Scope of User Experience Design in Indian eBusiness Scenario
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UX Design / Article 7. June 2008, HCI Vistas Vol-IV Author: Chandan Sharma |
(In case of eBusiness and online marketing, the potential customers are users too. Their interaction with the eBusiness software needs to be considered from user’s point of view. However, their business transactions have to be seen from customer’s point of view. We are using the popular term ‘User Experience’ quite often in the article. However, in specific context we refer to the ‘customer experience’ as well.)
What is your idea of creating better user experience? Is it primarily usability? When we say eBusiness we mean branding, website leads, business conversions and better quality of service, which would further derive more sales, more revenue.
eBusiness in India is still at infancy, though it is maturing gradually. People are learning from experiences, observations and reading about what is really working and what is not.
Companies are focusing primarily on their e-Commerce product, which could be a website or web based application or even a mobile application. Once a product is ready after ensuring its usability, accessibility and other important elements that help spawn good experience, the company launches the product, promotes it through various offline and online media and then wait to analyze the revenues.
But there are some important aspects, which are often neglected by eBusinesses. Should the companies focus only on the final product for a better user experience? Do we need consideration for all elements that impact the total experience?
Let€™s see what a user interacts with before he reached the final product.
As illustrated in the above diagram, very often the user does not reach final product straight away. There are various channels that direct the users to the eBusiness website. Based on the combined experience of all these elements, the customer/user develops the desire to purchase something or apply for the business offer.
We must notice the fact that the potential customer may not directly come to your website, you will require to persuade the customers, attract their attention by applying variety of techniques. The potential customer takes time to form an opinion and develop confidence about the website or the e-commerce product. Hence, the entire user experience should be the primary concern for all e-businesses.
Let€™s now discuss the various elements separately and understand the possibility of enhancing the total user experience of an eBusiness.
1. Splash page
Splash page as we all know is the initial page that captures user€™s attention and drives him/her to your website. Once a user interacts with the splash page, s/he is more likely to click on the links or images to reach the main website. Same usability principles which we apply for any other website may be applied to the ebusiness website.
Same user experience principles are applicable for the design of Landing Pages or Lead Generation Pages. The forms are expected to be usable and fully functional. In online marketing, landing page is the one that appears when potential customer has clicked the web-advertisement or a search engine result link.
Here are some important considerations which designing the splash page.
- Main highlight should be €˜above the fold€™ making sense to the splash page
(above the fold- is the area of a web page that visitors can see without scrolling) - Branding elements should be composed above the fold so as to build more trust
- Action buttons should be highlighted separately for clear understanding of actions
- Content should be very well formatted and should be minimum to avoid complexity and confusion
- Avoid distractive elements
- Important information must to be highlighted
2. Microsite
Microsites or weblets help in enhancing the primary website. These are a clustor of pages representing a particular segment or scheme, or product in the website. These are again meant to generate business leads and enhance the brand.
However, one very important aspect to consider is the URL. The typical URL of a microsite is shown below-
www.CompanyName.com/ProductName
Based on our experience we have seen that the URLs need to be memorable. URLs consisting of rhyming sounds, catchy and meaningful words are quickly remembered by users and you find them visiting after long gaps. URL is also an important part of the user experience.
3. Banner Ads
It is believed that a picture is worth thousands of words. However, the banner ads are one of the most controversial eBusiness techniques, the more animated or flashy they are the more the problems. Banner ads have been there since the inception of online marketing. There are conflicting theories about the banner design.
4. EDM (Electronic Direct Mailer) or Newsletters
E-mailers that are sent to the users, registered or non-registered. E-mailers too contribute to the user experience of an eBusiness as it gives you the first exposure of information and generates the leads.
EDM is designed with optimum information, understandable content, functional links, and persuasive buttons. Use of visual content has to be optimized. The user should be given an option to Opt-Out and other details that he might need to know.
Most important technical aspect is to consider the behavior of various email clients as that can impact presentation of e-mailer. Therefore, EDMs have to be tested for various email clients before it is sent out.
5. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Findability is an important factor in for User Experience. It is ideal for the eBusiness websites to appear on the first page for a relevant search on popular search engines. Try for the important keywords related to your domain, general keywords, common phrases and sometimes even the wrongly spelt words, ensure that your site shows up on the first page.
Potential customers tend to notice and explore the search results on the first page. Repeated appearance as part of search results increases its familiarity, which leads to more trust and credibility generation.
How locatable your website is, how noticeable your products are to your potential customers? Are they getting exactly what they want? Does the URL of eBusiness captures the essence of your business? These are the basic questions that need to be answered while designing the eBusiness website.
6. SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
Search Engine Marketing is believed to generate more revenues to companies than traditional offline marketing. Company like Google provide services (Google Adwords) on Search Engine as well as Content Network advertisement (contextual advertisement). These services are more concerned about how to serve the customers with what they want and when. An eBusiness company can leverage upon these services.
Contextual Advertising
User Experience Goals of eBusiness
It is not enough to ensure the usability for eBusiness and online marketing. It should also achieve the user experience design goals in terms of-
- Trust
- Reliability
- Confidentiality
- Security
- Effectiveness
- Efficiency
- Satisfaction
Evaluation of customer/user experience
The customer/user experience of an eBusiness product can be evaluated based on following parameters.
- Better conversions
- Increased ROI
- Brand recognition
- Word of mouth
- Repeat customers
Successful examples in Indian context
Though the online marketing arena is still at its infant stage in India, however, very successful experiments have been done by companies like Avaya GlobalConnect Ltd., Dell, Campaq, American Express, ICICI Bank, Yatra.com.
These companies considered complete User Experience as their target, which includes banner ads, EDMs, SEO initiatives and even mobile commerce. AmEx is said to have done business in millions on Google Mobile AdSense ads in India.
Conclusion
User Experience Design for eBusiness should include not just the main product but also the online marketing strategy in terms of banner ads, emailers, splash page, SEO initiatives, URL of microsites, etc.
References
Banner blindness €“ Old and New Findings Useit.com Alert box.
Google Help Center for Google Ads User Experience
Chandan Sharma has 8 years of experience in the field of World Wide Web. He has Masters in Computer Science and MBA in Marketing. Currently working with Avaya GlobalConnect Ltd at Gurgaon, India as Online Marketing and eBusiness Manager for multiple intranet and internet projects.
In the field of user experience he has been trained from HFI Mumbai and had been studying Usability, Credibility and Online Persuasion for World Wide Web in Indian context.
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