The Y2K mania may be over, but I'm still paying some of the bills associated with it. Well, I would if I could.

A Y2K utility I downloaded just before the "Auld Lang Syne" outbreak on January 1 illustrates the importance of finalizing purchases in a successful e-commerce transaction. It makes sense (as well as dollars) to make it easier, not more complicated, to pay online.

The program, called Y2K Online Fix, worked fine. It changed the file dates on my old Windows 95 laptop to the four-digit variety and performed other compliance repairs. I was so happy to see the words "This PC is Y2K Compliant" that I was eager to pay for the program, like the good shareware user I am. That's when the confusion started.

I couldn't figure out where to submit my credit card information on the vendor's Web site (www.y2konlinefix.com). No links or buttons on the site's home page clearly pointed the way to the virtual "checkout counter." When I was finally forced to e-mail the vendor asking how to send them my hard-earned money, my confidence in the product began to erode.

A study conducted in late 1999 by Andersen Consulting (www.ac.com) reported that difficulty navigating Web sites ranked number 7 in the top 10 problems reported by online shoppers. A full 35 percent of shoppers abandoned commerce sites without completing purchases, the study added. As the field of e-commerce matures, it's no longer enough to create a professional-looking Web site. Streamlining the purchase process for your customers in a way that avoids the slightest confusion is a matter of survival. Otherwise you'll lose business to bigger competitors.

There are a few things I'd do to make the Y2K Online Fix site more Y2K-compliant in the e-business sense.

Boost Those Buttons. Online shoppers are conditioned to seeing the proverbial "row of buttons" at the top and/or bottom of a home page. Give 'em what they want. Recommendation: If you're selling actual products, one of the buttons should say something obvious--like "Buy It!"

Be Clear About Who's Who. The manufacturers of Y2K Online Fix are allied with another Web site, Buyer's Choice. The two organizations might be run by the same people, but we don't need to know that. What we are curious about is why Buyer's Choice ads are splashed all over this site, and why there's a Buyer's Choice button. (Click the Buyer's Choice button and you find links that send you back to the original site!)

Recommendation: If Buyer's Choice handles credit card transactions for this product, tell us, either on the home page or on a new "About Us" page.

Lots of online merchants hand off credit card authorization and processing to a third party. This is not a problem, according to Ben Sawyer, the author of Creating Stores on the Web, 2nd Edition (Peachpit Press).

"Transaction services are fine," says Sawyer. "Many sites make it nearly transparent to the customer that their transactions are being processed by a different service."

But make the relationship between the partners clear to your customers, he adds. "Make it known in your privacy statement how you are processing your transactions if there is anything that might stand out."

Make your colors easy on the eyes. The Y2K Online Fix home page uses simple but effective line art. But the colors are aimed at the GenX/Y crowd, not for users worrying about Y2K glitches. Recommendation: Use subtle, sophisticated colors that enhance your business credibility.

Who Does What? When I connected to one of the links on this site, my browser's status bar displayed "Transferring data from www.futuresystems.com." But the URL in the location box showed www.y2konlinefix.com. Yet the Buyer's Choice site is at www.buyerschoice.to. Which site is in charge? And what's the company's real-world address or phone number?

Recommendation: Add an About Us link and create a page that provides the real name of your company as well as your address and other contact information. It also wouldn't hurt to explain why the site that advertises your product isn't the same as the site where you pay for it.

Make the purchase path a straight shot. Where do you go to buy Y2K Online Fix, anyway? Buyer's Choice seems the closest choice, but when you click that, you're taken to a Web page that's even more confusing.

You discover, first and foremost, that the Buyer's Choice service (whatever that is) won't be available until summer 2000. The page implies that you must be a member to purchase the product. Dig further and you find links that take you to yet another Y2K Online Fix site (www.y2konlinefix.net/index.cfm) that closely resembles the one you just left. And there's no purchase option here, either.

Buy Buy, Baby

In frustration, I finally e-mailed the company, asking for directions. The response:

"We are sorry for any troubles that you have had trying to pay for the Y2K Online Fix. To make your trial version of the Y2K Online Fix permanent, you can simply pay by credit card online at Y2K Online Fix.com (go to registration) or send a check by Priority Mail for $29.95 to: Buyer's Choice Network, Inc ..."

Great. I'll go to the Registration area of the Y2K Online Fix site. Except there isn't a registration area on this page.

Recommendation: A button or link simply labeled "Registration" will suffice, thank you.

Sawyer puts the matter bluntly: "You should get people to your order form as easily as possible. This could be an online order form that people click, or a simple shopping cart setup. Anything less is below the industry standard."

I'd add that the order form should also contain instructions for sending in your payment by more traditional methods (fax, snail mail, carrier pigeon, etc.).

Customers can choose from countless sites (particularly software vendors) that make purchasing a piece of cake. Small businesses--including shareware makers--definitely must keep the purchase process streamlined to be competitive.

What happened with my humble purchase? I never did register the product. The trial version expired; my laptop is no longer Y2K compliant, but it hasn't exploded and I haven't lost any data. I think I'll continue to live dangerously until I get rid of this dinosaur and trade it in for a Sony Vaio, iBook, or other sleek product that's ready for the 21st century. But from the Web marketer's standpoint, my experience is a disaster. Test out your own site and correct any purchase path detours or dead-ends so you don't end up losing customers like me.

© 2000 Greg Holden. All rights reserved.

Greg Holden owns Stylus Media, which creates Web sites for small businesses. He's also the author of Starting an Online Business for Dummies, Small Business Internet for Dummies, and Official Online Marketing with Netscape (all from IDG Books). You can reach him at gholden@interaccess.com or makeover@currents.net. Readers should send their ideas and comments to makeover@currents.net.