Dreaming of a web stress-free Christmas?

‘Cyber Monday’ the busiest online shopping day of the year - is almost here. But can consumers rely on websites to offer them the best experience when they shop online? With Christmas fast approaching, will shopping for products and services online be more stressful than hitting the high street?

‘Web Stress’

According to a new consumer poll by CA Technologies, shopping online often causes what CA Technologies has defined as Web Stress. Although 95% of consumers shopped online within the last six months, over half (54%) had difficulty in completing their purchase, resulting in Web Stress. In fact, as many as three quarters of people said they felt utterly frustrated by their online shopping experience at one point or another.

From the poll, CA Technologies is able to reveal the top five causes of web stress:

1 Slow loading website pages (69%)
2 Pages which are hard to navigate (61%)
3 A lack of contact details (57%)
4 A lack of useful information (55%)
5 Having to repeat billing details (44%)

Consumer tolerance

When faced with a poor online experience, consumers lose their patience in a matter of minutes (6.34 minutes on average) before deciding to go somewhere else, and half of consumers abort their attempted purchase and go to a competitor’s website instead (53%). This means that businesses are losing customers just at the point where a sale could be made. On top of this, a quarter of consumers stated that they would simply stop using a company’s online service if it resulted in user Web Stress.

Nearly one in five consumers will vent to a friend about their difficulties, while less people (14%) would actually make an effort to phone the website vendor to complain about their experience. This can have a damaging effect on the way brands are perceived, as consumers are often influenced by the opinions of those that they trust, such as friends and relatives rather than how an online organisation markets itself.