Confusing e-commerce: why Nokia and NAB get it wrong

The initial site experience

My trip started at the Nokia Australia website where I browsed for my phone, and clicked the accessories link to view the official accessories for the phone.  So far, so good.  Alongside each accessory was a 'buy now' button.  Here's where the problem starts.  Clicking the 'buy now' link attempts to pop up a new window which is blocked by default in both Firefox and Internet Explorer 7, so the first click took me absolutely nowhere. 

For most average users, their shopping experience would end there, unfulfilled.

Being a bit more experienced, I knew how to reconfigure my web browser to allow pop-ups from the Nokia website, and I tried it again.  This popped up a window with a generic-looking shopping catalogue showing the item I selected, and it was clearly a third-party website. 

The address bar was hidden to prevent the user from knowing which site they're visiting (it was an unknown company called Force Technology International Pty Ltd), the look and feel of the Nokia site had disappeared, and no security was enabled at this stage.  I felt like I'd stepped back into the nineties.

The accessory listed all the phones it was compatible with, and strangely enough, my phone was not listed, even though I'd found the product on Nokia's accessories page for my phone.   I pushed on anyway, figuring the unknown merchant hadn't updated their catalogue for such a new phone.  I clicked to find more accessories for my phone, but I couldn't rely on the Nokia website for help - it was hidden beneath the shopping basket. 

The product catalogue was served from nokia.mobilefulfillment.com.au with a heading of "Nokia Mobile Fulfillment", but a copyright notice said "Internet Specialists", and later I was paying money to "Force Technology International Pty Ltd".  Not very trustworthy.  I added some accessories to the basket and moving into the checkout, and then it went from bad to worse.  Much worse.

Untrustworthy e-commerce

Once I'd entered my details and proceeded to the payment screen the first screen was displayed, saying "Click here to proceed to with payment".  Clicking the button launches, in a second popup window, a NAB payment window.  Again the address bar is hidden, so there's no guarantee that this is really the NAB, and not some phishing scam (being super-savvy I checked, and it was).  This page was the first to be secured by SSL.

At this screen it got my name wrong, asked me to re-enter my email address again, and it set the card expiry date to the year 2000.  It also had a fairly dodgy-looking visual design from the 90s, and a weirdlittle icon in the sidebar that served no purpose - it wasn't clickable and it simply said 'nobil', and it looked so unprofessional I questioned whether the NAB payment page was a scam.  I pushed on, clicking 'continue', where another pop-up window was launched (the third) asking me to confirm my payment.  I clicked 'confirm' and a fourth pop-up window (really!) is launched saying it was processing the payment.

The processing took a few seconds, then two additional pop-up windows flash on my screen and disappear in quick succession.  I also briefly saw Firfox's pop-up blocker appear, so I think there were more popups I didn't get to see.  My computer eventually settled on a rather dodgy looking receipt page, and I was back at the merchant-in-the-middle's website (with a Nokia logo).

I still don't really know whether the processing was successful because at least one of the automated pop-up windows was blocked by my browser's default configuration.  And I certainly had very little trust that things were secure along the way - the pop-ups came and went so fast that I couldn't visually see the SSL secure lock.

And the final screen said my payment was received, and gave me a link to 'continue shopping'.  Firstly, I've finished shopping and I don't want to go back to your store again, and secondly, this took me back to the unknown merchant-in-the-middle's home page, and not back to Nokia.

The right approach to trustworthy e-commerce

Compare this experience to the smooth and efficient e-commerce solutions that Datalink create, and you have to wonder how Nokia and the NAB got itall so wrong.

Here's some usability rules Nokia and NAB should learn to create a more trustworthy e-commerce experience:

• Always integrate with your website membership system, and don't ask the user for the same information twice.
• Always shows the address bar, and make the URL non-cluttered and easy to read.
• The address must be your company website, and not a third party.
• Secure the pages from the earliest possible point in the transaction.People care as much about personal data theft as they do about their credit card number.
• Don't use pop-ups.  They have been proven to be ineffective and confusing, and most browsers block them anyway.
• Maintain a consistent, professional website design with your company name, phone number and ABN clearly displayed all the way through thee-commerce process. This should start at your home page and continues all the way through to the final payment page (Nokia had three different companies and three different designs for their process).

In summary, e-commerce is still scary-enough without subjecting a user to a  poorly-designed, disjointed and confusing experience, which will surely cost in lost sales.

For a great example of a recent e-commerce experience, visit the Plan Australia website and sponsor a child or make a donation. It will sign you up, process your credit card, give the money to a great cause and give you a nice warm feeling in your heart - everything is secure, it's all consistent, and you're done in under 2 minutes.

And Nokia, if you're reading this, give me a call and I'll tell you how you can increase your online sales and increase your customers' level of trust with your online operation.

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