Web_Site_Usability_(Ultimatepatio.Com)

Web Site Usability Introduction: In analyzing web site usability, our primary website was ultimatepatio.com, whose stated goal is to provide a large selection of outdoor furniture in order to help the customer “build the patio” of their “dreams” (Shopperchoicecorporate.com). The purpose of the conducted usability test was to test the ultimatepatio.com for compliance with government regulations, for web page errors, and additionally to test the overall effectiveness of the website from the customer’s point of view. This analysis was formed by completing two different tasks, searching for two diverse products –a “wicker table” and a “silk hammock”- and then proceeding to purchase these products. The results from ultimatepatio.com were then compared to two competitor sites, overstock.com and patiofurnitureusa.com, using the same criteria. Automated Tool Results: For some, validation is a royal pain. For others, website validation exemplifies the ultimate proof that code is poetry. Why Validate' • search engines can spider a page more easily. An error prone page gives spiders fits. • clean web pages help attract and maintain web visitors • web pages render better • web pages are faster • validation helps coders write better code • validation is a great learning tool for beginning developers • some clients demand standards compliant web pages (http://www.recommendedwebtools.com/index.php/website-validation/, September 27, 2009) A variety of tools were used to used to validate the UltimatePatio.com website which include the following: World Wide Web Consortium (W3C®) Link Validator (http://validator.w3.org/checklink) and Link Checker (Mozilla Plug-in by Kevin Freitas) were used to validate hyperlinks; Worldspace (http://www.worldspace.com) and Section508.Info (http://www.section508.info) were used to validate Section 508 standards; Y-slow (http://developer.yahoo.com/yslow/) and Firebug (http://getfirebug.com/) were used to test the website load speeds; and the Total Validator (http://www.totalvalidator.com/validator/Validator) was used to validate Section 508, HTML, Parsing Errors, Broken Links, Internal Link Errors and Spelling Errors. The Total Validator was the most efficient way to validate everything since it did more than one validation at a time per page with the exception of load speed. However, since some of the errors were just “warnings” like spelling, there was also some manual review of the reports required to render a definitive list of errors. Since other tools were also used, the Total Validator served as a tool to confirm the results found with the other tools, and it was noted that the results from the Total Validator were very consistent with the other tools uses. The table below, (Table 1), displays the compiled results from the Validation. Table 1 The final validation for UltimatePatio.com was the cross browser validation. This was accomplished by using the website tool BrowserShots (http://www.browsershots.org) which provides screenshots of a website provided for up to 64 browsers. This tool confirmed that the UltimatePatio.com website works not only in the most commonly used browsers such as IE 6.0 and up, Firefox 2.5 and up, Chrome, Safari, and Opera, but also in the other less popular web browsers. Manual/Checklist Results: The three websites were then manually rated in four primary categories: Page Design and Layout, Navigation, Ease of Use and Internal Search. The results were then averaged among those who participated in the Usability study in order to more precisely determine the current condition ultimatepatio.com. Best and Worst Practices From the manual checklist our results were then analyzed in order to provide a more coherent, insightful way to view these numbers. Each site’s respective scores and attributes are condensed into 2-3 main points describing the ways in which each website both excelled and in what ways each site lacked. They are organized with the best practices listed first and the worst practices listed last with a site by site view. First, when viewing a product on ultimatepatio.com, the shipping costs are listed right below the price of the product, and the combined price for both the cost and shipping of products is listed right above the “checkout” button. This is very informative, and may reduce abandoned shopping carts, which can result from a customer’s lack of understanding the shipping cost. This is a great practice which we suggest that ultimatepatio.com continues in the future. Secondly, there is a very functional toolbar right below the “search” bar which allows the shopper to compare prices among competitors for the same product, gives the ability to add the product to a wedding registry as well as the ability to e-mail the product page to a friend. Not only can the consumer be satisfied that they are getting a good deal by challenging ultimatepatio.com to reduce their prices to the prices of competitors, but they can also pass on the product information to third parties which may increase future sales, and is a free form of advertising. Thirdly, on the right side of ultimatepatio.com, a customer is presented with several “Related Products,” normally accessories for the product being viewed or the complete set in which the product belongs to. By saving the customer time and by presenting them with more products to view, this can increase the dollar amount of the average order and is a major benefit to ultimatepatio.com. One major flaw to ultimatepatio.com is the pair of navigation buttons that it provides the user on product result pages. Small and off center, the customer has to accurately click the buttons, as the surface area is quite small. If a person with poor vision is using the page, they may find it difficult to click the forward and backward buttons on the product result pages. This can turn away customers who are visually impaired or have motor function disabilities. Secondly, when searching for different products, there were products that were missing photos and some products descriptions did not match the photos. One example is that the search for a “wicker table” results in a page in which the very first product has no image. This greatly reduces a customer’s confidence in a page and it is doubtful that a customer would even purchase a product without a picture. A second example is the resulting page for a “silk hammock” in which there is a picture for both the “green/blue hammock” and the “blue/brown hammock” which seem to have the photo that belongs to the other product. While this may seem negligible, it also causes the customer to question the reliability of ultimatepatio.com to deal with more important things, like their money. Lastly, the pages on ultimatepatio.com are not centered. Presenting a focus problem for the customer, this problem also shows that there is space that could and should be used to benefit both the customer and the company. Patiofurnitureusa.com, the most visually appealing of all sites, has wonderfully integrated features and turns the shopping hassle into an experience. One beneficial practice of patiofurnitureusa.com is the “You May Also Like” tab located right below the product picture, which includes a “Compare Now” button. This feature allows a side by side product detail list which is quite extensive and even includes availability of the selected products as well as the total cost of the products with shipping included. Additionally, when adding an item into the shopping cart, the “My Hayneedle Shopping Cart” tab drops down as a menu and expands to the left, showing pictures and providing links to relevant accessories. This is a wonderful advertising opportunity that has great benefits in increasing the average order amount. Lastly, the search function is superb which returns results for some of the most common misspellings. This is a major advantage, since this function can turn a well intentioned customer who misspelled a search term into a buyer. Since every person may not know how to spell a product correctly, this feature also adds value to the site. Patiofurnitureusa.com also has several drawbacks. Primarily, patiofurnitureusa.com does not provide breadcrumbs. This is a major issue in navigation and can severely hamper the mobility of customers on the site. Also, the “sign in/account” function, located right next to the “Welcome” text, gets lost in the background design which is of the same color as the text. This may also hinder potential account users from taking full advantage of the account feature. The final website to be viewed was overstock.com. One of the most powerful features on overstock.com is its misspelling dictionary. After searching for “sylk hammouck” I was shown a list of all of the silk hammocks available. This, like the search feature provided by patiofurnitureusa.com, can result in higher revenues by not excluding customers from finding a product for a simple misspelling. Another great feature is the wide range of testimonials for each product. While many sites use a generic testimonial for every product, overstock.com excels in providing customers with meaningful information which can assist in purchasing and which may result in increased customer satisfaction. Finally, the checkout function is very easy to use, with very clear buttons and a very attractive look which does not seem to confuse the buyer. The drawbacks with overstock.com begin with the checkout function. Once I select “Continue Checkout,” I am no longer presented with the ability to continue shopping in the form of a button. I must select the “back” button on the web browser and hope that my page has not timed out. Also, on the product page, the “Paid Advertisers” section takes up far too much room and crowds out more important functions. Additionally, the “Recently Viewed Products” and “People who bought this also bought” function should be higher up on the page, but are at the bottom where customers will rarely view them. Recommended Improvements There are several improvements that we feel will be very beneficial to the owners of ultimatepatio.com. These improvements, if made, should increase usability for the customer and this increased usability should translate into increased profits for the company. First, as far as content/information are concerned, there is a great need for unique testimonials for each product. Perhaps incentives for testimonials would increase the number of testimonials for products listed at ultimatepatio.com. These testimonials will increase consumer confidence and will possibly translate into higher revenues. Also, these testimonials are far down on the product pages and need to be closer to the product description to ensure that the customer sees them. With graphics, pictures and visual appeal, there needs to be a standard in photograph quality, with high quality photographs for all products, even in the “zoom” mode. Ensuring customers with the ability to intimately view a product, they can be sure that the product fabric, material, etc. is exactly what they want, which can turn into reduced returns. Also, quality control must be implemented to ensure that every product has a picture and that these pictures accurately represent the pictures. Remember, no reasonable customer will buy a product they cannot see. The customer’s level of confidence will also be reduced if the picture on the product page does not match the product. Concerning searchability, the misspelled search term database needs to be improved upon, ensuring that no potential buyer is turned away due to misspellings. It would be a good idea to learn how many people leave the site immediately after receiving a “No Product Results” page. A “recently viewed” product function would also be beneficial to customers, allowing for more navigation ability and more freedom to browse the site while still having the ability to return to other products without searching again. A comparison feature is also a user friendly function that could be integrated into the “recently viewed” feature. Together, these functions can increase sales by giving the customer more viewing and shopping power. Finally, the overall layout structure of ultimatepatio.com is quite strong, but the site is quite bland when compared to sites such as patiofurnitureusa.com. The colors are boring and if a good color scheme can be applied, the shopping time will not be seen as a burden for customers but rather a pleasure.