Study Reveals Shoppers are Checking Out Before Actual Checkout

Current shopping cart abandonment rates are estimated to be 60% according to Marketing Sherpa, a research firm specializing in marketing trends. A recent independent report explores some of the key issues customers experience with online checkouts, and offers advice for avoiding common usability problems. The report draws on opinions from industry experts such as the UXalliance, an international network of leading user experience firms (www.UXalliance.com).

The findings of the report reveal common problems that can be easily identified and corrected through user experience research. The analyst suggests Ecommerce companies should seek advice from user experience companies such as the UXalliance for contextual answers to users' key issues. User experience professionals can help companies improve functionality by designing a well ordered and simple check-out process.

UXalliance partner Axance explained that creating misleading inputs is a common usability problem in online checkout functionality. For example, asking for the invoice address before the delivery address can confuse users who are most concerned that the product gets to the right address.

Tjeerd de Boer of User Intelligence (Netherlands), a partner of the UXalliance taking part in the survey stated, “Without a well structured process online check-outs can be overwhelming and confusing for users. Many of the key issues can be addressed at an early stage by conducting user experience research, saving ecommerce companies significant development costs and improving their conversion rates.”

Axance of France (www.axance.com), Serco Usability Services of the UK (www.serco.com/usability), User Intelligence of the Netherlands (www.userintelligence.com) and associate partner Snitker and Co. of Denmark (www.snitker.com) were consulted for their expert user experience advice.

About the UXalliance

Founded in 2005, the UXalliance is the international network for user experience. The UXalliance covers Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia; they are ideally placed to lead international user experience research. The UXalliance has over 250 professionals worldwide, manages over 50 testing facilities and has experience across a broad range of technologies and sectors. www.UXalliance.com

The UXalliance consists of eleven partner companies, Axance (France) www.axance.com, Mitsue-Links (Japan) www.mitsue.co.jp/english/, Optimal Usability (New Zealand) www.optimalusability.com, Serco ExperienceLab (United Kingdom) www.serco.com/usability, SirValUse (Germany) www.sirvaluse.de, Snitker & Co (Denmark) www.snitker.com, UIDesign Group (Moscow) http://eng.uidesign.ru, UserCentric (United States) www.usercentric.com, User Experience (China) www.usability.cn, User Intelligence (Netherlands) www.userintelligence.com, Xperience Consulting (Spain) www.xperienceconsulting.com; four associate partners, Mercedes Sanchez Usabilidade (Brazil) www.mercedessanchez.com.br, Teleno (Switzerland) www.teleno.com, ThinkUser (South Korea) www.thinkuser.com, and User Intelligence (Finland) www.userintelligence.com/fi; and six affiliate members, Ayer Viernes (Chili) www.ayerviernes.com, ExperienceU (Czech Republic) www.experienceu.com, SSB Bart Group (US) www.ssbbartgroup.com, Symetria (Poland) www.symetria.pl, The Design and Usability Center (DUC) www.bentley.edu/usability, and Yu Centrik (Canada) www.yucentrik.ca.