|
Member of:
ISOC
 IWA
 ARTT
RTS
| |
Product Navigation
Provide fast, easy paths from the store front to detailed
product information
 Enable
users to navigate from the store front to product
description pages as efficiently as possible. Users are
sometimes disappointed by how long it takes them to
accomplish this task (IBM Ease of Use, 1998; Jarvenpaa &
Todd, 1996, 1997). If users are frustrated in their attempts
to navigate to the product, they may give up and go
elsewhere. To meet users' needs, eliminate any unnecessary
steps or pages on the path between the store front and
product description pages.
Determine users' satisfaction with each
step in the navigation/shopping process. Specifically,
during iterative design and development, ask representative
users what they want and expect before they follow each
link. Then ask them to rate how well each resulting page
meets their wishes and expectations. Also obtain ratings for
their overall satisfaction with the site's navigation
structure and mechanisms. By learning users' expectations,
you will learn how to organize your site to meet their
needs.
Provide different site paths to facilitate different
shopping strategies
Enable
your users to accomplish their goals using strategies they
prefer. Different users employ different shopping
strategies. For example, to determine which product they
want to buy, some users will want to use search; others will
want to browse product categories, and still others would
like you to recommend products for them. Sites that
accommodate their users' strategies are more likely to
succeed than those that force users to learn new strategies.
You will need to learn from your users
the strategies that your site should support. Analyze
representative users' strategies as they shop, both in
physical stores and online. Web sites should support
strategies that customers use in physical stores, such as
seeking assistance from a sales clerk or product expert.
Sites should also try to improve upon the resources
available in real stores, so that users can apply their
strategies more easily. For instance, to facilitate price
comparisons and offer the best price, sites can immediately
update prices to compete with the competition.
Provide links to shopping pages from a variety of other
pages and sites
To
increase traffic and sales, provide links to your shopping
pages from other pages and other sites (Lohse & Spiller,
1998). Make arrangements with other sites, such as Web site
portals, to link to your shopping pages. Incentives, such as
finders' fees or percentages of resulting sales, can
encourage other organizations to link to your shopping
pages.
You can also increase traffic and sales
from within your site by increasing the number of links to
shopping pages from other pages in your site. For instance,
you can link from an announcement of the release of a new
product in the News section to the product's description
page in your shopping pages.
Links to shopping pages should take users
to pages they want and expect to see. In other words, if a
feature article discusses Widget X, a useful link would take
users to the product description page that discusses Widget
X rather than to a registration page for widget shoppers.
Provide shortcuts to the most popular products
Provide
a list of shortcut links to your best-selling items and/or
those that users most frequently navigate to. Shortcuts
minimize the time and effort users spend navigating,
allowing users to bypass the site's hierarchy. Shortcuts can
also show users the products that other people are buying.
The list of shortcut links can appear on
the store front or on product category navigation pages.
Alternatively, you can provide a single link to a separate
page that lists shortcuts. You can call these links
"Shortcuts" or, where appropriate, "Best Sellers."
Display products simultaneously to facilitate comparison
Enable
users to view products simultaneously to compare
specifications and features. Shoppers commonly compare
products to help them identify the product that best meets
their needs. Sites that simplify comparing products,
therefore, also simplify and encourage purchasing products.
Since comparison is fundamental in the
shopping process, facilitate comparison within all the major
paths through your shopping pages. For instance, enable
users to compare products and initiate more detailed
comparisons while browsing product categories. Also
facilitate comparison after users specify requirements and
receive a list of recommended products. Optionally, you may
also want to designate an area of your site specifically for
product comparisons.
There are many ways to support
comparisons. To help shoppers compare products with numerous
features or specifications, such as computers, home theater
equipment, or automobiles, a table of features and
specifications may be appropriate. Products such as clothing
or home decorating items, for which appearance is important,
may be compared meaningfully using pictures with text
descriptions. Support comparison of the most important
differentiators for the specific product type.
Give
users control over which products they compare
Let
users control which products they view simultaneously, since
you cannot easily predict their choices. Allow them to
select products for comparison whether they are navigating
through product categories or visiting any area of your site
designated specifically for comparison.
Provide users enough information to
decide which products they want to compare before adding
them to the comparison. Minimally, users will want the name
of the product, the price, and at least two or three
important specifications or identifying features. Product
numbers and brand/model names typically do not provide
enough information for users to decide if they want to view
the product in a comparison. Learn from your users what
information they need for making this decision.
Provide
easily navigable and enticing product lists
Make
it easy for users to scan and select products in lists, and
entice them to examine products more closely. Lohse and
Spiller (1998) found a positive correlation between
effective product lists and increased sales.
To create navigable and enticing product
lists,
-
Include helpful information, such as
prices, thumbnail images, product descriptions, and
promotions, to encourage users to explore products in more
detail
-
Enable users to view at least three or
four items simultaneously
-
Strike a balance between the number of
items users can view simultaneously and the amount of
information you provide for each item
-
Present items in a logical order (e.g.,
alphabetically, by common features, by release date, etc.)
-
Present related products in logical
groups within the list
-
Require only one click to view more
detail about a product
-
If your customers sometimes know which
product they want without viewing the product description
page, provide a mechanism on the product list for adding
items to the order list
-
Ensure that the product list loads
quickly and conforms to your performance requirements
Since product lists are very important,
base their design on customer input. Specifically, ask
representative users to rank product features in order of
their importance in the buying decision process. Include the
most important characteristics in your product lists, and
reserve the additional information for product description
pages. To determine the appropriate level of detail, create
prototypes featuring varying amounts of information and test
them with representative users.
Tip: If space permits, list all products
in the body of the list rather than in dropdown lists.
Dropdown lists hide items and require at least two clicks
for viewing an item. In an IBM study of two clothing sites,
participants preferred a product list in which all items
were visible to one that used dropdown lists (IBM Ease of
Use, 1998).
Enable
users to browse sequentially through product descriptions
within categories
On
all product description pages, provide links such as forward
and back arrows that enable users to see another product in
the same category with only one click. These links enable
users to view multiple products quickly and easily, without
having to navigate repeatedly up and down a catalog
hierarchy.
Support easy navigation between the order list and other
shopping pages
Include
on each of the shopping pages in your site a link to the
order list page, often referred to as the shopping cart.
Similarly, include links on the order list page that enable
users to "continue shopping." "Continue shopping" links
communicate that items will be saved in the order list while
users shop for additional items, and many users want this
reassurance.
Since the destination of a link labeled
"Continue Shopping" is not explicit, you may want to provide
a dropdown list of links with "Continue Shopping" as the
field label. Include in the list the last page the user
visited. Also include links to the other main shopping
sections, or better yet, customize the list of links based
on each user's shopping history and/or expressed interests.
Users may be more inclined to shop for and buy additional
items if they are not required to return to the top of the
product hierarchy and drill down again (IBM Ease of Use,
1998). | |
MultiMedia Services
Internet Marketing
Search
Engines Promotion
Online
Advertising
Web Design
Translation
Desktop Publishing
Word Processing
Business Consulting
Business Solutions
Subscribe Mailing Lists:
Afaceri/Internet
Afaceri/Internet Ezine ARTT
Home Internet Business
Ro Jobs
Made in Romania
Online Security
Teleactivitati
Teleactivities
Ro Telework
Teleworkers
Web
Design Help
Join Webrings:
Advertising
Autos
Books
Business
Cellular Phones
Chat
Clipart
Computers
Dictionaries
Dogs
Electronics
Free
Gambling
Games
Greeting Cards
Health
Jobs
Jokes
Lyrics
Maps
Movies
mp3
Music
News
Online Dating
Promotion
Real Estate
Romania
Search Engines
Shopping
Sports
Translation
Travel
Warez
Web Design
Web
Hosting
|