Who broke the window in e-commerce?

In one of previous articles, we met with the “broken windows” theory.

The broken windows theory states that the sight of a mess makes people urge to throw trash where it's already littered, run a red light because others are doing it, break something that's broken, and so on.

Both offline business and e-commerce "broken windows" also bring nothing but loss of profit and good name. And they usually look like this:

Window #1

Ruined first impression. The first impression is formed by a person in a split second and affects the further opinion of the client about the company. Imagine that you have come to a famous cafe hoping for an advertised dessert. You have not been here yet, and the first thing you see is a gloomy waiter in a stained uniform and a table where flies have dried up. Do you still want the dessert? Although it has nothing to do with the waiter, but the first impression of the cafe has beaten off your appetite completely.

Window #2

If employees are rude to customers, ignore them and show incompetence, they spoil the impression of the company as a whole. Caring for the company's image concerns everyone, even the cleaning lady. Especially her. What can we say about e-commerce, where you won’t be able to smooth the impression with a friendly smile in live.

Window #3

Imitation. If you are the boss and do not follow the corporate rules yourself, then after a short time, employees also begin to violate them. And what? You can.

Window #4

Execution of obligations. The word must be kept – period. If the store has put yellow promotional price tags on the goods, the goods should not be sold at the usual cost. Shoppers who put items in their shopping cart expected to spend less money. If the consumer feels unfairly deceived at the checkout, no excuses like “we changed the price tags” will save the situation.

The broken windows theory is an opportunity for a businessman to look at his business from the outside. If you want to learn more about the theory, read Levine Michael's book Broken Windows, Broken Business: The Revolutionary Broken Windows Theory: How the Smallest Remedies Reap the Biggest Rewards.

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