything he likes. I have more trust to big reviews from bloggers on their own blogs, they seem to be more independent. And to tell the truth, I have more trust to the product if some negative points are described (or personal dislikes). I like to know what to expect. For me one negative point isn’t a big disadvantage, so I like to read different reviews not only extremely positive. I’m not sure it’s good in general to have different points of views on your site – it’s just my personal.

By: Susan Petracco

Susan Petracco — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:22:29 +0000

This is just conjecture, but I would imagine that it’s not the ability to share on social sites that #10 refers to – but the ability to see the company on prominent places like Facebook or Twitter so you can see how active they are, what other people say on their Facebook wall, what their own “voice” on social sites is, etc.

By: Klaus Janssen

Klaus Janssen — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:22:51 +0000

Great Article. It gave me a lot of ideas to improve my webshop. Thank you for sharing.

By: Bill in Detroit

Bill in Detroit — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:11:20 +0000

I think the social media badge expectations are similar to the expectation that a car salesman is going to try to hustle you for a little extra. Think of it more as ‘accustomed behavior’ than ‘requested behavior’. Social media sites are getting a lot of e-ink at the moment, so a sales site that shows the badges is indicating that it is at least trying to keep up.

The ‘hustle’ is the free advertising you grant when you click on the social media button.

Since I am not impressed with the amount of personal information they bleed, today is the last day on any social media site. I may even ditch my Gmail account (I have others on my own server).

By: Bug

Bug — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 03:13:54 +0000

I’m a believer of not even showing the badges until you get to the check out. My theory is this. When I am in a shopping mood, I want to shop. The badges reinforce the negative aspects while I shop. I stop thinking about what I am shopping for and start wondering if the site is safe. If it is a first time visit I really start to worry about being secure.

I don’t like to have the site talk about security until I am in an area where security is a concern.

It’s like walking into the showroom and having the salesman talk about how safe the car is if it catches on fire. “This baby right here gets 30 miles to the gallon AND you have a full ten minutes to get out if it catches on fire!”

By: Linda Bustos

Linda Bustos — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:36:28 +0000

It would be interesting to test just a security lock icon if you don’t want to pay for the 3rd party trustmarks to see if it gives similar lift to what the vendors’ studies claim. Walmart uses just a lock icon – but they are also the biggest retailer in America. There’s an inherent trust.

By: Linda Bustos

Linda Bustos — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:33:20 +0000

Very kind words, Joe. Thank you very much

By: DB Web Development

DB Web Development — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:57:08 +0000

#2 Looks credable and trustworth and #4 Visually appealing are way too close in my opinion.

Professional design should be its own element. And SSL certificate, security badges, etc should be separate. They have some reports on those “HackerSafe” and other badgets you can buy that supposedly increase your conversation rate by a couple percentage points but many of those badges are hundreds of dollars a month. And its hard to tell if some of the studies are influenced by the badge service provides and affiliates. Does a Verisign really offer that much benefit to conversion rate to warrant a 20-50X higher price than a GoDaddy cert.

Food for thought.

By: Geno Prussakov

Geno Prussakov — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:47:22 +0000

Just discovered this post. Very good one, Linda. Thank you for this summary and thoughtful commentary.

Two points:

1) I haven’t gotten their white paper, and am wondering how many other possible “customer expectations” were included in the survey (to confidently arrive at a “top 10″ list)?

2) I too am surprised to see that ~23% of consumers want to see social sharing tools on product pages, but that’s a pleasant surprise.

By: Joe Kennedy

Joe Kennedy — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:53:47 +0000

Linda,

I’m new to your blog, and must say that I am very impressed. I’ve been in the IT business for over 30 years with great emphasis on internet services since around 1996. During the past seven years, Ive spent a great deal of time supporting a “boutiqueish” collection of e-commerce clients, culminating in the opening of my own e-commerce business (GlammaTOYS.com) two years ago. I’ve done a fair amount of research on all matters e-commerce, and can comfortably say that your blog is the best source of information available – your writing is concise, accurate, to-the-point, and remarkably useful. I will be a regular visitor for the foreseeable future.