Don't Limit Your Shopping Cart Fields!

Arg. Recently I ran into trouble trying to buy a gift online. The billing address field on the order form was too short. My address is painfully long. But still, there I was...stuck. All I wanted to do was hurry up and buy my gift (retailers love to hear that, right?). But I couldn't. The retailer set a character maximum on the billing fields.

How many customers could you be losing because you've limited your shopping cart fields?

If I hadn't had done quite a bit of research choosing the perfect gift, I would have left the retailer's web site immediately. Instead, I called the retailer's customer service number and ran into more trouble. The sales rep had to enter my billing info into the same fields, so I was stuck again. After at least 15 minutes of playing with the form, accidentally deleting my contact information several times, she ended up putting the rest of my address into the "Additional Comments" field. What a nightmare! Even though I could do this the next time I want to place an order with this retailer, I probably won't return. It's too much work and I was frustrated by the whole experience.

Have you tested your shopping cart order form to make sure your customers have all the space they need to give you their contact and billing information? That's a quick and easy test to take which could prevent you from losing some customers.