Thread by @smashingmag

A short thread about some of the unusual things I learned about customers behavior in eCommerce recently. 👇

We need to consider difficult conditions when designing eCommerce UX. All these things matter:

1. Distracted
2. Tired or hungry
3. Time of the day/week
4. Level of motivation
5. Amount of cognitive effort
6. Wish for instant gratification
7. Situation (e.g. time pressure)

There is no ultimate perfect eCommerce experience. Every context requires a very dedicated, tailored solution for that specific problem. That's why generic shopping systems don't always work. E.g. in fashion industry, return rates are often much higher than in other industries.

As designers, we have to design around the context and the constraint that our setting provides.

2. Users always act on hunches. It's not about reading or scanning. Most of the time, it's about acting on reflexes: e.g. "VISA logo" -> credit card input, "First name ield" -> "personal details form".

3. Online shopping is like offline shopping, so people come to a website, browse around and then leave, and then come back again, and then maybe buy.

4. In online shopping, considered and non-considered purchases differ a lot. There is a fantastic research by @mrjoe on it: shopify.com/partners/blog/… — definitely worth reading.

5. Mobile eCommerce experience has all the UX challenges that "desktop" experience has, but it's much more difficult due to the lack of overview and annoying typing experience. Never display more than 5–7 input fields at a time. (h/t @Baymard)

6. People tend to eliminate options almost unconsciously. When browsing products, if some images don't have reviews at all, or images are missing, or product labelling is inconsistent, they just leave the option altogether. (h/t @Baymard)

7. User’s gaze is always focused on images/thumbnails as well as empty input fields. Always. Even optional fields get a disproportionate amount of attention. Avoid them (and CAPTCHAs!) at all costs.

8. People always, always, always fear to lose their data (especially on mobile). So any interruptions are combined with the fear of having to retype everything again. Keeping input persistent is crucial.

9. Privacy matters. Nobody likes sharing personal data, be it something as "trivial" as birthday, gender, or phone number and email. Also, there is a lack of trust towards eCommerce sites, so many customers avoid saving their credit card data online.

10. It's remarkable that customers buy ANYTHING online — with so many websites utilizing dark practices like opt-out newsletter sign-ups, CAPTCHAs, forced guest checkout and inconsistent product metadata. A great example of things done very well is @Walmart. (h/t @Baymard)

If you're interested in eCommerce UX, please make sure to read/follow @mrjoe and @Baymard — the latter has an encyclopedia for everything checkout/eCommerce-related: baymard.com/blog + tons of truly useful studies: baymard.com/products/studi…. 🙏