6 Ecommerce Customer Pain Points That Diminish Sales (and How to Fix Them)

📢 Remember: if you wouldn't shop with you, neither will anyone else.

6 most common e-commerce pain points

Although there are certainly more than six potential ecommerce pain points your customers might be struggling with, these common issues do tend to crop up time and time again.

Resolving these problems will ensure your customers leave with a positive impression of your business, ensuring you stand out as a reliable, trustworthy brand that goes above and beyond the competition.

1. Slow website and checkout process

Is there anything more trying than a slow website?

It's more than just an inconvenience; slow websites kill conversions.

Websites that take 3+ seconds to load lose almost half their visitors, and more will drop off if navigation between the pages is also slow.

Even a one-second delay can provide 11% fewer page views, a 7% drop in conversions, and a 16% loss of customer satisfaction.

What's more, 79% of customers say they will not return to an online store with poor performance and loading speeds.

In addition to a slow website, the next biggest conversion killer is a long and complicated checkout process. No matter how fast your online store is, a long, tedious checkout process will almost always end in abandonment.

The solution

One of the most significant influencers of website speed and performance is hosting. Check other websites supported by your chosen platform for speed and efficiency, and don't be afraid to pick a better host if your platform is letting you down.

It's also crucial to ensure your online store is optimized for mobile. Over half of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices, so a lack of optimization for this medium will deter countless shoppers.

Offering a guest checkout option is a great way to streamline the payment process.

It's also preferable to ensure duplicate information only needs to be provided once (shipping and billing addresses are often the same, for example).

2. No customer support

A whopping 86% of buyers state they would be willing to pay more for a “great” customer experience with reliable and available customer support. For many, this is more influential than the price or even quality of the product.

Many ecommerce business shoppers also expect live chat software, preferably with 24/7 availability. Around 41% of customers prefer to contact a business via live chat vs. any other method.

The solution

By ensuring multiple customer support options are available, online shoppers can feel confident that you're there for them when they need you.

Getsitecontrol offers a fantastic range of services to enhance your customer support channels. From a straightforward and attractive contact form to sophisticated callback request forms that mean customers don't need to sit on hold, this software can dramatically improve your business perception.

Naturally, a small business or beginner store won't have the manpower to provide 24/7 customer support. This is fine, as long as you're transparent with customers about when they can expect a response.

There are some fantastic Live Chat apps for Shopify stores that you can download and integrate to help provide better customer service.

You could also utilize a chatbot to help answer common customer queries when you're not online.

3. Inconsistent information on advertising channels (e.g., advertising products out of stock)

In 2017, a Forrester study found that 95% of customers used 3+ different channels to connect with a company in one interaction, and 62% used more than one device.

Add to this the huge variety of advertising channels – from TV to social media, radio to billboards – and it's not too difficult to see how inconsistent information can be a simple oversight.

However, all advertising channels must continuously be updated and relevant.

There's little more frustrating than seeing a Facebook advert for a sale or promotion, only to click the link and find that offer expired, or the product is no longer available 😤

The solution

Employing automation and delegation systems ensures your brand and advertisements are as streamlined and low-maintenance as possible. This way, customers get accurate information, and you don't need to spend hours updating multiple ads.

💡 Many Shopify apps, such as Oberlo, are designed to ensure out-of-stock items are updated; particularly handy for dropshipping stores with less control over the supply chain.

💡 The Google Merchant Centre is another valuable piece of software for ensuring adverts and information is up-to-date and accurate.

💡 You might also want to consider popups for things like flash sales. Getsitecontrol offers a range of popups to promote special offers and ensure your audience is updated.

4. Lack of product information

No matter how attractive your product might look, customers require far more information than a single photograph to make a purchasing decision. To help shoppers buy with confidence, it's your responsibility to ensure product descriptions are as transparent and informative as possible.

At a minimum, customers need to know what the product is, who it's for, and how it will benefit them.

The solution

Providing sufficient information to your shoppers is an absolute must. But that's not to say you should be bombarding them with every tiny little detail of the product.

Short yet informative SEO-friendly product descriptions with highlighted key features are essential. Add a variety of high-resolution images of the product – for top points, include at least one photo of the item being used.

An informative video is always well received, and you should be sure to include plenty of social proof (including reviews and testimonials) on any product page and throughout your website.

If you're not confident creating product pages that convert, take some time to learn some top copywriting tips. It's also valuable to get a friend or family member to take a look at your product description. If they have questions after viewing the page, that's a good indicator of a pain point you can resolve.

5. Hidden fees

According to RetailWire, customers “hate paying shipping fees more than just about anything.” This is even more true when the fees are not clearly stated.

Shoppers expect to know how much a product will cost when dealing with your ecommerce store, and this includes additional fees such as shipping and handling. If tax needs to be added, this should also be clearly stated.

Basically, customers should be able to know exactly how much they'll be asked to pay, with no nasty add-ons waiting for them at checkout.

The solution

The best ecommerce stores are upfront and transparent in every transaction.

If you offer free shipping past a certain point, use popups and banners to make this clear on every webpage.

Never try to hide shipping fees, as this will only lead to increased cart abandonment rates and a bad impression of your online business.

If you offer international shipping, allowing customers to input their delivery destination before they go to the checkout can also be an excellent way to provide transparency regarding “hidden” fees, shipping costs, and extras.

Amazon does this particularly well, with the ability to enter your address before you start shopping, so you can clearly see whether a product is available in your area, plus an estimated shipping cost, so that you can make an informed purchase decision.

6. Not enough payment options

Even if you have the perfect product descriptions, transparent shipping fees, and a fast-loading website, your online store may still be losing out on sales due to restrictive payment options.

It's worth remembering that, these days, payments aren't reserved to Visa and PayPal. Shoppers use many different payment methods, including credit cards, digital wallets, cryptocurrencies, and more. By offering a wide range of payment options, you'll have more happy shoppers.

In fact, 56% of people would buy more from an ecommerce store if there were more payment options available.

The solution

Shopify stores can also benefit from a wide range of add-ons to provide more payment methods to your clients. One of the handiest payment tools is the Shopify POS reader, enabling you to streamline payments both online and IRL.

If you're not sure which payment methods your customers would like to use, why not ask them?

A quick poll or survey will enable you to collect market research and discover what would genuinely improve the customer experience.

You can display polls, surveys, and questionnaires to relevant audiences in your store. For instance, you may want to target customers from selected countries, first-time customers, returning visitors, or those purchasing particular products.

Conclusion

If you're ready to take your ecommerce business to the next level, establishing what customer pain points exist in your store and how to fix them should be the first step.

That said, it's important to remember that pain points are not a one-time fix. You should be regularly monitoring your website and brand as a whole to ensure every aspect of the customer experience is as straightforward and user-friendly as possible. That way, you’ll have more happy customers and fewer abandoned carts.