What do I mean by this? Let’s go on the customer journey:

1) The first time visitor
The customer visits your site. He wants information about your products, prices, service and so on. He needs all this at his finger tips. Try to imagine all the potential questions a customer might have and make sure to answer them – and that those answers are easily accessible.

2) You are lucky
Your potential client has done all his online research and you are the lucky winner – that is why he is back. This usually happens not within the same day. So make sure that the returning customer is able to find the product again fast. In some instances it makes sense to offer a wish list or basket functionality.

3) The unlucky one
The product unfortunately did not get delivered properly. Or in the case of an insurance company – your client had an accident. So this is still the same website user but he again has totally different needs. He is rather likely upset right now and needs help and support fast. Make sure he can access it directly. And yes – in case the answer is a phone call – offering a real voice, without long waiting lines can increase the customer satisfaction and therefore the perception of your brand in many ways.

A good exampe offers Norwich Union. It is very easy to receive a free quote. In addition they offer the button “Existing Customers” on the upper right hand side where clients can “Make a claim”, “Manage their policy online” and much more.

Read the entire series:

Part 1: How to structure content
Part 2: How many navigation points
Part 3: Dynamic or static navigation
Part 4: Navigation and the customer life cycle
Part 5: Global Navigation

A static navigation is always visible and when you click on the first level navigation the items of the second level navigation appear and stay visible.

A dynamic navigation only appears when you hover over it with the mouse and then disappears again.

There are also combinations of the two on the market.

Static navigation:
The advantage is that after the user has clicked on the first level entry all the second level entries stay visible and the user has always the overview of all the other navigation points in that category. So if you assume that your users wish to browse within that category it is advisable that you give the user the overview.

Dynamic navigation:
The dynamic navigation has the benefit that you have not to give up any screen real estate for placing the navigation so you can full the entire website with content. As long as only one drop down opens it is usually easy to navigate. The user can also “preview” the content of all subnavigation items without clicking on them which can be very convenient. However, as soon as you have several sublevel menus it becomes more difficult to control the navigation with the mouse.

Combination of dynamic and static navigation:
An excellent example for a combination of the two is the website of John Lewis. The drop down navigation is even grouped in categories and after the user has chosen an item a static left hand navigation menu appears with further details.

Read the entire series:
Part 1: How to structure content?
Part 2: How many navigation points?
Part 3: Dynamic or static navigation
Part 4: Navigation and the customer life cycle
Part 5: Global navigation

However, real life is not always that easy. Let’s look at some issues:

The seven point rule:
It is true and has been psychologically proven that the human brain best can recall 7 items and that the brain capacity after that becomes lower. This is certainly true for example shopping lists. However, from this also the rule: No more than 7 navigation items has been deducted.

Is it applicable? Yes and no.

It certainly makes sense to try to reduce navigational points and keep the navigational structure precise and clear.

However, what are some exceptions?

# Familiarity with a different structure in the “real world”:

For example news sites: Users are familiar with the categories of their daily newspaper such as news, entertainment, sports, weather etc. There it is advisable to retain the structure readers are familiar with.

# Simply too much content

Sometimes it also can help to add an additional top level item to avoid that the site will have too many navigational hierarchies.

# Linking to sub-sites

For example yahoo links to many sub-sites from its main portal and offers a link to view all other categories. This is another way to structure a huge amount many companies are following: Showing the main entries to everybody and adding an additional link to view all navigation items.

Read the entire series:
Part 1: How to structure content?
Part 3: Dynamic or static navigation
Part 4: Navigation and the customer life cycle
Part 5: Global navigation

Part 1: How to structure content
Part 2: How many navigation points
Part 3: Dynamic or static navigation
Part 4: Navigation and the customer life cycle
Part 5: Global navigation

First of all you need to define all the content:

1. your target group wants to know
2. is important for your business to be communicated

Then the crucial question is what will your target group be looking for? What are their expectations? Are there structures they are familiar with because all of the competitors are following a similar pattern?

There are several ways to structure content – By:

1. topic, genre, product groups
2. target group
3. activity
4. search patterns

1) Topic, genre, product group navigation
As the title implies – this makes mainly sense when you are selling products or services which can be grouped logically.

2) Target group navigation
This one is very helpful when you offer information that is of interest to particular target groups and the all need to find information fast and directly. You often see this on websites of major banks with navigation points such as:
Private Banking | Business Banking | Press | Investors | Jobs
Sometimes it is very helpful to offer this kind of entry on the homepage in case your main navigation is structured by topic. You see this rather often on university sites. See the two examples below:

3) Activity based navigation
This one is more prominent in software where often activities are more prominent than categories since users want to fulfil certain tasks.

4) Navigation based on search patterns
In case people might look in different ways for a product this navigational structure is suitable. It basically means that for example products in a gift store are searchable by price, by category and by gender.

Sometimes combinations of the above are the best approach. However, always make sure to label the categories precisely with a short verb and noun and avoid jargon and long labels.

1. Availability
   Inform the client before the check out process that an item is currently not available. There is nothing worse than filling in several forms and being informed in the last minute, that you currently can not purchase the product. Show the availability status on every product page.
2. Payment methods
   Offer several payment methods such as PayPal, Visa and MasterCard. This increases your chance that the client will continue the check out process. Inform him that the data is transmitted secured. In case you have received a “Trusted Shop” certificate, display it prominently. It increases trust.
3. Back Button
   You just quickly wanted to go back one step to check one entry field and then all your previously entered data was gone. Make sure that the customer always can go back and forth without loosing any entered data. It is tedious enough to type in your card number once.
4. Credit Card rejection
   Imagine your credit card is rejected. That is always a very unpleasant moment. Tell the client with a friendly easy to understand error. Inform him of what might have gone wrong:
   - The address needs to be the same as on the credit card.
   - The name needs to be the same as on the credit card.
   - What is the CVC Code and where can he find it.
   - Could it be that there is a daily limit on the card? (in case you are selling expensive items)
   - How can he reach the hotline in case it still does not work.
5. Forced registration
   Don`t force your customer to register in order to simply buy something. To remember his contact and financial data is an extra service you can offer and the return client can benefit from. However, many customers might not be return customers and some simply hate to have to recall login data or to have their data saved and accessible online.
6. Cross selling
   Cross selling is great, we all agree. However, don’t be too pushy during the check out process. Customers might either get confused or really turned off. Do your cross selling when show casing your other products or after the check out.
7. Hidden costs
   Honesty always pays off. Show your customer as early as possible fees for shipping, taxes, handling fees and so on. Nobody likes unpleasant surprises at the very last minute.

Check out the entire series:
Part 1) Navigation and homepage
Part 2) Product overview
Part 3) Product detail page
Part 4) Search
Part 5) Check out process

To come:
Part 6) The shopping basket

The most difficult task is to define the technical requirements your search engine needs to fulfil. Once you have decided on those, 3 major points for the design of your search interface are:

1. Place the search clearly visible and offer the search entry field on every page.
2. Make the general search interface as simple as possible. You might want to add an additional filter option such as availability, gender or product category.
3. Don’t go overboard with defining the detailed search. Studies show, that not too many people ever use it.

And what are people looking for in the result page. 5 points

1) Inform the users of what they typed into the search field.
2) How many results were produced
3) The results should have a clear title and a short summary
4) Show where the result is placed within the site (URL)
5) Let the customer filter the results (i.e. from cheapest to most expensive)

e-bay for example lets you filter the search results, shows an image and a title and in addtion even offers the option to save the search criteria.

Check out the entire series:
Part 1) Navigation and homepage
Part 2) Product overview
Part 3) Product detail page
Part 4) Search

To come:
Part 5) Check out process
Part 6) The shopping basket

1. Good product visualisation is crucial. Show the products from different angles, the front and the back and allow the user to zoom in. Show different colour versions. Close ups are especially important where the texture or surface of the product is important such as clothing or jewellery – make the product as tangible as possible. Let the user “touch” it.
2. The presentation on all the product detail pages should follow the same pattern throughout the site so that the user can learn your site and get accustomed to it.
3. The most important product details need to be in the visible area without having the user to scroll down.
4. This is also a great time for cross-selling: Show the customer what other users bought and make pro-active recommendations. It is better to make recommendations on behalf of the behaviour of other users than by yourself. Say: Customers who bought A also bought B instead of We recommend B for people who are interested in A.
5. The user needs to be informed about the availability of the product. (in case this has not happened on the overview page yet).
6. If your delivery times are much faster than business standards or much longer mention it.

One really good example is again Esprit.

Sizes, colours, product illustration including zoom and front and back images, addtional product information, availabilit, cross-seeling all is in place

Check out the entire series:
Part 1) Navigation and homepage
Part 2) Product overview
Part 3) Product detail page

To come:
Part 4) Search
Part 5) Check out process
Part 6) The shopping basket

1. It is recommended, that the product overview pages follow all a consistent structure. This gives the user the chance to learn your site and with continuing navigation he can orient himself faster.
2. The amount of products presented should allow the user to gain a quick overview.
3. The most relevant questions the user has at this stage should be answered. This allows faster scanning of the products and saves the user possible disappointment on the individual product page itself. This includes the listing of the price and availability.
4. Especially with rather technical or complex products, an online product comparison option is essential to avoid lots of work for the call centre.
5. In addition, sorting functionalities support the user to “customise” the results to his personal needs, such as price, distance, weight, colour etc.

Let’s have a look at two examples buying a Sony Laptop and a new Esprit Jacket:

On the Sony Laptop overview page, the user receives all the essential data he needs.
They even consider the two target groups returning and new customer. The returning one can add the product directly to the shopping cart the new one can add the product to a wish list.
There is the option for product comparison and a sort option.

And the product comparison site: The user can delete rows or columns, start over, get the product advisor and create a PDF for print out and later use.

On the Esprit page as well, the product overview page answers the main questions such as: material, prize, availability, colour selection and new arrivals.

Check out the entire series:

Part 2) Product overview

Part 3) Product presentation

Part 4) Search

Part 5) Check out process

Part 6) The shopping basket

Looking at their new homepage, I noticed three main points regarding usability and branding:

#1 Fast access to information on homepage

The main purpose of visiting a news Web site is usually to quickly learn about what is going on in the world or in the personal field of interest – for example sports. This means users want to be able to quickly scan the site and then pick an article.

It is exactly this which is impossible on the new BBC home page. Counting the visible news (at a 1024 resolution) entries on the home pages of major news sites today:

• BBC: 9 articles (not counting weather)
• CNN: 19 headlines
• NY Times: 18 headlines
• Yahoo: 14 headlines

Most other news sites make it much easier to get a quick overview.

When the user personalizes the homepage he can get up to about 12 visible entries without scrolling. However, studies have shown that usually only a small percentage of users make use of personalising a site. And why can the user not move the big picture on top; the one that is actually taking up most of the space?

Studies have shown that a minimum font size of 12 px and a bigger line spacing leads to the best results in reading efficiency and information transfer. So this is solved nicely on the new homepage. However, especially on the homepage there is too much unused space. For example the weather and blog quote are huge compared to the information they transfer.

#2 Accessing other topics via the homepage

In addition, the user has no chance to quickly access the topics provided by BBC. The user has to scroll to the end of the home page to find these:

These links are provided as a general navigation on almost every other news Web site. They allow easy and convenient access to the user’s field of interest. BBC offers those links also on all its subpages. Why not on the homepage?

For example Yahoo has solved those points on their homepage in a good manner: The navigation to the left with easy access to the main topics and lots of information in the content area.

#3 Visual consistency and branding

While the homepage looks like a clear attempt in trendy design with rounded corners, fading colours and light effects all the subpages have a totally different look and feel. They are flat 2 dimensional design, squared corners, no shading. What does BBC stand for?

Imagine you are in a convenience store such as Sainbury’s and you are looking for batteries. Where do you start to look for them? Kitchen supplies, the area where the stationary is, where could they be? Where the garbage bags are? You might walk around for a while and then ask a sales person for assistance.

Now online

Image the same scenario online. You click here, you click there. However, there is no sales person that can help and the competitor’s site is just one click away. That is why especially for e-commerce sites good usability is so crucial.

The above study shows, that a bad online shopping experience does not only mean that you have lost this one sale. The customer is also rather likely not to buy from you at all.

You suffer from:

1. Lost sales,
2. a weakend reputation and
   
3. it harms the perception of your overall brand.

Some common issues on e-commerce sites are:

Navigation and start page

You need to consider that you have to types of people visiting your online shop:

1. The ones who already exactly know what they want. They need to be guided directly to the product they are looking for. Structuring and clustering of the shop items in a clearly visible navigation bar is essential for them.
2. The others are the users who just want to browse your site or inform themselves. They might be looking for the special offer, new products or seasional trends. Visual teasers and images usually guide those the best.

Give the visitors also a chance to concentrate on your main items. Cluttered sites are likely to overwhelm the user. In an online shop users prefer structure and visual guidance and do not want to feel like being on a flea market.

Creating the right structure

1. Competitors’ analysis: Do you know what they are doing?
   Your users are very likely to also use other e-commerce sites. Over the last years, patterns of structuring, organising and labelling content have evolved. Your users have learned those patterns. Therefore we recommend not to re-event the wheel and to stick to conventions. The best way to find those patterns and conventions is a competitors’ analysis. In addition, a regular competitors’ analysis gives insight in new trends and strategies. You can only become the benchmark by knowing what your are up against.A competitors’ analysis can be done at any stage of the project. We recommend to perform it in regular intervals. Depending on the market every 1-3 months to at least once a year.
2. Card sorting: How would your clients structure the content?
   One basic method is card sorting. Card sorting is used to develop the structure of Web sites. How does it work?
   Product categories or product names are written down on individual cards. Then (potential) users of the site are asked to structure the cards into groups or to sort them into predefined metacategories.
   • Structure: This gives valuable insight into how your customers would structure the content and therefore where they would be looking for the information when navigating through your site. This aids to define the ideal placement of individual products and how to create useful product categories. Recall the example with the matches from the beginning? Where would customers look for them the most likely?
   • Wording: Though it is not always the wrong structure that misleads customers. Equally important is to find the right wording for the individual categories and navigation items.

In the next entries the following topics will be covered:

Part 2) Product overview

Part 3) Product presentation

Part 4) Search

Part 5) Check out process

Part 6) The shopping basket