ecommerce and UX Best PracticesDonna Sandsmark, Miva Merchant

Real-world exampleHi Donna,

Wanted to get your thoughts on a UI issue.

When a business creates an RFI, the system puts them on the first tab of the form and instantly reflects an error message (on required fields) even though they really hadn't started inputting yet....and each tab they go to another group of errors will show at the top throughout the same form before filling anything out. (See attached)

Q:  Not sure if that is a good thing or bad thing but have some concerns that showing errors before a user even starts data entry can be agitating to a user? 

Just curious on your user experience and thoughts on the subject.

Here is the “user experience”

Some decisions are not that easy

• Form Labels: http://attardi.org/labels/

• “Everyone loves a sale”

What is UX

• UX is User Experience

• The core principle is to know your users and build a superior experience by their standards

• There are best practices but every website solution is unique

• ecommerce provides many challenges because of the very nature of users’ interaction with the site, such as locating products and navigating the checkout process

The UX process

Research – gather detailed

data about users

Create User Profiles/Perso

nas

Define the key objectives of

the user

Detail the key user journeys

Design and Develop for user goals

Conduct user Testing

Why care about UX?

Your Customers Will Respond To A First-Rate User Experience:

• Improved user experience translates into measurable benefits for companies that provide it.

• Consumers have options, and will opt to your ecommerce site only if it provides a superior UX experience (and the opposite is true)

• UX is the equivalent of traditional retail establishment’s customer service

Benefits of positive UX for ecommerce sites

More customers will be willing to purchase. 14.4% more customers are willing to continue purchasing from an ecommerce site if they had a positive user experience than companies in the same industry that offer a poor customer experience.

More customers will resist doing business with competitors. Companies that offer the best UX experience in their industries have 15.8% fewer customers likely to do business with a competitor.

More customers will recommend you. Companies with the highest UX experience scores have 16.6% more customers who are likely to recommend their products or services compared with their lowest-scoring competitors.

Reference: “Best Practices In User Experience (UX) Design report by Forrester Research Inc.

UX Best Practices - resources

• http://www.nngroup.com/articles/e-commerce-usability/

• http://spyrestudios.com/usability-best-practices-for-ecommerce-websites/

• http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2013/11/11/guidelines-navigation-categories-ecommerce-study/

• http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/09/04/the-state-of-e-commerce-checkout-design-2012/

SummaryUX is crucial for ecommerce success. Since a happy customer will most likely return, making the experience a positive one must be one of the main objectives for online stores.  Also, we should keep in mind that while adhering to UX guidelines and best practices is a must, every store and their customers (users) are unique.

That is why constant usability testing and collecting customer feedback must be an ongoing activity for any e-commerce website.

Thank you – Q&AFirst question: what is the score of the SDSU Game?