Some years ago, when George W was first elected, it was revealed that 93% of Americans didn’t have a passport. Given the per capita wealth in the US, I found this statistic astonishing. How was it possible for a country that could afford to travel around the world more than anyone else fail to obtain the necessary documentation to do so? And more than that: in the absence of knowing anything about foreigners, why did so many of them somehow feel that they had a corner on how they should live?
I call this the ignorance of the ignorant. Ignorant, and proud of it. And this ignorance shows up in many forms. One of the most appalling ways occurs when American businesses come to Europe under the guise of “We’re here to show you how to really run a company!” It happens, and it happens far too often.
But, another way it reveals itself is on e-commerce web sites. You know the drill by now. If you want to receive anything – some software, a report, a video, etc. – you must first give your name and email address, which is fine. However, there are individuals that go beyond this. They also ask for an address, and it’s here that their ignorance really shines through.
The other day, a friend of mine attempted to order some products from elumacigs.com. He was a genuine buyer. He wanted their product. He went all the way through the order process, but the sale wouldn’t go through. He tried again, no dice.
Eventually, out of sheer frustration (he really, really wanted the product) he emailed their “customer support.” Guess what they told him. “We currently do not ship out of the U.S.” Pardon? Are you stupid, or what? If you don’t ship outside the United States, then why does your mailing address form permit non-US addresses?
Let’s look at another example. I went to a site yesterday that asked for my address. I, too, live outside of the US. Are you ready for this? The country part of the form included every nation in the world; but the state or province part only had US states and Canadian provinces. It was impossible to complete the sign-up without selecting from the states or provinces. What was even more amazing was that no matter which one I chose, I was also able to select a country that didn’t have any of those states or provinces.
Is it just me? I don’t think so. In addition to this, most US-based websites that I’ve come across don’t know how to handle non-US telephone numbers either. For the record, there are no three-digit area codes in Europe. Numbers can be ten or eleven digits long. Some begin with zeroes, and others don’t.
If you’re designing an e-commerce site and expect to do business outside of the US or Canada, then take a little time to find out what the addresses and telephone numbers look like before setting up your shopping cart. Not only will you increase your sales, but you will also save yourself from a lot of needless embarrassment.
Bruce Hoag, PhD, CPsychol
Work Psychologist
http://www.p-advantage.com
Tags: shopping carts, website design