When online shopping, what immediately turns you off from ordering on a website?
WordPress is repeating Daily Prompts again so I’m using the prompts from The Coffee Monsterz Co — since coming up with my own ideas is clearly too much work.
Let’s talk about online shopping, that modern miracle of convenience wrapped in a digital nightmare. You’d think buying a shirt or a coffee mug from the comfort of my couch would be simple. You’d be wrong. The internet is full of websites apparently designed by people who’ve never once used a website in their lives.
You know what immediately makes me slam the “X” faster than a pop-up ad for miracle weight loss gummies? Hidden shipping costs. There’s nothing like the emotional whiplash of thinking you’re about to spend $19.99 on a cute mug, only to get to checkout and see a $12.99 “handling fee” and $8.75 shipping—apparently because the mug is hand-carried across the country on a golden chariot. No thanks.
Next on my list of digital sins: autoplay videos. I don’t need a disembodied voice yelling “WELCOME TO OUR STORE!” when I’m just trying to see if your candles actually look like the photos or if they’re the size of a thimble. And please, for the love of all that is pixelated, don’t start playing a lo-fi background track. I didn’t come here for a soundtrack—I came here for socks.
Pop-ups are another crime. “Sign up for our newsletter!” “Get 10% off your first order!” “Don’t leave, we’ll miss you!” Miss me? You don’t even know me, Brenda. I’ve been on your site for twelve seconds. If your site guilt-trips me harder than my mother does about not calling, we have a problem.
Then there are the product photos. Half the time, they’re so filtered and airbrushed, I’m not sure if I’m buying a sweater or a hologram. Give me a real photo. Better yet, give me one with a human hand in it, so I can tell if that “XL hoodie” is actually large enough for an adult or sized for a small house cat.
And finally, my personal favorite—checkout pages that require me to create an account. No. I don’t want to “join your family.” I don’t want to set up a password I’ll forget in two minutes. I just want to give you money and leave quietly, like a socially anxious raccoon.
So yeah, the next time a website wants to “optimize my experience” with seventeen pop-ups, a mystery shipping fee, and an account registration form, I’ll be optimizing my experience by closing the tab and eating snacks instead.
Useful Links (because I’m nice like that):
How to make your website not terrible
Why pop-ups are ruining your conversions
Leave a Reply