SPONSORED SUPPLEMENT: Site designs that meet customers’ needs
An elaborate site design may be aesthetically pleasing, but if it gets in the way of the shopping experience, sales won’t come
An elaborate site design may be aesthetically pleasing, but if it gets in the way of the shopping experience, sales won’t come
For all the bells and whistles that can go into web site design, most e-retailers overlook a very simple premise: know what the customer wants and expects from the site and deliver it.
Whether customers want navigation paths that enable them to drill down faster through categories and brands to locate a specific product, a product configurator, or the ability to open and close windows without having to refresh the page, retailers who remember customers’ needs throughout the design process will create a successful web site that generates conversion rates above the 3% standard.
“It is easy to get too artistic and focus more on the aesthetics of the design than delivering the functionality customers want in making the purchase,” says Tony Svanascini, CEO of Americaneagle.com, a Park Ridge, Ill.-based web site design firm. “Rich graphics are great, but they can get in the way of the usability of the site and distract shoppers from making the purchase. Shoppers want intuitive, easy-to-use site designs.”
The importance of features
For site designers that means creating features that can help shoppers with their purchasing decisions. For instance, when Americaneagle.com began work on a new site for FenceCenter.com, a fence retailer, the retailer said it wanted a design that allows shoppers to quickly and easily define their product criteria because its customers are primarily do-it-yourselfers.
Americaneagle.com’s solution was to create the Fence Wizard, a tool that enables shoppers to define the type of project they have in mind, such as a residential privacy fence or decorative landscaping fence, then set the variables that are important to them, such as appearance or cost. Once the data are entered, shoppers can see products that fit their criteria.
“The aim of the design process was to remove the intimidation factor for do-it-yourselfers shopping online,” says Svanascini. “One of the allures of e-retailing is that it allows people to set the criteria that guide them through their shopping experience, rather than having to thumb through a catalog or walk the aisles in a store to find what they want, which can lead to a prolonged search.”
Providing this level of functionality requires a site design that synchronizes the information in the product catalog to the navigation paths. “The wow factor is nice, but if the site design results in snags in navigation, it can hurt sales,” says Svanascini. “Site design should improve the customer shopping experience not hinder it.”
Focusing on catering to customer needs and functionality does not mean that e-retailers ought to shy away from the advanced capabilities of Web 2.0 technology. Rather, they need to be more selective in the applications used.
Where less is more
Ajax (Asynchronous Javascript) is a Web 2.0 application that can not only deliver the wow factor, but also improve the functionality of site design. The benefit of Ajax is that it allows shoppers to examine product details, such as viewing color swaps or larger images, without leaving the product page. Ajax works by exchanging small amounts of data with the server so the entire web page does not have to be reloaded with each click, thereby increasing the interactivity, speed, functionality, and usability of the page.
Finally, retailers need to remember that with page layout less is more. “The cleaner the page layout, the more readily shoppers can navigate the page,” adds Svanascini.
Before launching any new site design, it is essential that a retailer allow shoppers to thoroughly test the workings of the design, much like an automobile test drive. “This is not a focus group,” says Svanascini. “It is having actual shoppers navigate the site and getting real time feedback. If one aspect of the site design does not work, they will tell the retailer right away. There can never be too much testing of a new site design.”
By following these simple tips, retailers can design a web site that shows customers they take their wants and needs seriously.
