How much time do you think you spend each day driving people to your website? Contemplate all the planning, writing, editing and posting you do for your email marketing, social media posts, search engine optimization/marketing, content marketing, and…you get the point.

But for the average business, nearly 70 percent of shoppers leave the website because of a basic problem with your website’s design or functionality, found a new study from Corra.

Yikes. In order for your marketing efforts to pay off, you need to make sure your website isn’t getting in your way.

Below, learn the biggest reasons your leads are leaving your website before making a purchase and what customers really to make your e-commerce site shine.

Why shoppers leave your website for your competitor’s

  1. 41 percent leave because of a poorly designed menu that lacks subcategories for products/services they’re trying to find.
  2. 30 percent ditch if your search function is too basic and doesn’t allow for filters or advanced searches.
  3. 26 percent leave because your products are buried behind too much branding.

What people hate about your shopping cart

If you didn’t lose ‘em because of the above, they could abandon their purchase if they spot one of these consumer pet peeves.

  1. 33 percent hate when the prices aren’t up front. In other words, the discounts, tax or shipping costs didn’t work out how they had hoped.
  2. 27 percent don’t like having to create an account to check out.
  3. 23 percent despise high shipping costs.
  4. 14 percent get frustrated if it’s difficult to navigate the website or page after adding an item to their cart.

Top three aspects customers do want on your website

In addition to an easy-to-navigate menu, customizable search and clear product descriptions, customers also want these three things.

Your website should make it easy to…

1. Get help. More than half of shoppers want to have the option to live chat with a virtual assistant on your website.

Having an instantaneous way to get answers from you is often the deciding factor for customers on the verge of making (or abandoning a purchase). If that’s truly not an option, make sure it’s easy to find your company’s email or phone number.

2. Find products: Try a DIY focus group. Go to a coffee shop, ask 10 people to try to find the same product on your website and watch how it goes.

Pinpoint the times they struggle to find their next move or voice their frustration. Then, of course, treat them with a free cup of joe.

3. Checkout: Make this happen in as few clicks as possible. No distractions. No pop-up ads. Once people are at this stage, you just want them to check out. So, eliminate any steps that are not 100 percent necessary.

Integrate auto-fill in your forms. Don’t make them create an account. And of course, sweeten the deal with free shipping if you can!