Google Demo's How Bad Online Shopping Experiences Look Like In Real Life

Google has introduced several new videos that show how online shopping sites often frustrate users by not giving them accurate search results, making them input awful captchas, or suggesting items not related to what they’re buying.

The videos simulate some of the frustrations of online shopping by playing out those experiences in real life. The company wrote on its Google Analytics blog late last week:

“With the holiday shopping season in full swing, it’s important to ensure your website and digital marketing is running on all cylinders. Your potential customers should be able to find what they need on the digital shelf as easily as in real life. Sadly, many sites leave visitors frustrated – losing potential customers. However, the advantage of your online storefront is that you can understand where you’re losing customers and work to improve your shopping experience.

For the holiday season, our team at Google Analytics thought it would be helpful (and fun) to demonstrate how missteps on the digital shelf play out in real life.”

Moving the common mistakes and bad practices that online merchants make to a real life grocery store, the videos shows how alienating bad web design and marketing can be for potential customers by ruining the experience of shopping on the internet.

For instance, one of the videos highlights—with a regular check-out counter at the supermarket—how frustrating it could be to check out online when there are too many security measures and hidden costs for customers to get through.

The post goes on to make suggestions on how to improve sites to make the experience less agitating. One such tip is to optimize your landing pages: “Always make sure your landing pages meet your users expectations. Be sure your ad text leads visitors to a page that matches what was featured in the ad.”

These videos are great to watch for both online retailers and customers alike—check them out below: