Busy Backgrounds or Flashing Text
There’s nothing more annoying than a busy, gaudy background. Even if what you are selling is ridiculously garish, you should always use a plain, even toned background.
Nothing says cheap or used car salesman more than flashing text either. Whenever I see flashing text, I generally hit the back button right away.
Music
Many people keep their speakers on at all times when they are web surfing because they are listening to music through their computers (I am generally in very close proximity to a sleeping baby so this isn’t me, but it is my husband). There’s nothing more annoying than a website that forces you to listen to a sales pitch or a speech recording. What’s even worse, sometimes you can’t find the click box to turn it off and you end up frantically trying to close the tab or window or navigate away from the site. If you are going to have sound, I recommend a soothing background music only, with a very easy to spot off button.
Multiple Levels of Nested Categories
If you have fewer than 500 items, there’s no reason that you need to have 3 or 4 levels of hierarchy to organize your items. The best stores use a clean intuitive navigation toolbar which contain as little hierarchy as possible. Also, avoid using pop up menus with more than 2 levels of hierarchy because they start to become clunky and unusable.
Overly Complicated Checkout Process
If there’s anything that should be made as simple as possible on your online store, it should be the checkout process. Avoid having your customers go through a multitude of pages to actually buy the item. Every step of the way, you will shed customers, so its important to allow the customers to check out as fast as possible. Avoid trying to obtain any information other than the essentials.
Mixing and Matching Different Fonts and Font Sizes
Your website should be consistent and elegant. Whenever you mix and match different fonts and font sizes,the result almost always ends up as a cluttered, unprofessional looking mess. Don’t go overboard with the large fonts either. If you want to place emphasis on certain items or points, use bold or italics instead.
Egregious Grammatical Errors
Everyone makes mistakes but you should always have someone proofread your website and product descriptions. Even a few spelling mistakes here and there is enough to make your site look unprofessional and unattractive.
Missing Pictures
I’m always turned off by missing pictures or broken links on a website. To me, a missing picture means that the website or online store is incomplete, and probably not well maintained. It also tells me that the store owner probably threw up the site or product description in a hurry. Seeing a missing picture also makes me question the overall integrity and security of the store. Take the time to browse your own website to make sure everything is working!
Animated Pictures
You might think that the animated pictures on your website are cute and innovative, but in reality, they both distract and annoy customers. Keep the emphasis of your online store on the products themselves.
Hard to Find Contact Page
Before I buy anything, I always look for the contact us page to make sure that I have a way to contact a human being should anything go wrong with the transaction. In general, if I can’t find the “Contact Us” page right away, I usually will leave the store.