These are the overall findings, with percentage scores refer to weighted average, where if all surveyors gave the top score the result would be 100%:

I’ll now examine the product page and checkout sections in more detail, but some of the key findings were that:

  • Product pages and the purchase process need particular attention to improve overall satisfaction.
  • App touch points continue to underperform, particularly during the keyword search, shopping basket and purchase stage of the shopper journey.
  • Customers respond favourably to security assurance, order confirmations and the ability to amend orders or deliveries.

And for more information on this topic come to Econsultancy’s JUMP event on October 9, which is all about creating seamless multichannel customer experiences.

Now in its fourth year JUMP will be attended by more than 1,200 senior client-side marketers and forms part of our week-long Festival of Marketing extravaganza

Product pages

M&S and Amazon achieved the top scores for product page design, while Debenhams and Wallis also scored highly. M&S was praised for its flexible zoom feature, customer reviews and range of product photos.

One of the respondents is quoted as saying:

The product details are informative and the options to view alternate images, particularly of clothing, and zoom/full screen are extremely helpful.

Customer reviews are hugely important for ecommerce and should be a standard feature on all websites. Research shows that a massive 88% of consumers ‘sometimes or always’ consult a review when making a purchase, and 60% were more likely to purchase from a site that has customer reviews on.

Similarly, it’s important to provide a range of product images so that customers can make an informed purchase decision.

Even on mobile M&S provides several large product images and product reviews, while I’m also a fan of the large ‘Buy’ buttons.

                      

Amazon also scored highly for its customer reviews and for presenting consistent information across the different channels. Amazon is almost a law unto itself in terms of ecommerce design, as it crams in so much information that the product pages appear quite cluttered and yet customers keep coming back.

This is down to a range of factors, not least that customers are used to the design and trust Amazon, but also because the retailer does a huge amount of UX testing to find the perfect formula.

To read more on this topic  check out our blog posts detailing 31 recommended features to include on product pages and 12 reasons behind Amazon’s massive mobile success.

Checkout

Amazon also achieved the highest score for its checkout, followed by Tesco grocery and Interflora. The respondents were impressed by Amazon’s 1-click payment process, the concise order summary and clear delivery options.

A quote from one of the testers:

As a ‘signed in customer this purchase was extremely easy as they had my card details and I just had to click make purchase and the order was done.

This highlights one of Amazon’s key strengths in ecommerce, as repeat purchases are incredibly simple for returning customers which creates a profitable circle of satisfied, loyal shoppers. 

Furthermore, it offers a consistent checkout across all its digital platforms, so if you add an item to your basket on the desktop site then it also updates the mobile site and app.

Though Tesco came second for this part of the survey I’ve previously tested its checkout and found the overall process to be quite frustrating, particularly as it forces you to fill in a massive form before you’ve even begun shopping.

However the respondents praised Tesco for its choice of delivery slots and clear information, while I also found that the retailer improves the UX with a progress bar and blue CTAs that stand out from the rest of the page.

The full report can be downloaded here.