Page 179 - Electronic Commerce
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Chapter 3
meaningful communication with their customers. Companies that do not make effective
use of this ability will lose customers to competitors that do.
Meeting the Needs of Web Site Visitors
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Businesses that are successful on the Web realize that every visitor to their Web site is a
potential customer or partner. Thus, an important concern for businesses crafting Web
presences is the variation in visitor characteristics. People who visit a Web site seldom
arrive by accident; they are there for a reason.
Varied Motivations of Web Site Visitors
Web designers face some challenges when trying to create a site that is useful for
everyone because visitors arrive for many different reasons, including these:
• Learning about products or services that the company offers
• Buying products or services that the company offers
• Obtaining information about warranty, service, or repair policies for products
they purchased
• Obtaining general information about the company or organization
• Obtaining financial information for making an investment or credit-granting
decision
• Identifying the people who manage the company or organization
• Obtaining contact information for a person or department in the organization
• Following a link into the site while searching for information about a related
product, service, or topic
Not only do Web site visitors arrive with different needs, they also arrive with
different experience and expectation levels. In addition to the problems posed by the
diversity of visitor characteristics, technology issues can also arise. These Web site visitors
are connected to the Internet through a variety of communication channels that provide
different bandwidths and data transmission speeds. They will also be using different Web
browsers running on different devices (including computers, tablets, phones, television
sets, and even video game consoles). Those using the same browser might be running
different versions or have it configured in various ways with browser add-in and plug-in
software. Addressing the implications of these many variations in visitor characteristics
when building a Web site can help convert these visitors into customers.
Making Web Sites Accessible
One of the best ways to accommodate a broad range of visitor needs, including the needs
of visitors with disabilities, is to build flexibility into the Web site’s interface. For example,
some sites offer a text-only version. As researchers at the University of Wisconsin’s Trace
Center note, this can be an especially important feature for visually impaired visitors who
use special browser software to access Web site content. Approximately 15 percent of all
Web users have some kind of disability. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative site includes a
number of useful links to information regarding these issues.
A site can give the visitor the option to select smaller versions of graphic images so
that the page loads on a low-bandwidth connection in a reasonable amount of time. If the
site includes streaming audio or video clips, it can give the visitor the option to specify a
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