There is no doubt we all want our websites to be attractive - captivating users and providing visual interest. However, it is important that the visual interest created on a site work with and enhance the usability of the site, rather than detract from it. Often we think of the aesthetics of a site as separate from the usability elements, but they have to work together to create a site that both captures and enhances your brand, attracts and interests users and allows them to easily complete the task at hand on the site. In order to identify the best practices for developing a look and feel that enhances the user experience, we will take a look at the guidelines which make up aesthetic integrity:

1. Uses a clear visual hierarchy with graphic elements and visual cues to help users
• This guideline should influence all aspects of the design of your site, beginning with the home page. Icons, images, color and text (font, size, etc.) should all come together, not only to present a visually appealing home page, but one that is easily scanned and understood. Users should be able to comprehend who you are as a company and what is most important to you from how you use the visual elements on the home page to introduce yourself and your value proposition.
• These elements should also be used throughout the site for the same purposes - highlighting key content, making pages easy to scan and understand and demonstrating to users the key navigational features and their position within the site.



2. Site is scalable for multiple resolutions
• It is vital to understand how a user is going to view your site - will they be able to see and experience all of the work you put into creating a visually interesting design based on the first guideline? Or will they have to scroll both up and down and sideways to view the whole page?
  • In order to address this most effectively, you need to understand the screen resolutions of those coming to your site. Many of us who are online all day looking at a wide screen monitor built in the past few years sometimes forget that there are people who still have their screen resolution set to 600×800 or 1024×768. This may or may not be a factor for you and your target audience, but it could be which is why you need to understand how your targets are accessing your site.
  • Based on what you know about your target base you can decide which screen resolutions you need to accommodate, but blindly assuming you only need to design for higher resolutions without knowing who is coming to your site can be a costly mistake.
• Understanding these traffic patterns is even more important with the increase in mobile and tablet traffic. Understanding what portion of your traffic is currently coming from these devices as well as what the growth pattern for your target might be over the next few years can inform your strategy for mobile site / app development and the need for site compatibility with devices like the iPad or Kindle Fire.



3. Photos are relevant to the value proposition and content and are accompanied by text that is readable and relevant
• Incorporating images into your site is important, but doing it correctly can be difficult. Images should draw a user in and help set the tone of the site, but they should not impede a user’s ability to access information or complete a task. Often in testing, we see that by not selecting the right image or placing it poorly within the page design, photographs and images can sidetrack a user or have unintended consequences. So a few things to consider when selecting and adding images to your site design:
  • The image should be clear and easy to understand. You do not want users staring at an image trying to interpret what is going on in the image or what it has to do with your company or its value proposition. These should be immediately clear. Where necessary, images should be labeled or include explanatory text in an easy to see and read font.
  • Images, especially photographs, when they include people should be diverse in terms of age, gender, race, etc. and show a wide cross-section of your target. We have seen far too often users react to a home page image, saying “Oh, this site doesn’t look like it’s meant for me. All I see are older women.”
  • Images should not overwhelm a page. The sizing and placement of images is key to either inviting users to explore a page or creating a roadblock to access. Images should not push key content below the fold of the page, making it unclear if there is information below the image that is worth scrolling for. Indeed, images can be used to help users know there is more on the page, but showing some, but not all of the image above the fold, you can invite users to scroll to see more.
  • Images can also be used to break up and provide interest to text heavy pages. Users tend to scan rather than read most web pages. Images can help guide them to content of interest and provide visual breaks that allow the eye to more readily move through a page.
• Again, it is also important to make the images relevant and not just a visual element on the page - make them have meaning to a consumer. Following are 2 examples one site that does not do this and another that uses images in an innovative way:




4. Limits animation; if offered, allow the option to control it
• I’m sure most of us can remember a time when Flash splash pages were all the rage on the web. While designers got to show off on these pages, for the most part, they were a usability mistake. Users were forced to watch an animation that might not be of interest to them, some with sound (and no sound controls) and then had to click just to begin the exploration of a site they had already requested. It’s easy to see why this is not the web standard today. Still, while animation can be an effective tool to help a site come to life, demonstrate a complicated concept or simply put more information in front of a user, too often it remains a misused tool with the most common issue being lack of user control of the element. So how do you implement animated elements correctly on your site?
  • Use animation with a purpose, not for the sake of doing something cool.
  • Allow the user to control the animation, with stopping or pausing capabilities and sound controls, including a very clear and easy to access “Mute” option
  • If you are providing different content, say in a Flash animation on your home page, provide users a way to navigate back to a story or element of interest to them without them having to either wait for it to come around again or to guess which of the 4 stories it is.
  • Make it clear how long an animation or video element will run. This will allow users to decide how they want to interact with it.



5. Content and promotions are not mistaken for ads; are relevant and compelling
• When testing websites, we often see site designers place attractive images highlighting important content or promotions on the right side of a page. Then, when users do not find the content, many site owners are surprised as it is often exactly what they are looking for and it is presented in an attractive and visually appealing manner. So what went wrong? Users often mistake images on the right of a web page for advertising or promotional content and have trained themselves not to pay much attention to any item in that area that appears to be an ad. So what can you do to overcome this bias?
  • First, if your site does include advertising, clearly label it as such. Make sure users know when they are seeing ads.
  • Secondly, make the content look like content, not like a tile ad. Do not have the promotion or content take the same shape as the advertising you see elsewhere.
  • Next, ensure that the content or promotion is visually integrated into the page using colors, fonts, and imagery that is consistent with the look and feel of your page so it appears to be a continuation rather than a standalone component, separate from the site itself.
  • Finally, do not place unimportant content in the same area as key promotions or content. You do not want to clutter areas users may naturally overlook or train them that this area of your site will not contain content of interest to them and have them overlook important features.


Thanks for reading our guidelines on Aesthetic Integrity. For more information on improving your site, please see our previous stories on best practices according to usability guidelines: Communications and Relevance, User Control, Simplicity and Scannability and Navigation and Feedback. Also, stay tuned to our blog for more information on web best practices.

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One of the most important aspects of any site is how the user can get to the information of interest. Once information architecture is considered and clearly defined, the next step is the mechanics of navigation. Users should be able to easily identify links and clickable content, use those and the feedback given by the site to move through your site with ease. To make this process as easy as possible, consider the following basic usability guidelines for navigation and feedback on your site:

Navigation & Feedback

1. Items that are clickable appear that way (navigation should have highlighting, links should be underlined, and visited links (v-links) should be in a different color
   • Links must look like links and be highly visible
     1. The main navigation, wherever it is on the page, should be immediately visible to the user by being prominent and clearly highlighted
     2. The online convention is that links are underlined, either all of the time or on roll-over or another state change, such as color change occurs on roll-over, to indicate clickability. This is important to allow users an immediate understanding of how to use your site
     3. Additionally, headlines and photos or images accompanying them are often expected to be clickable
     4. This is one area in which bucking convention for the sake of creativity can often backfire
     5. The way users surf other sites impacts how they expect to use yours, and if your navigation is unconventional and links are not clearly marked, users may abandon the site without finding what they need
   • Additionally, using color to indicate which links have been visited and which have not can help a user as they explore the site
     1. Most users do not explore a site in the specific order you have laid information out; they move immediately to the information of greatest interest to them and work from there
     2. By changing the color of visited links, you give users a map to the site, minimizing mistaken clicks and repeated content exploration



2. Provides clear feedback immediately, and near user actions
   • Too often on sites, users take an action - click on a button, click a link or complete a search or request only to sit looking at the screen being unsure what, if anything, happened. If they are not given any feedback this can be, not only frustrating, but also cause them to take action multiple times resulting in bad outcomes such as too many items added to their cart or, worst case scenario, multiple charges or bookings
   • If a user interacts with your site, your site needs to respond clearly to their action. This can be handled in a wide variety of ways, with a change of pages, a confirmation message, changes in colors or font, etc. Whichever method you choose a few rules apply:
     1. The feedback must be close to where the user took action. If you provide a confirmation message, but it is below the fold and the user is scrolled to the top of the page, the message is not doing its job
     2. The reaction must be obvious to the user. This is not the time for subtlety – it must be clear that the site is reacting. The user should not have to guess
     3. If the action taken is part of a process, do not allow the confirmation or reaction to take the user away from the intended path or limit their navigation in a way that could mean a smaller purchase or usage of the site. For example, when a user adds an item to his/her shopping cart, many sites take the user to the cart, but do not offer any avenue to continue shopping, potentially decreasing the size of purchase



3. Keeps users informed; Indicates task progression
   • Letting users know not only where they are, but how far they have to go can keep them moving through a task
   • Before beginning the process, inform users of the steps that the process includes
   • As they move through the steps, clearly indicate which step they are on, so they can track their progress
   • Keeps steps simple and only include those necessary to the process to improve completion rates



4. Upon completing a process, provides a confirmation screen with useful information
   • Just because a user completes an online process does not mean the overall process is complete; the confirmation page should be used to provide all necessary information for the user to understand the remainder of the process
   • This information includes:
     1. Confirmation of what has been done already and how the confirmation is being communicated in addition to the confirmation page (i.e., email)
     2. What will happen next in the process, when will it happen and who is responsible for it happening? For example, if a user has requested a quote, who will make contact – does the user need to call? If a user should expect contact, when and by whom? The user should never have to guess at how the rest of the process will play out – it should be explicitly stated for them
     3. What other options do users have from this page, can they view their order, track status, print the page or receipt, etc.? What about any offers or cross-sells? How can you keep the user engaged with your site? This is a great place to offer these items after you have made the confirmation and next steps clear



5. Tracks the state of the user (cookies, saved shopping carts, entered data) and acknowledges returning customers
   • It is important to users that sites recognize them so that they can complete tasks with the greatest ease
   • If you offer to remember a user, you MUST remember them; too many sites offer this option, but when users return they are not signed in. If you cannot automatically sign a user in, do not offer the option
   • Make it clear that the user has been remembered by using their name and offering a clear option for changing users if the logged in individual is not the user
   • When possible, allow the user to confirm their password to have their data pre-filled for them. Minimizing typing and streamlining processes can enhance conversion
   • If users leave items in a shopping cart, retain them there when possible
     1. If they will only be available for a specified period of time, message this to users
     2. Indicate any changes in availability or pricing when a user returns to their cart. Do not simply remove an item from the cart without letting a user know what changes have been made

Thanks for reading our guidelines on Navigation and Feedback. For more information on improving your site, please see our previous stories on best practices according to usability guidelines: Communications and Relevance, User Control and Simplicity and Scannability. Also, stay tuned to our blog and newsletter for more information on web best practices.

One of the challenges most sites face is that there is an excess of information they need to convey – value proposition, marketing messaging, product information, social media and more. When trying to fit this all into a single site – and, often, on a single page – sites can become cluttered and difficult to read, frustrating customers and prospects visiting your site. So how do you balance the needs of the company to convey a wide variety of information, but still provide your customers a good experience on the site where they are able to easily accomplish what they have come to do?

Walking the line between these competing needs will be easier of you keep the following usability guidelines on simplicity and scannability in mind.

Simplicity & Scannability

1. Writing / verbiage is understandable, succinct, easy to scan, appropriate to users, and not redundant
   • While keeping the writing and verbiage used understandable may seem very basic, too often we as companies and experts in our area of focus forget that a prospect or customer may not have any base of knowledge in our space with which to place our products and services in context
     1. So, while the use of acronyms or industry-specific terms may convey exactly what we are attempting to communicate, the end user may not understand – the site needs to address all potential audiences with the language used – both someone who is new to a specific industry or product set as well as those who may need more detailed and technical information
     2. Providing overviews at a basic level with clear links to definitions of any industry-specific verbiage used will help newcomers; clear links to more technical information will satisfy the needs of those with more knowledge and experience
   • Additionally, the tone and level of the writing should be appropriate to your target audience
     1. For this, it is key to understand who is coming to your site and what they are seeking. This information can help you determine whether you should be writing at a 6th grade level or a high school level
     2. You want to make sure all users can understand your site, but that users do not feel as though they are being talked down to
     3. This balance can be particularly difficult for sites like corporate pharmaceutical websites where the needs of both a consumer and a healthcare professional must be addressed. Thinking ahead of time about the level of the writing can make the site more applicable to both audiences
   • Keeping the writing on your site succinct and easy to scan is imperative
     1. We see over and over again in testing that most users do not read sites, but rather scan for what they are looking for
     2. Most writing on a site should be in short sentences or bulleted lists – this allows users to scan the page to find the information of interest and focus only on what they are seeking, while also putting other messages that might be important to you as a company in front of them /li>
     3. As a user navigates the site, they will tell you by their actions when they are seeking more detailed information (by navigating more deeply, clicking on the links designed to provide details, etc.) which is when longer paragraphs may be appropriate to provide the depth and breadth of information the user is expecting to find
   • Finally, the writing on the site should not be redundant
     1. For most companies the issue is not having enough content, it is having too much content; Given this, you do not want to clutter your site with redundant information
     2. Utilize cross-linking and contextual linking to help users discover other site sections, products or pages, rather than talking about them in multiple places on your site



2. Categories are organized intuitively and are mutually exclusive
   • Categorization of the information on your site is vital – if users do not understand the categories you are using they will not find what they are looking for and they will go elsewhere – even if your content, products or services are better than the competitions’, users will never know if they do not understand how to access it
   • This is another area where it is important to think about how a prospect or customer is thinking about your company, rather than how your company is organized
   • While it may make sense to organize your site according to the divisions of your company, it may not match the mental model a user has when shopping for your product or service, so it is more important to match that model rather than your company organization
   • Avoid the type of terminology we talked about above, such as industry-specific acronyms or technical terminology that may not be understood
   • Utilize a categorization in which it is clear where all the content will fall; do not have any overlap in categories
   • If an overlap is unavoidable, provide easy cross-links to drive users from the each of the categories that could contain the information of interest to its location; do not make users move from their first choice to their second, etc. seeking the information



3. Appropriate amount of pagination at product list level; limits number of clicks to view products
   • While this guideline calls out product lists specifically, this applies to any key content sought from your site, be it products, articles, quotes, etc.
   • If you have long lists on your site, be sure to offer an easy way to sort, filter or move through the list to the specific item of interest; however, using multiple pages without a navigational method that allows pinpointing of the item is not a solution
   • Users need to be able to access items quickly with as few clicks and as limited scrolling as possible; this can mean utilizing tab structures or strong filtering or sorting tools that provide easy access without traversing pages of options



4. All navigation shall appear above the fold; pages limit scrolling and contain anchors if lengthy
   • All of the primary navigation you expect a user to discover and use as they move throughout the site should be visible without any scrolling
     1. This is especially important on the first page a user encounters on your site, which increasingly, is not necessarily the home page if entering from Google
     2. This does not mean you should not include any navigational elements lower on the page. For example, if users are reading content of interest which forces them to scroll, navigation to the next step in the process or to a call to action, such as “Book Now” should be offered at the bottom of the page; however, this is in addition to the navigation offered at the top of the page, i.e., “Book Now” should be offered for those who do and do not scroll
     3. This also may not be true for steps in a process which require scrolling, however all of the main navigation should still be above the fold
   • Lengthy pages requiring users to scroll extensively should be avoided whenever possible
     1. In situations where long pages are necessary, users must be given an alternative to scrolling
     2. Ideally, this would be tabs or some other structure that does not require a full page load, but in other cases anchor links can be used
     3. If anchor links are utilized, it must be clear to a user what is happening, i.e., they are being moved down the same page, and they must be given a clear path back to the area on the page where they made the selection. If this is not clear many users turn to the “Back” button and get lost in the site or have to make more clicks than necessary to navigate



5. Product details / descriptions are easily understandable
   • Not only does writing about products need to be crisp and easy to read, it must be organized in an easy to understand manner
     1. Again, limited scrolling is key and tabs can be a very clean way to organize all of the information a user has come to expect from the product details
     2. The top of the page should contain a photo and a brief overview of the information available
     3. Additional information should be clearly accessible and all of the information should be easy to scan
     4. For more detailed information on product page do’s and don’ts, See Sabrina’s blog on product detail pages in retail



Thanks for reading our guidelines on Simplicity & Scannability. For more information on improving your site, please see our previous stories on best practices according to usability guidelines: Communications and Relevance and User Control. Also, stay tuned for our next installment of the series: Navigation Feedback.

How can you get your customers to the shopping cart faster?

In an attempt to get users to shop faster, many online retailers have added a “Quick Look” feature that allows customers to remain on the multi-product page while adding an item to their virtual shopping cart. In my opinion, this feature is extremely useful when shopping online and has the potential to increase sales.

Think about it. If users can find out the information they need about a product and add it to their shopping cart whilst remaining on the same page, they:

• can make a quicker decision about whether the product is right for them or not (meaning they can move onto another product faster)
• do not need to wait for the page to load
• do not need to click back in their browser to get back to the multi-product page
• do not lose their place on the multi-product page

However, there a few key rules that need to be followed to ensure that your Quick Look feature is effective.

1. Show it off - Make sure users know that the Quick Look feature is available on your site by simply putting the text at the bottom of each product image or by having the text appear when the customer hovers over the product.
2. Make it More than a Look - To make your Quick Look feature as effective as possible, it should have the following:
   • Item description
   • Item details (e.g., content, place of manufacturer, care instructions , specifications, special features, weight, parts included, etc.)
   • Alternate views of the product including a zoom feature
   • Alternate colors/styles available (Name and image or swatch)
   • Available sizes and inventory status
   • Add to shopping cart option
   • Add to wish list option (if applicable)
   • User rating (if applicable)
   • Sharing options (e.g., Email a friend, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

Let’s take a look at the online retailer ModCloth.com for an example of best practices when it comes to the Quick Look feature.



The only thing missing from ModCloth.com’s Quick Look feature is an option to go straight to the shopping cart (See Anthropologie.com example).



3. Keep it Quick! - One of the most obvious mistakes that retail e-commerce websites make is bringing users to their shopping cart immediately after they have added an item. Would you want to take the items you shop for to the register one by one? Show customers that their shopping cart has been updated, but don’t force them to go there until they are ready .Don’t waste their precious time!

A different way to quick look…

Now that we have looked at what makes an effective quick look tool, let’s take a quick look at a less conventional quick look feature, that is still effective.

Neiman Marcus has created an elegant quick look tool in their Beta website redesign. Instead of a pop-up that opens on top of products, the quick look information unrolls itself within the browser, revealing additional views, product name, available sizes and colors, and the option to place the item in the customer’s shopping bag.

While there are a few things missing from this quick look feature, it is still a great example of how the quick look pop-up can be aesthetically changed to match the users’ taste (Can you see what’s missing?).

Remember, usability and design go hand in hand! Added features that don’t work only clutter a website and confuse users. Make sure your site is usable. Contact us for more information about our research and testing services.

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• The footer can provide links deeper into your site and to particular content areas of interest to visitors
• ­By doing this it can take the place of an outdated concept of a site map and reduce the need for visitors to turn to the search engine to find specific content of interest.
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• It can also be an area to place links (such as a store locator), short forms (such as for contact) or icons (such as for social media) that do not have a place in the main body of the page and may be crowded in the utility link area in the upper right.
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• The footer can also be used for showing a little more personality, providing links to frequently updated content like a blog or events and a quick way to contact a company by providing detailed contact information or a simple form.

TOP 5 DO’S

1. Do remember any element of the page can and will be viewed by visitors – not just search engine crawlers
2. Do apply a hierarchy or categorization of the links and functionality provided in the footer
3. Do make the area readable and easy to scan
4. Do provide clear visual separation of the footer from the main content on the page
5. Do utilize different font types, icons, etc. to make the links standout and provide visualize interest to draw visitors to this area of the page

TOP 5 DONT’S

1. Don’t just repeat your main navigation at the bottom of the page
2. Don’t use the footer as a solution for poor site information architecture
3. Don’t include content below the footer
4. Don’t create a visual barrier above the footer that would prevent visitors from viewing it as a value-added section of the website
5. Don’t overfill the footer – edit it to key information and functionality that is easily categorized and set out in a well-organized manner

The web is filled with less-than-ideal retail e-commerce websites that are losing dollars over simple design flaws. This blog series shares tips on retail e-commerce usability, covering how to improve different parts of a retail e-commerce website.

Power Browsing

A customer can walk around a department store and look for a pair of shorts for several hours. Are the shorts all kept in one area? No, they are dispersed among different designers. Are all of the designers in one area? No, they are categorized by targeted age group or price range. Is everything available out on the floor? Of course not! There is a stock room full of merchandise and multiple stores across the country or around the world that might have the pair of shorts in the size and color you are looking for.

Online shopping gives retailers the advantage to let customers find what they want without leaving their chair. That is if the site’s navigation system and design doesn’t hide it from them.

Here are a few tips on how to make browsing on a retail ecommerce site useful.

1. Let Customers Refine their Browse

• After choosing a main category to shop under, it is ideal for a user to be able to refine the selection they have made.
  - The most common way to do this is by including a left navigation that reveals all of the different options the user can check/uncheck, with the items re-populating based on the customer’s selections- A more recent change on retail ecommerce websites is the mega drop-down menu that doesn’t appear until the user clicks on a header category.

2. Let them Sort!

• Offer “Sort By” options in addition to the filters to give the users a chance to explore by price, relevancy, popularity, designer, style, etc.

3. Viewing Options

• All sites should know this by now. Let users choose how many items they want to see on a page at one time. A “View All” option should always be available to users when categories of items have say 200 items or fewer.

4. More than Breadcrumbs

• When you are using filtering systems it is important to clearly display what categories have already been chosen by the user to prevent them from getting lost in their browse.
• A clear path between product pages and the user’s browse (with customized selections/sorts) should always be available (e.g., “Back to Results”)
• Customers should have the option to deselect categories and clear all the selections with one click.

5. Show the Customer’s Progress

• Don’t let customers drown in merchandise - let them know how many pages you are going to show them and where they are at all times (e.g., “Showing 75-95 of 560 items,” “Page 13 of 62″).

6. Back and Forth Action

• Make sure users can add items to their shopping cart and return to where they were in their personalized search.

While there are many more specific attributes you can use to improve your retail e-commerce website’s browsing function, remember that the main goal is keep the customer on the purchase pathway. Always consider how you can make your website easier to shop and easier to use!

For more on usability tips click here, or contact us for more information about our services.