Three's a charm

Online retailers face customer defection as a result of websites that error out, or otherwise cause frustrating technical user experiences, reports Retailer Daily.

That admonition comes from a study by Tealeaf Technology, a firm that monitors the online consumer experience. It found that 42 percent of e-shoppers who encountered technical glitches either went to another e-commerce site to buy the product they were looking for, or just gave up on the intention to purchase.

Worryingly, 52 percent of respondents said web glitches soured their feelings about the e-tailer completely.

Tealeaf also found that nine out of 10 online shoppers experiences some sort of technical hiccup. And with the ubiquity of e-commerce sites, users can easily switch to another vendor as opposed to waiting for the first vendor to get its online act together.

MarketingCharts provides more findings from the study.