E-commerce User Interface
Design
Lawrence Najjar
Information Architect
Viant
2
Outline
• Why worry about e-commerce usability?
• Why improve e-commerce usability?
• Page format
• Navigation
• Catalog
3
Why Worry about
E-commerce Usability?
•
Up to 50% of potential sales lost because shoppers
cannot find what they want
1, 2•
83% of shoppers left e-commerce sites due to poor
navigation and slow downloads
34
Why Improve Usability?
•
After improving e-commerce usability:
–
IBM got 400% increase in sales
5–
DEC got 80% increase in revenue
6•
Improving usability estimated to:
–
Increase number of buyers by 40%
75
Page Format
•
Design page size for AOL users
8, 9, 10•
Design page to download in less than 10 seconds
(40K)
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16•
Put user interface elements in familiar locations
17, 18•
Put shopping cart summary on every page
18, 19•
Put sign-in entry fields on home page
6
7
8
Navigation
•
Make nav simple, intuitive, and consistent
•
Tell user where user is, how user got there, how to
get back, where else to go
22•
Provide global and local nav controls
•
Use breadcrumbs
•
Allow user to get to any product in 5 clicks or less
239
Navigation (continued)
•
Put search entry field on every page
•
Design search to put user’s searched-for hit on first
page of search results
•
Allow user to search by product name, product
category, brand, model/item number, and price
•
On search results page, allow user to perform
10
Catalog
•
Let user directly enter the catalog
•
Organize catalog into familiar sections
•
Allow user to sort products in a section
24•
Provide link to put product in wish list and to e-mail
page
•
Show shipping cost
•
Include product comparison tool
2511
Registration
•
The more streamlined registration process is, the
more likely users will register and buy
26, 15•
Require only e-mail address, password, permission
to e-mail promotions, and permission to leave
cookie
27•
Get other user info during checkout and via
periodic, optional, one-question, multiple-choice
popup surveys
2812
Checkout
•
Checkout is biggest reason people cannot buy from
site
29•
On shopping cart page, show:
–
Hyperlinked product names
–
Entry fields for quantities
–
Prices
–
Dropdown list of shipping choices and costs
–
Order subtotal, including shipping + taxes if user is registered
–
Check boxes for removing products
–
Check boxes for moving products into wish list
–
Button to refresh the page
13
Checkout (continued)
•
Don’t require user to register to check out
29•
Put checkout fields on single, vertically scrollable
page
•
Provide obvious links to privacy policy, security
policies, delivery guarantees, and customer service
guarantees
26•
For signed-in member, fill in checkout fields
•
For errors, put notice at top of page, explain at each
field what was wrong and how to fix it
14
Checkout (continued)
•
Provide order confirmation that includes
19:
–
Order number
–
Instructions for canceling order
–
Directions for tracking order and shipment
–
Customer support info
–
Promotion (optional)
15
Conclusion
•
E-commerce usability is important
16
References
1 Cohen, J., & Thompson, M. J. (1999, February). Mass appeal. The Standard
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2 Seminerio, M. (1998, September 10). Study: One in three experienced surfers find
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3 Thompson, M. J. (1999, August 9). How to frustrate Web surfers. Industry Standard
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4 BizRate (2000, October 23). 78% of online shoppers abandon shopping carts
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http://www.bizrate.com/content/press/release.xpml?rel=88
5 Tedeschi, B. (1999, August 30). Good Web site design can lead to healthy sales.
17
References
6 Wixon, D., & Jones, S. (1992). Usability for fun and profit: A case study of the
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7 Creative Good (2000, June 12). The dotcom survival guide. Creative Good
[On-line]. Available: http://www.creativegood.com/survival/
8 America Online (2001, March 8). AOL membership surpasses 28 million
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18
References
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13 Nielsen, J. (1997). The need for speed [On-line]. Available:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9703a.html
14 Lamers (1996, February 27). Personal communication.
15 Sacharow, A., & Mooradian, M. (1999, March). Navigation: Toward intuitive
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16 Sullivan, T. (1998). The need for speed. Site optimization strategies. All Things Web
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19
References
18 CyberAtlas (1999, February 25). Online stores lacking. E-tailers should follow lead
of offline shops [On-line]. Available:
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/market/retailing/taylor.html
19 Ragus, D. (2000). Best practices for designing shopping cart and checkout
interfaces [On-line]. Available: http://www.dack.com/web/shopping_cart.html
20 Reichheld, F. F., & Schefter, P. (2000, July-August). E-loyalty: Your secret weapon
on the Web. Harvard Business Review, 105-113.
21 Stanley, J., McCarthy, J. C., & Sharrard, J. (2000, May). The Internet’s privacy
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22 Fleming, J. (1998). Web navigation: Designing the user experience. Sebastopol,
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23 Tracy, B. (2000, August 16). Easy net navigation is mandatory – Viewpoint: Online
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24 Nielsen, J., & Tahir, M. (2001, February). Building sites with depth. In
20
References
25 eMarketer (2001, March 12). Turning shoppers on(line). eMarketer [On-line].
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http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/ecommerce_b2c/20010312_pwc _search_shop.html
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29 Rehman, A. (2000, October 16). Effective e-checkout design. ZDNet/Creative
