Poor website UX costs UK e-commerce sites £1.41 billion in lost sales every year

New research from Storyblok reveals the huge cost of poor website design to British e-commerce businesses.

6,000 consumers across the US and Europe were asked about online shopping behaviour and their view on website functionality.

48% of UK consumers say they abandon purchases due to bad design and user experience.

On average, these consumers estimate that these sales would have been worth a total of £50 - with 12% reporting they abandoned purchases worth more than £100.

With 58.8 million people in the UK shopping online spending £80.6 billion, Storyblok estimates that the loss in purchases due to poor website functionality equates to £1.41 billion annually.

The main reasons for avoiding purchasing from a website included poor navigation or layout, slow loading speeds, pop-ups and uncompetitive prices.

Those aged 18-25 cited cluttered or outdated design as their main reasons for leaving an e-commerce website and additional functionality (such as chatbots) as being one of the most important parts of the e-commerce experience.

Whereas 72% of those aged 55+ chose ease of navigation and fast loading speeds as the most important factors. Older consumers also account for higher value abandoned purchases - averaging of £60.52 compared to £34 for those aged 18-25.

Dominik Angerer, CEO and Co-Founder at Storyblok, says: “Consumers want easy to navigate, intuitively designed, and fast loading websites. However, a lot of e-commerce websites are falling short.”

“Five purchases per shopper in missed sales may not seem like a lot, but when you scale this up to the number of potential new customers businesses are missing out on, it becomes a very significant amount of money.”

“Additional functionality is still an important factor in attracting customers, but it’s critical to get the basics right first. For example, by investing in a headless, composable commerce tech infrastructure, companies can set the foundation for a great, fast-performing user experience.”

Meanwhile, 19% of consumers said they would make more Christmas purchases online this year compared to last, only 11% said they would make less.

The biggest reported increases in planned online purchases were recorded in Northern Ireland (41%) and Scotland (32%), with people in the East Midlands (24%) and Wales (16%) planning to make the biggest reductions.

Storyblok’s research also found that UK consumers, on average, make up their mind about staying or leaving a website in 15 seconds, compared to 19 seconds in the US and 18.5 seconds in Germany. 24% of UK consumers decide in less than five seconds.