A few nights ago, I spent almost two hours choosing and ordering clothing and movies online, only to have my transaction fall apart in the final moments because of bad site organization. In one case, you couldn’t discover until you got to the “check out” that gift certificates weren’t redeemable online. At the other site, I lost the movies I wanted because the shopping cart function didn’t show up in the movie listings and other people rented the movies I wanted while I was shopping.

I have bought everything from a car to a camera online, and I’ve purchased from large, established vendors and small, specialty sites. The amazing thing to me is the discrepancy between those sites that make me glad the Internet provides a new shopping venue and those that make me swear I won’t shop online again.

Creating a winning Web site requires a balance of information and simplicity, and making the e-commerce component operate smoothly isn’t easy. Regular customer testing will tell you if you have struck this balance with your site. Commit to having at least a few people test your site monthly to be sure that it is functioning properly and serving customers well. If you have a lot of traffic, consider testing it more frequently.

In general, the sites that I like keep things simple, remember things about me, and make it easy to find answers to questions. Use these tactics to make shopping at your e-commerce site a pleasure.

– Have a customer service plan in place. No matter how small your business is, or how simple the product or service you sell, customer service issues will arise. Two critical components of online customer service are responsiveness and ease of access to information. Think through likely customer questions and problems and create a “path” for all inquiries. This means that answers to common questions are posted on your site, or someone is tasked with responding to e-mails and calls from customers.

– Simplify. Try to streamline the ordering process. For example, while it is nice to offer many shipping options, having too many choices increases the likelihood that someone will make a mistake. Determine the top ways your customers like to ship and feature these to streamline your site.

– Make yourself available offline. When I bought a car online, the dealers contacted me via e-mail but encouraged me to call them with any questions. Having the option to call made me feel as though I was receiving good service. It didn’t cost them much to offer me that service since I chose to conduct most of the transaction via e-mail.

– Be responsive. Some sites leave you wondering if your order has been received, which is unsettling. Send order confirmation by e-mail when customers buy from you to reassure them that their transaction has been completed.

– Treat repeat customers well. Automatically retrieve shipping and payment information for customers who have purchased from you in the past. Ease of use encourages loyalty and repeat purchases.

– Offer savings. The Web provides cost savings to you as a business owner, and customers appreciate it if you pass these savings along to them. In addition, cost savings make up for customers not being able to touch merchandise or use it immediately.

– Test your search function. To make sure that your search function serves customers properly, test it with people who don’t know a lot about your business. Many of the sites I visit make it difficult to search for items that I know are for sale. The problem usually is that the search function works well for the site creators who know product names, spellings and product classifications, but not for people who are unfamiliar with the vendor’s offerings.

Alice Bredin is author of the “Virtual Office Survival Handbook” (John Wiley & sons) and a nationally syndicated columnist.