Survey: U.K. customers cite slow forms, security as top e-commerce concerns

Worcester, England -- A survey released Thursday by Postcode Anywhere revealed that online security concerns, long forms and enforced sign-up are the three things most likely to make consumers abandon online purchases.



One thousand U.K. consumers were asked to name the top three reasons they might abandon their shopping online. Security concerns topped the poll, with 50% of consumers rating the factor among their top turn-offs.



Running a close second with 44% of votes was the problem of website forms taking "too long to fill out." Enforced sign-up before checkout was the third highest consumer gripe, with 38% of consumers placing it in their top three reasons for cart abandonment.



In joint fourth place, with 31%, was having to leave the payment process to work out the final price, along with customers simply deciding they don't like the product after all.



Poor design in general got a vote for 23% of those polled.



"While a lot of emphasis is rightly placed on the design of ecommerce sites (and design touches almost all customers' gripes in some way), it's interesting that getting ‘the basics’ right is essential,” said Postcode Anywhere's sales and marketing director Phil Rothwell.