More web order form fail

[unixronin]

You’re ordering auto parts online.  The order form requires a mandatory phone number.  It allows ten digits for the phone number.

You enter your phone number with area code:  xxxxxxxxxx

The scripting on the form automatically reformats the phone number to make it “pretty”, like this:  (xxx) xxx-xxxx

And then it all goes pear-shaped, because NEXT the field length limiting script kicks in and truncates that to ten characters:  (xxx) xxx-

So, you can’t submit your order form without a valid phone number.

And you can’t submit your order form with a valid phone number, because by the time you hit submit, the form has automatically invalidated it.

FAIL.

Comments

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's deliberate - they want to get you on the phone or have you physically walk into a building to buy from them. People who buy online tend to only buy exactly what they came for - phone sales offers the chance (sometimes remote, but still there) of an upsale, and brick-and-mortar buildings are just full of eye-candy for impulse purchases.

Which way would you rather make sales, if you are the business manager?

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

Certainly not by pissing off the customer before I tried to ask for his business!

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Honestly? I'd sooner have people who visit my website actually be able to shop here instead of giving up in disgust and buying from someone else. Web shoppers are fickle. 80% of shopping carts even on sites that WORK are abandoned before placing the order. I'd hazard a guess the number of people who will jump through hoops to try and complete a purchase from a site that doesn't work properly instead of just saying "Fuck this shit" and going somewhere else, unless it's an insanely good price, are maybe 0.1% of intended buyers.


(And frankly, even if it is an insanely good price, if you make the customer jump through hoops to get it, the odds are that customer's not coming back.)