Online stores and communication during the shopping cart checkout process

Waiting in line for a popular ride at Disneyland is inevitable. In order to keep patrons content (after all, it is supposed to be the happiest place on Earth) Disney uses expectation management techniques to make the time pass in a digestible manner (or people can buy the Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook). Estimated wait times are posted at strategic points in the line queue, but the actual wait time is shorter than indicated; characters interact with people in line and it has the same effect as watching a movie on a plane, time just seems to go faster – expectation management. What does this have to do with ecommerce? LOTS.

While attempting to purchase over $1,500 worth of software today from Adobe, I experienced a tragic case of expectation mismanagement. I was about to launch into a project with an immediate timeframe and needed current versions of a few applications. I fire up Adobe.com and quite easily located and added the products I needed to my cart. I started the checkout process and was very pleased to be using a one page checkout system (though done using Flash, it has similar functionality to the AJAX shopping cart checkout, Elastic Path One Page, that we offer). I updated my account info right in the checkout process (beautiful feature), entered my credit card info, and went to confirm the purchase.

We are a Canadian company and as such can claim GST (Good and Services Tax) paid against GST charged. Because the tax line in the shopping cart did not indicate the type of tax being charged, I hesitated to confirm my purchase. I called someone internally to double check if it was worth the hassle to save the almost $100 if it was in fact a US tax. Because tax exempt purchases can only be done via the Adobe call center, I abandoned the checkout and called.

I was on hold for 10-15 minutes (it was probably 5 but it always seems longer when you are frustrated with something). I gave the agent my personal info so my account could be located. We went ahead and queued up the two pieces of software I wanted, and then found out the tax being charged was in fact GST, fantastic, just what I wanted to know. So I figured we’d just complete the purchase via the phone while we were on the line.

I told the agent I wanted the downloadable version because I had a project I had to work on immediately and I couldn’t wait for the shippable software version with printed manuals. He understood and told me I would have to go back online to complete a new order because he could not fulfill a downloadable software purchase. GRRRR.

Back to the web where I re-entered my credit card info and confirmed my order, happy to finally be downloading the software I needed immediately. But wait…the order receipt page indicates that my order is pending approval and may take a full business day. I could have walked to the local Best Buy, plopped down my credit card, and been back in my desk chair in half the time as this purchase took.

5 hours later my order got approved. Okay, not as bad as waiting the full day, but I was not happy. In fact, I wrote this post while waiting for the order pending to flip to order approved. If it weren’t for the nice RIA checkout, it may have been a lot longer post.

What do you you think they could have done to make this a more pleasant experience?

Two things:

1. Post the type of tax being charged and the tax rate, not just ‘tax’.
2. Indicated in the cart that I have chosen downloadable software and that it may take the full business day for approval before I can access my purchase (maybe even tell me why).

Managing online shopper’s expectations is somewhat an art, as I have come to learn. I may be a fickle purchaser, but see how such a small usability and communication hiccup can disrupt the user experience and overall satisfaction with a purchase. Adobe is fortunate their products are better than their processes.