Page 183 - Electronic Commerce

Chapter 3

order status, or after-sale problems. A significant number of companies in these studies
never acknowledged or responded to the e-mail queries.

Usability Testing
158
An increasing number of companies are realizing the importance of usability testing,
however, most companies do not perform any usability testing on their Web sites. As its
name suggests, usability testing is the testing and evaluation of a site by its owner to
ensure ease of use for site visitors. As the practice of usability testing becomes more
common, more Web sites will meet the goals outlined previously in this chapter.
Many electronic commerce Web sites frustrate their potential customers so much that
they leave without buying anything. Even the best sites lose many customers because
the sites are confusing or difficult to use. Simple changes in site usability can increase
customer satisfaction and sales. For example, some Web sites do not include telephone
contact information in the belief that not staffing a call center will save the business
money. However, if your customers cannot reach you, they will not continue to do
business with you. Most customers will give up when they cannot communicate with
you when they need to using the medium they prefer.
Companies that have done usability tests, such as Eastman Kodak, T. Rowe Price,
and Maytag, have found that they can learn a great deal about meeting visitor needs by
conducting focus groups and watching how different customers navigate a series of Web
site test designs. Industry analysts agree that the cost of usability testing is so low
compared to the total cost of a Web site design or overhaul that it should almost always be
included in such projects. Two pioneers of usability testing are Ben Shneiderman and
Jakob Nielsen. Dr. Shneiderman founded the Computer Interaction Lab at the University of
Maryland and has published a number of books on interface design. Dr. Nielsen and his
colleagues post articles on the Nielsen Norman Group Web site that include information on
how to conduct usability testing and use the results to improve Web site design and
operation. In 2011, he published an excellent summary of usability issues there titled
E-Commerce Usability.
Because usability testing is fairly inexpensive to perform, many companies run
usability tests periodically on their Web sites. Although user behavior is quite stable over
time, Web sites evolve and are changed almost constantly. Many times these changes can
affect Web site structure and navigation in unexpected and unintended ways. A regular
program of usability testing can help organizations identify these issues and resolve them
before they cause user frustration and lost sales.

Customer-Centric Web Site Design
An important part of a successful electronic business operation is a Web site that meets
the needs of potential customers. In the list of goals for constructing Web sites that you
learned about earlier in the chapter, the focus was on meeting the needs of all site visitors
(which might include customers, potential customers, investors, potential contributors for
charitable organizations, business partners, suppliers, potential employees, and the
general public). Putting the customer at the center of all site designs is called a customer-
centric approach to Web site design. A customer-centric approach leads to some
guidelines that Web designers can follow when creating a Web site that is intended to

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