Annoying Web Sites Drive Away Customers
How e-commerce Web sites function is more important to consumers than how it looks, but certain functions commonly used for tracking online behavior can actually drive away some customers, according to a survey findings released by Hostway Corp., a Web site hosting and management services firm based in Chicago.
Seventy percent of consumers stated that they’re unlikely to make purchases when Web sites have features that annoy them, such as pop up ads, registration log-on pages to unblock access to online content or moving text.
“The Internet has matured to the point where consumers demand an easy online experience. Quite simply consumers are warning companies, ‘you’re going to lose my business if your Web site experience is annoying,'” said John Lee, vice president of marketing at Hostway, in a prepared statement.
Nearly three-quarters of consumers said they’re extremely or somewhat likely to unsubscribe from a company’s promotions or e-mail messages if they encounter Web site features that they find annoying.
According to survey results 93% of consumers said pop up ads annoyed them, 89% said the need to install additional software annoyed them; and 83% find required registrations and log-on to view online content annoyed them.
More than 80% of consumers said they’re annoyed by dead links, confusing navigation, slow loading pages and ineffective Web site search tools when they visit e-commerce sites.
