Online shoppers quick to leave retail sites, says study

DDI: 73

Considering that this study was commissioned by a search engine optimization service provider, I would highly caution digital marketers to incorporate this information into their next online campaign. Given the timeliness of the study's release around the online holiday shopping surge, however, the results can serve as directional advice only. For instance:

*73% of respondents said they would leave an e-commerce site within one to two minutes if they could not find what they were looking for.
Fifty-four percent said they would only look through two to three pages of search results before giving up.
When asked if they would return to a retail Web site that had a poor search function, 36% said they would not.

Beyond these nuggets of insights, however, I caution e-marketers to pursue site optimization strategies as planned throughout the end of 2007 into 1Q08 after which a more thorough research assessment of strategic search results from retail sites will likely surface.