This document outlines 10 common pitfalls to avoid in an e-commerce customer experience strategy. It discusses slow site speed, unclear product images/descriptions, broken links, a frustrating checkout process, irrelevant search results, lack of transparency about data privacy and security policies, hidden shipping costs, limited delivery options, an unclear returns policy, and lack of empathy in customer service responses. Addressing these issues is important to providing a positive customer experience and reducing cart abandonment rates.

1. 10 common pitfalls to avoid
in your e-commerce
customer experience strategy

2. 1,400
ONLINE SHOPPERS
0 25 50 75 100
What do online shoppers want?
Clear Product Images
Product Reviews
Product Descriptions
Easy Checkout Process
87.6%
78.1%
77.3%
75.6%
Source: Marketing Charts: Retail &
E-Commerce
Data Source: Namogoo

3. Make sure you avoid these
fundamental pitfalls
regardless of season

4. 1. Your site speed is slow

5. Customers expect sites to load quickly or they'll leave
Source: UPS: Pulse of the
Online Shopper
64%79%
Smartphone users
expect pages to load
in 4 seconds or lesser.
Online shoppers expect
web pages to load in
two seconds or less.

6. 2.
Your product images and
descriptions are not clear

7. Be as specific as possible with your product listings
of purchase failures are
caused by missing or
unclear product
information 20%
Source: CorvisaCloud

8. 3.
You have broken links
on your eCommerce site

9. "Error 404 pages" affects SEO, bounce rates, and
user experience
77%
23%
Will attempt to find a
missing page
Will not try at all
Source: BigCommerce
That's a lot of
missed opportunities!

10. 4. Your checkout process is frustrating

11. A complex checkout process results in higher abandoned
cart rates
Source: Instagram
Have a good reason for data collection
Avoid complex forms
Don't ask for unnecessary information

12. 5.
Your search function is returning
irrelevant results or not useful

13. If your search function doesn’t provide your customers
with relevant results, customers are likely to leave
Source: RichRelevance
8/10
Shoppers used the
search function
regularly
45%
35%
Uses search
function often Always use the
search function
80%
20%

14. 6. You aren’t clear with your data
protection and security policies

15. Consumers are taking action to address data
privacy concerns.
Source: Deloitte
Deleted/Avoided Certain Apps
Adjusted Mobile Privacy Settings
Disabled Cookies
64%
47%
28%

16. 7. You aren’t transparent with
shipping costs before checkout

17. Hiding your shipping costs right before checkout is
one of the top reasons for cart abandonment
Source: Parcel Perform
Make delivery prices
and options visible
Be transparent with
hidden costs

18. 8. You have limited delivery options

19. Customers have different preferences when it
comes to receiving their orders
Source: MetaPack State of E-
Commerce Delivery 2018
58%
chose another online store
because they offered more
delivery options

20. 9. Your returns policy is unclear

21. Set expectations for what and when
items can be returned
Source: Shopify
Time taken to
process refund
Shipping timelines
and options
Terms and conditions
of policy stated clearly

22. 10. You lack empathy in your customer
service responses

23. Guidelines for customer
service recovery
Source: Disney
H Hear them out without interrupting
E Empathize with how they are feeling
A Apologize for the way they feel
R Resolve the issue quickly
D Diagnosis of why the problem is there

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