Economic Downturn Puts Website Usability into Focus

By Lorraine Paterson


With the headlines dominated by the ‘Credit Crunch’, combined with the rising cost of fuel and food, the accepted wisdom is that people are sacrificing any non-essential spending.
However, research by Capgemini indicates that consumers aren’t necessarily shopping less but instead they are shopping smarter – by going online rather than to the high street. Those who shop online can compare the prices of products across many shops at the click of a mouse rather than driving around shops for hours in traffic. Customers are choosing the internet because they feel they have more control over their spending, with less chance of impulse purchases. But what constitutes a good online shopping experience?

GOOD USABILITY PRACTICES
- Trust: Reassure customers that your site is secure and that they can trust you. This is particularly important when customers decide to part with their money. As internet crime is more prevalent, customers are increasingly suspicious of sites that do not clearly show text or images indicating that the site is secure. The rewards for doing this are often an increased conversion rate than those sites without security badges.

- Search and find: Make it easy for customers to find what they are looking for. While some customers like to browse, others will have an idea of what they are looking for. They might have seen a specific product advertised or may just be browsing more broadly. In both situations, a good categorisation system for your products as well as an effective search tool will help both types of customers find what they are looking for easily.

- Information: Provide enough information to allow customers to make an informed choice. More and more websites are providing additional ways of viewing products to reproduce the same experience of a store. This is particularly important when selling clothes or shoes. Being able to zoom in on a pair of shoes, rotate a dress and change its colour and style are all effective. As Seen on Screen (ASOS.com) go a step further by providing a video clip of a model wearing the item down a catwalk. This is a good example where the website provides an abundance of information for their customers which can help to persuade them to buy without trying on.

- Easy to Buy: Ensure that the purchasing process is quick and straightforward. Good practices suggest that asking for detailed personal information that is not required to complete a purchase should be avoided because it is off-putting. Similarly customers often avoid registration forms, and will even leave a website, if they deem the registration to be unnecessary or unwieldy. Those sites that have listened to customer complaints have made registration optional, providing customers with the choice to proceed without registering.

- Show the next step: Provide clear calls to action when items have been added to the shopping cart. There are many different methods currently used by websites, but in all cases, it should be clear that the item has been successfully added; and what customers can do next; whether that is to continue shopping or proceed to check-out. Once the purchase is completed, clear feedback should also be provided on the receipt page to indicate that the purchase has been successful. Information such as a reference number and a confirmation email both help to reassure customers. Additionally, avoid dead-end receipt pages by providing links to continue shopping will encourage customers to spend more.

WITH CHOICE COMES RESPONSIBILITY
Those ecommerce sites that strive to improve their emphasis on the user experience will inevitably gain financially. As the online market continues to grow in the current climate, there is a danger that complacency from a false sense of security could creep in. As with any growing market, more and more new sites will emerge looking to obtain a slice of the profits. While the internet already provides great choice for customers, this choice will only continue to grow. Consequently, it is the responsibility of retailers to ensure that their site provides a good user experience; otherwise customers will simply choose to visit a more customer-friendly competitor.

Associated Link: Usability and accessibility consultancy & training UK

Online poker company uses Science to assess Player Preferences
Source: Recentpoker.com, 8 January 2009
 
Working with customer experience consultancy Foviance, PKR is exploiting the benefits of electroencephalography (EEG) technology to gather information on poker players' emotional relationship with a brand or service.

Do Users really love Laptops?
Source: channelinsider, 7 January 2009
 
More than one-fifth of all laptop computers will break down over the course of their life, and other limitations frustrate their users. From this list of user complaints come laptop opportunities.

User Interviews - Analysis Simplified
Source: Webcredible, 6 January 2009
 
You’ve conducted your user interviews, but now you need to make sense of all that information you’ve gathered.

Why Products Fail
Source: ComputerWorld, 5 January 2009
 
Most gadget and software makers don't understand what users want most: control.

How to Design Websites for Mobile Phones
Source: stemkoski.com, 3 January 2009
 
Tips from Ryan Stemkoski's web design blog.

Pioneer of Cyberspace honoured
Source: BBC, 2 January 2009
 
A professor who invented a forerunner of the world wide web has been made a dame in the New Year Honours.

2008 in Review: Developments that rocked the world of User Experience
Source: Catalyst Resources, 1 January 2009
 
A look back at 2008 highlights some of the key developments that rocked the world of user experience.

2008: The Year Online
Source: MIT Technology Review, 31 December 2008
 
The business of social networking, cloud computing, and a flaw in the fabric of the Internet top the most notable stories of 2008.

Shoveling through the Spamalanche
Source: UN, 30 December 2008
 
A ‘Spamalanche’ of 3,000 emails will be waiting in your inbox by the time you get back to work. What can you do besides 'delete all'?

New guidelines boost Web Access
Source: BBC, 29 December 2008
 
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has announced a new standard to make sites more accessible to older and disabled people.