Online shopping is more popular than ever, but a new study has concluded that many e-commerce sites provide a poor user experience, causing many customers to abandon their transactions and head to a competitor's site.

The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, was commissioned by Tealeaf, a company that provides Customer Experience Management (CEM) software to online merchants.

Of the 84 percent of online adults who shop online, nearly nine out of 10 said they have had trouble completing a transaction. Forty-one percent of the people who reported having problems said they either navigated to an alternative site or simply abandoned the transaction altogether.

"The Web has changed business -- companies both large and small compete for the same customers," Tealeaf CEO Rebecca Ward said in a statement. "Now, competition is just a click away and customer expectations continue to grow."

Indeed, in a sign of how e-commerce is moving into the mainstream, the survey found that more than one third of the respondents said they prefer to shop online, and that 84 percent said they expected a transaction to be processed on the first try. Perhaps even more surprising, a significant minority (22 percent) said they expect a higher level of customer service when shopping online than when they go to a store.

The survey also highlighted the importance of online companies maintaining a reputation for quality service, given how people tend to share horror stories about their shopping experiences.

On the heels of a poor online shopping experience, 84 percent of the survey respondents said they would be likely to share their grievance with others. Of those, 82 percent said they would air their complaint in some offline channel, like phoning up a friend to vent. And that's not to say that those same people wouldn't also register their frustration online, say in the form of a review or blog post that would become a part of the company's permanent record.

Chief among the customer service pitfalls Harris identified was the failure of businesses to integrate their offline call centers into their e-commerce platforms.

LATEST NEWS

Microsoft's Dynamics ERP to Gain New Services
Barnes & Noble's e-Reader Nook Sold Out Already
Memory Market Due for Big Shift in 2010
Microsoft: No 'Back Door' in Windows 7
Tech's H-1B Hiring Faces 'Employ America Act'

Of the nearly half of online shoppers who have contacted a company's call center regarding problems with the Web site, 64 percent reported that the service representative didn't know much about the online store. Thirty-eight percent said their issue went unresolved.

Nearly three quarters (72 percent) of the people who received poor customer service from a call center when trying to troubleshoot Web issues either scaled back their business with the company, stopped associating with it altogether, or filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

"Businesses must take definitive steps to differentiate themselves by understanding and improving their customers' site experiences, and equipping their contact centers to truly meet the needs of online customers," Ward said. "Companies that do take action will be the ones to claim a greater share of this billion-dollar business opportunity."