Professional E-commerce Website Designing for Usability
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There is nothing worse in an e-commerce shop than to be a potential buyer who doesn’t realise which part of the shop they’re in. It should always be made clear at the top of the page, using breadrumb navigation to shop how deep into the shop they have gone. Doing this is a way of creating clean, simple page headings, which is great for optimization.
A good example would be: Home > Electronics > DVD Players > Sony… etc.
Contact Info
There should be a clear telephone number on the top half of your page on every page, preferably in the top-right, in an area where it doesn’t interfere with other information. Some users still do not trust websites with their credit card details and so may wish to call up and place their order over the phone. It is also a way of asking an assistant for assistance.
You can do this with a normal shop assistant, so it should be possible also in an online environment.
Searching a Store
Adding a search function is the number one standard in designing e-commerce websites. They should all have one as they allow customers to quickly and conveniently find what they’re looking for. It’s similar to asking an assistant in a supermarket where a particular product is. You may know that they sell biscuits, but it can be difficult to locate the exact brand amongst the hundreds on offer.
The bar should be located at the top of the page, above the fold where it can be seen instantly. Use a white background for text entry and surround it in a dark colour to make it prominent. You should also make it as long as possible so that users don’t have their queries shortened. Suggestive text entry also helps.
Refining a Search
It is not unusual to be flooded by a huge number of search results in such an instance, so an option to narrow the criteria of a search is a very useful tool. If you searched for Star Wars, you’ll no doubt get results from CD, DVD and Video Games which match the search keywords. Searching within ‘CD’ would ensure only the soundtrack would appear from the search.
Search Results Page
When displaying search results to a users, it’s a good idea to make them aware of how the results have been organised. If you search for a DVD Player, rather than the closest match, you may want to have it in order of cheapest to most expensive, or perhaps from highest reviews?
Shopping Basket
It is beneficial to have a virtual shopping basket or cart viewable at all times so users feel like they have it with them whilst they are browsing your site as with a real basket. It also keeps them aware of what’s in there and that they can add or remove items at will, just as in real life. Amazon and Play are good examples.
User Registration
Asking users to register before buying can seriously deter customers. They don’t want to commit all their details to a website while only potentially window shopping.
The smart way of getting registration details is during the checkout stage where it can be disguised as simply adding shipping and billing details which the customer will accept as compulsory. This data can then be saved as an account for future visits. Doing it this way will speed up checkout processes and reduce users abandoning the cart.
Add to Cart
In order to achieve a greater rate of conversions, a bold and clear button should be added to each product page and it should be made to stand out from the rest of the content so that it is easy to find for any shopper. Use strong colours to display it so that its easily findable.
Using terms such as ‘buy’ or ‘order’ may scare the user into thinking they are committing to the purchase right now. The words ‘add to cart’ or ‘add to basket’ are good first steps in the buying process which can occur when only browsing.
Source: http://www.articlesbase
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Tags: E-commerce, Website Designing
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 11:40 am and is filed under Flash, Flex Design, Web Development, Website Promotion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
