e-Commerce has existed in its present form for over a decade, and since the year 2000 has developed beyond recognition. Sales strategies have come and gone, technologies were invented - some succeeded, others failed; work methodologies were devised, millions of websites and user interfaces came into being, each with a similar purpose: to motivate the surfer to complete the relevant commercial transaction.
Despite changes and an almost daily groundbreaking dynamic, there remain a number of basic facts about the user's experience of sites of this kind that have not altered in the last ten years. In an article that I wrote in 2004, I examined some of them closely, and was interested to find that the same guiding concepts that were clearly relevant for e-Commerce websites some years ago have retained their validity.
In this short article, I will try to give a general overview of those guiding principles.
Like any other store, a classic sales strategy is essential. It is no less important to define the strategic principles for success of an e-Commerce website than it is to consider the classic questions of its usability. Of course, the user interface must also be designed to support these principles as far as possible.
Below are a few points of guidance to make sure your e-Commerce website succeeds:
- A fair pricing policy
- A sufficiently wide product range
- Efficient inventory management
- A transparent customer-service policy
Credibility is important in all business activity, but in e-Commerce it is a key success factor. It is one of the most persuasive marketing messages that the site must convey to potential buyers. A lapse of credibility is considered to be a "sales disaster", doubly damaging to the site. Not only do users not complete their intended purchase, but they also fail to return to the site.
You can enhance credibility in various ways, the following being the most obvious:
- Make it easy for your surfer to view the site operator's information.
- Present prices in a fair way: Avoid surprising the customer with extra, indirect charges at the end of the purchase process. These kinds of surprises are likely to seriously reduce conversion rates of surfers to firm sales and damage the credibility of your site.
- Display balanced and accurate data, as well as concise and sufficient product information.
- Impress your surfer with a professional and reliable information security policy.
- Display clearly all terms & conditions, as well as service and return policies.
- Provide readily-available customer support that is easy to access. Personalize this service - never make it anonymous.
Aside from search tools, product catalog browsing is a surfer's main path to the product they are looking for. So it is vital for the user experience to be quick and simple as well as dynamic and attractive. When designing site features, weigh up carefully the following questions:
- What is the right way to group your products?
Product groups should be standard and consistent. They should be presented in a familiar way that echoes the style of other sites. For example, if you choose product groups that reflect your company's internal structure, this may suit you (the site operator), but it will not be helpful or relevant for the average user.
- How can you make sure surfers see the products that are most relevant for them?
One excellent answer is to use a convenient set of filtering tools.
- How can you help them determine the most relevant product for their needs?
Product comparison tools, detailed information, responses and comments by other surfers, and expert reviews are some of the tools available to help the site developer find an answer to this complex question.
Many research studies and usability tests have demonstrated that a high percentage of sales failure in e-Commerce sites is due simply to the users not finding the product they are looking for. Most surfers on e-Commerce sites use internal search engines. These are essential tools for enhancing the usability of your site.
Here are a few critical points to remember when you implement an internal search engine on your site:
- Location: place your search engine in the most expected and eye-catching spot on the page
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Search results:
- Do not force the surfer to leave the results page to obtain more detailed information
- Show the results in order of relevance
The product page is the surfer's last stop before activating an "I want to buy" function. Proper planning of this page will save many "sale disasters".
Here are a few key pointers to designing your product page intelligently:
- Display the product name clearly.
- Include a picture or other visual item (site analysis has shown that this improves conversion rates)
- Give a complete product description with everything the surfers need to know to make their decision
- Show the final price, including all extra costs, such as shipping, packaging, and taxes
- Provide clear details of available stock and anticipated delivery times
- Include a link to pages that provide details of your customer service policy (returns, warranty, and so on)
- Place the hyperlink to the shopping cart in a prominent place on the page
- List surfers' opinions, ratings, professional surveys and other objective information
- Provide clear information about subscription and payment procedures
Many sales disasters occur because the purchase completion process is too complicated. To encourage users to carry on to the finishing line, you must plan the procedure well.
We recommend paying special attention to the following points:
- Be sensitive to the user's information privacy concerns, and keep mandatory data input to a minimum. Add notes to clarify any information request that might be unclear.
- State your information security rules clearly. Add icons and explanatory text wherever they are needed to forestall related questions.
- Make your purchase completion process as brief and intuitive as possible. Enable automatic population of form fields, and on-the-fly editing, where possible.
- Enable options like gift wrapping, shipping, greetings, differentiation between shipping and billing address, and so on.
- Display final order details and allow the user to make changes before submitting the order for final processing.
An e-Commerce site is really just a store. Like any other store, if it is badly run, the customers will not be happy, even with the most attractive user interface.
For any e-Commerce site to succeed, it must have an image of fairness, reliability, good service and efficient inventory and shipping management. These are all essential for the site to flourish and evolve into a successful business platform.
Omri Tamir, VP Marketing & Business Development
May 2011
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