10 Website Habits That Give Shoppers the Ick — And How to Fix Them on Shopify

A simple question asked across social media recently produced one of the most useful pieces of consumer research you'll find anywhere: thousands of real shoppers listing, in their own words, exactly what makes them decide not to buy from a brand.

The responses were candid, specific, and occasionally brutal — and when the thread was ranked by engagement, a clear picture emerged.

Australian eCommerce merchants are making predictable, fixable mistakes that are quietly costing them sales every day. The top offenders aren't obscure technical issues. They're patterns that have become so normalised in online retail that many store owners no longer question them. Shoppers have.

Here's the ranked list, with their words.

THE BIG THREE — POPUPS, HIDDEN PRICING, AND AI CONTENT

Pop-ups and discount spin wheels ranked number one by a significant margin. But the specific frustrations go deeper than "I don't like popups." Shoppers described bait-and-switch sequences where entering an email for 10% off triggers a second popup demanding a mobile number: "Girl no. Now I'm cancelling the email subscription AND I'm not giving you my cell number AND I'm not buying from you. BYE." Others flagged popups with deliberately hidden close buttons — "you keep hiding that X so I can't close the window and I'm leaving the website." And the multi-popup experience: a discount offer on arrival, a "don't go!" prompt on exit, and another appearing on every new page.

Number two: no pricing or hidden costs. "Zero pricing anywhere. I'm automatically out if I don't see at least a starting price." In 2026, making a shopper contact you to get a quote is a reliable way to lose them to a competitor who doesn't. This applies equally to product pricing, shipping costs revealed only at checkout, and service-based brands who gatekeep their rates.

Number three, and growing fast: AI-generated content and AI imagery. Shoppers are increasingly fluent in recognising AI copy, AI stock imagery, and AI language patterns — and their reaction is distrust. "Use of AI" was cited explicitly across the thread. For Shopify merchants using AI tools for product descriptions or creative, this is a signal to review what's being published under your brand's name.

TRUST, UX, AND COPY — THE MIDDLE TIER

Fake urgency and scarcity tricks ranked fourth. Countdown timers that reset on refresh. Stock warnings that never change. Shoppers in 2026 have seen every variation, and the response is the same: it reads as dishonest. Trust broken on a product page doesn't recover before checkout.

Fifth: no trust signals, no real contact info. "When the 'Contact Us' section is just a form" resonated widely. No phone number, no email address, no physical location. For Australian merchants specifically, location transparency is becoming more important: "Not stating where you are located or ship from — in a world of tariffs and taxes people need to know this." A contact page with an actual address and phone number is a trust signal, not an inconvenience.

Sixth: poor UX and mobile experience. One specific comment generated enormous agreement: "When you add something to your cart and hit the back button to keep shopping and it takes you back to the top of the page instead of where you stopped scrolling. Murder!" This is a Shopify theme and navigation issue that's fixable and has a direct impact on add-to-cart rates. Related: pages that load partially then shift layout after fully loading, and mobile experiences clearly designed on desktop.

Seventh: salesy copy and what shoppers are now calling AI language. "Language that makes me feel like a sale." Em dashes. Buzzwords. Overly enthusiastic product descriptions that say nothing specific. The copywriting fingerprints of AI-assisted content are increasingly recognisable — and shoppers associate them with brands that don't know their own product well enough to describe it clearly.

THE DETAILS THAT REVEAL A BRAND'S CHARACTER

The final three categories show that shoppers are making sophisticated judgements from small signals.

Eighth: poor visual design — too many fonts, inconsistent spacing, a design aesthetic that reads as template-built. "More than two fonts. Em dashes. Anything that looks like it was made in Wix." These cues signal whether a brand has invested seriously in their presentation, and by extension whether they'll invest seriously in fulfilment and customer experience.

Ninth: lack of diversity in marketing imagery. "If everyone in their marketing is white, I'm out" attracted significant engagement. For Australian brands serving a genuinely diverse customer base, representation in product photography is a commercial decision as much as a values one.

Tenth: forced sign-up flows and cookie tricks. Being required to create an account before browsing, cookie walls that block content, and the now-notorious "before you go..." exit popup. Also: retargeting emails sent within minutes of browsing — "I look at something, don't purchase it, and 20 minutes later I get an email saying they 'saw me looking around.' That's creepy af." Automation that signals surveillance rather than service reliably backfires.

The pattern across all ten categories is the same: shoppers are experienced, they've seen every tactic, and they've lost patience with brands that prioritise data collection over the customer's experience. None of these icks require a full store rebuild to fix. Most are configuration changes, popup strategy decisions, or copy updates — small adjustments that compound into a meaningfully better store.

At beCommerce, we audit Shopify stores for exactly these kinds of conversion-killing patterns — the ones that have become normalised until you see them through a customer's eyes. Whether it's your popup setup, trust signals, mobile UX, or product copy, we help Australian merchants make the fixes that actually move the needle.

Visit https://becommerce.com.au to find out how we work.