1 Effectiveness– can users complete their tasks correctly and completely?
2 Productivity (efficiency)– are tasks completed in an acceptable length of time?
3 Satisfaction– are users satisfied with the interaction?Marketing-led site design
We have seen that there are many guidelines on how to approach web site design from a
user or customer orientation. The marketing aims of the site should, however, always be
remembered. Marketing-led site designis informed by marketing objectives and tactics.
A common approach is to base the design on achieving the performance drivers of suc-
cessful Internet marketing referred to in Chapter 4 and the loyalty drivers referred to at
the start of this chapter. Design will be led by these performance drivers as follows:
Customer acquisition– the online value proposition must be clear. Appropriate incen-
tives for customer acquisition such as those described in Chapter 6 must be devised.
Customer conversion– the site must engage first-time visitors. Call to action for cus-
tomer acquisition and retention offers must be prominent with benefits clearly
explained. The fulfilment of the offer or purchase must be as simple as possible to
avoid attrition during this process.
Customer retention– appropriate incentives and content for repeat visits and business
must be available (see Chapter 6).
Service quality– this has been covered in this chapter. Service quality is affected by site
navigation, performance, availability and responsiveness to enquiries.
Branding– the brand offer must be clearly explained and interaction with the brand
must be possible.Elements of site design
Once the requirements of the user and marketer are established we turn our attention to
the design of the human–computer interface. Nielsen (2000b) structures his book on
web usability according to three main areas, which can be interpreted as follows:1 site design and structure– the overall structure of the site;
2 page design– the layout of individual pages;
3 content design– how the text and graphic content on each page is designed.Site design and structure
The structures created by designers for web sites will vary greatly according to their audi-
ence and the site’s purpose, but we can make some general observations about approaches
to site design and structure and their influence on consumers. For example, Rosen and
Purinton (2004) have assessed the design factors which influence a consumer (based on
questionnaires of a group of students). They believe there are some basic factors that deter-
mine the effectiveness of an e-commerce site. They group these factors as follows:
Coherence– simplicity of design, easy to read, use of categories (for browsing products or
topics), absence of information overload, adequate font size, uncrowded presentation;
Complexity– different categories of text;
Legibility– use of ‘mini home page’ on every subsequent page, same menu on every
page, site map.CHAPTER 7· DELIVERING THE ONLINE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCEMarketing-led site
design
Site design elements
are developed to
achieve customer
acquisition, retention
and communication of
marketing messages.INMA_C07.QXD 17/5/06 4:23 pm Page 324