What makes consumers want to shop online? What frustrates them when they’re on retailers’ websites? What makes a great customer experience when shopping online?

In a Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights survey of 999 online shoppers in October 2023, 52% of online shoppers say multiple product images are important to delivering a well-designed and functional online experience. That’s second only to detailed product descriptions, with 58% of shoppers citing this. This infographic, “What consumers love, and don’t love, about online shopping,” visualizes all of the results from this survey. It includes online customer experience preferences about:

• Online shoppers’ largest frustrations with online shopping
• How they shop on mobile
• Customer service woes
• Personalization preferences

Mobile site experience is catching up to desktop

Mobile commerce has gained traction over the years, and with that comes a desire for a better mobile site experience. 61% of online shoppers rank desktop shopping experience at an 8 or above compared with 54% of mobile web shoppers. When looking at rankings of a 7 or above, 71% of online shoppers rank desktop at a 7 or above. Meanwhile, 70% of mobile web shoppers rank desktop at a 7 or above.

The online customer experience on mobile is catching up to desktop.

Online retailers excel at providing easy and fast site navigation

60% of respondents said easy navigation met or exceeded their expectations on retailers’ websites this year. The only other response that more than 50% of respondents selected was about search. They said they could quickly find products with the search box or search filters on retailers’ sites.

Close to half (47%) of respondents said shipping and return policy information met or exceeded their expectations. On the low end of the spectrum, just 12% said tools or quizzes helped evaluate their needs. Similarly, 12% said additional content such as how-to guides helped met or exceeded their expectations.

Shopping on a smartphone vs. desktop

Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights asked how consumers compare using their smartphone and desktop to shop online. Nearly a third (31%) said they browse and purchase on mobile. Meanwhile, more than a quarter (27%) said they browse on mobile but typically buy from their desktop. A fifth (20%) said it’s easier to compare products via desktop, so they both browse and buy there.

When it came to speed, nearly a quarter (24%) said the checkout and payment experience on mobile was easy to navigate. Meanwhile, 10% said the mobile site they shopped on did not load fast enough, so they left it. Similarly, 10% said the mobile site did not load fast enough, so they switched to desktop to shop with that retailer.

In terms of optimization, 15% of consumers said mobile sites they shopped on were not optimized for their screens. 13% said the mobile sites had too many pop-up ads, making it difficult to navigate.

What frustrates consumers when they shop online?

Nearly three in 10 consumers said it frustrated them this year when promo codes they entered were not applied in their shopping carts. Just over a quarter of respondents (26%) said they had to scroll too much, and the same number said it frustrated them when search results showed out-of-stock products.

Just 7% said it frustrated them that pay-later financing options were difficult to use or didn’t exist on the site where they shopped. Also on the low end of the frustrating online customer experience, 14% said they retailers’ sites lacked clarity around when a product would be delivered.

It’s all in the (product) details

More than half of survey respondents (58%) said detailed product descriptions are important to them when it comes to delivering a well-designed and functional online shopping experience. Also, just over half (52%) said it’s important to them that a product has multiple images.

More than a third of respondents want to be able to add products to a wish list (37%). And a similar number want brief summaries of customer reviews (36%). On that note, a third (33%) want product reviews with user-submitted photos.

Not many consumers said blog content was important to them (6%), nor quizzes and the ability to match needs with specific products (10%), or social media content on the website (10%).

Shoppers like personalization when it helps them shop quickly

More than four in 10 shoppers (41%) want the ability to quickly access products they had recently viewed. A third want their account information stored and updated, along with past order history (33%). At the same time, many want the ability to opt out of personalization because they don’t want to be tracked (29%).

Customer service: keep it quick and don’t make ’em come back

Half of respondents said they want customer service to resolve their issue in one service, and fast. Nearly as many (47%) want to have a live chat with a human. Similarly, 44% said they want to speak directly with a person to resolve their issue. They key point here: whether by text or voice, these consumers want to talk to real people, not bots.

And focusing in on that, 75% of consumers said live chat with a human is one of the top three ways they prefer to communicate with online retailers to resolve an issue with an order. Email (73%) was next, and then phone calls (62%).

The November Strategy Insights “How Retailers Create the Best Customer Experience“ contains the complete infographic in this article, plus feature-length articles.

April Berthene contributed to this article.