Java applets, huge images, banner ads or flashy elements slow down loading; 10 seconds is about as long as the average user will wait for a page.
The site requires specific software to be used. Have you ever actually changed browsers or downloaded a piece of software just to see a site?
Poor navigation, too little navigation, too much navigation and, not uncommonly, no navigation at all
Bad design leading to poor readability
Discomfort due to ugly design or inconsistent design. Almost always because a designer overestimated their skills.
Irrelevance of content - for example the business site that includes biographies and photos of each of the board members. Happy egos on the board; bored users!
Complexity or excessive originality of design, which requires users to learn how it works in order to use it.
Inaccessibility because the site cannot be used by browsers used by people with disabilities
1.4 Building Interactivity and Personalization
Make your website interactive. Add feedback forms as well as email forms that allow your prospective customers to ask you any questions they might have pertaining to a product. Personalization of your website is another key element that can lead to customer delight and can increase your sales. Personalization technology provides you the analytic tools to facilitate cross selling and up selling when the customer is buying online.
It tries to restore to the online business the magic of personalized attention that is one of the chief reasons why most people still prefer in-store purchase. You can use personalization to match your customer with the right products through either rules-based or customer analytics based processing. Thus as your software stores customer information and preferences, it can help categorize them into groups. At the same time, observations over time can suggest products to cross-sell and up-sell. Thus when a person buys a subscription to a fitness site, exercise equipment is also offered. Amazon pioneered personalization on the net - when you a buy a book, it shows you other books in the similar genre saying “people who bought this book also bought these”, inducing you to buy more.
A consumer survey from the Personalization Consortium found that 56 percent of respondents say they are more likely to purchase from a site that allows personalization, and 63 percent are more likely to register at a site that allows it.
Personalization can lead to customer delight and can increase your sales.
1.5 Graphics
Your site has to be aesthetically attractive with visually appealing organization and enticing images. Fashions change fast on the Internet, so when you come to choose a designer, make sure you take a good look at their portfolio. You want the user to just glance at your homepage and understand immediately who you are and what you can do for them.
1.6 Webcopy
Your website copy plays a major role in establishing and growing your customer base. web site copy creates the “voice” of a company, just as the look and feel of a site put a “face” on the company and on otherwise intangible products and services. On an e-commerce site, the copy plays a key role in closing sales as well as in up-selling and cross-selling products and services. Good copy delights first-time visitors, encourages return visits and propels both customer acquisition and retention.
People read a web page differently than they do a brochure or a newspaper. They scan, scroll, click, hit the back button, and hit the forward button. “Reading” is about moving around and being in control. You have one chance to make a first impression - to quickly convey the benefit of staying on your web site. I can’t overstate the importance of first impressions, which in web-time are measured in milliseconds. The layout, functionality, message and overall look and feel of your web page determine who stays - and who clicks away.
