Don't Make Me Think – Please Make It Obvious
Traveling via train is a nice experience and a great alternative to long drives. However, taking Amtrak is a different story. You can read about its bad service and all the negative reviews anywhere on the Internet but this is what I have to say: When I was on Amtrak a couple of months ago, I didn’t have a good experience. Nothing major, it was as simple as not knowing exactly what to expect. I was left clueless as to how many more stops before I got to San Diego from Anaheim. You see, I appreciate it when I am given time to put away my book, newspaper or anything I might have taken out to keep me entertained during the journey. Which reminds me of how BART – our bay area transit – does it really well. In comparison, there are drawings and signs to let the passengers know how many more stops to go and which one is coming up. This may be a minor issue but it does have a profound effect on one’s travel experience. When you are well-informed because things are made obvious, you can just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. The same is true with web usability.
Usability is highly important in eCommerce sites. Although rules regarding regular website designs are still applicable to eCommerce sites, certain features like shopping carts, shipping methods, payment options, etc. make the design process a bit more complicated so you have to be very careful and think things through. Remember, good usability can lead to excellent customer experience. Since satisfied customers are most likely to return, you must make their stay in your site as pleasant as possible.
For starters, be sure that your categories are comprehensible. Use words that your user would use and understand – not the industry jargon that you’ve come so accustom to using. The point of having categories is to ensure that your offerings are easily accessible. If visitors can’t find your products, don’t expect them to spend more time searching. They’ll simply leave and opt to do business with your competitors.
Now even if your site is so user-friendly, you still need to prominently display a fail-safe device in the form of a back button or a home button. Making the home button obvious at all times will allow your visitors to easily start over if they ever get lost navigating through the site.
Ultimately, every element in your site has to make sense, most especially your call to action. Is it clear and obvious? Make your call to action very clear on the website. If you want your visitors to fill out a form, then make sure its accessible. Do you want them to add to cart or buy now? Then say it so. Clearly (Sorry, I just can’t stress this enough).
It’s a known fact that people tend to avoid puzzling over how things work. This isn’t laziness (hopefully) but to just save time (usually). Look at your web store and ask yourself these simple questions: Can visitors easily navigate through your site and does it clearly tell them to do what you want them to do? You can’t leave it up to people to come up with their own reasoning or guess where you are leading them to. Keep in mind that many customers are hesitant to make purchases over the Internet. Making the process easy to follow can help them eliminate their fear and anxiety. Similar to my Amtrak experience, people will lose confidence in your site and your business if you fail to care enough and make everything obvious.
By: Shirley Tan
