Level: Introductory Peter Seebach (crankyuser@seebs.plethora.net), Writer, Freelance
02 Dec 2005 Forget about both Santa and ineffective design. It's that time of year again, and the cranky user has some well-timed advice for online retailers in this pre-Christmas column.
It's already December again, and the holiday shopping season
is upon us, so it's about time for another polite rant about how awful online
shopping can be -- and why it doesn't need to be that way.
Online shopping poses a lot of challenges to Web architects, and, unfortunately,
some would rather not pick up the gauntlet. Shopping experiences can easily
cross the line from inconvenient to unacceptable, and a disappointed customer might not return. Here, then, are a few things to remember when designing your
online store.
Don't ask stupid questions
Often the forms you are obliged to fill out when you buy something online ask a lot of questions. Some information, such as your credit card number,
is clearly applicable. Some information is unnecessary. Some
is simply redundant.
For a fine example of redundancy, consider all of the forms with a pop-up list
asking for type of credit card. Why? Credit card numbers come in predefined
patterns. If it starts with a 4, it's a Visa. If it starts with a 5, it's a
MasterCard. There is no reason for any Web form to ask me what type of card I'm
using when it's about to get the card number. I'm more annoyed when some
browsers let me use the Tab key to fill out everything on a form except the
pop-up selection lists.
Often the questions are a little more intrusive. Some sites are dogmatic about
what is acceptable as a "security question" for your account or password. I don't
necessarily like to choose any of the ones they offer. And, in many cases,
I don't want a security question -- I'd rather open a new account than have an
additional way for someone to get access to my old one. Other sites require a
particular salutation. You must be Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. or Dr.; you can't just be
some person without a title. A related pet peeve is software registration forms
that can't be filled out without a "company" field. I'm not a company;
I'm just me.
If you're asking users for information on your site, be sure to explain what you will do with
it. If it's anything other than "charge you for your order and send it to you,"
make sure you give the user some choice in the matter.
Searching, browsing, and categorizing
One of the challenges that online stores face is that users might find it
difficult to locate the exact products they want. Obvious key
searching and sorting functions often aren't available. Sometimes excessive
categorization gets in the way of a user's interests. For example, a site
might subdivide hard drives by size. What if the user wants to browse "cheap
drives" but doesn't object to larger models if they're on sale? The user must wade
through multiple listings. I recently wanted to buy a hard drive and
discovered I could sort the list of drives by price, but not by capacity.
For really long merchandise lists, plan to offer several sorting options, and a
reasonable way to jump ahead in the list. If the user has to figure out that he can edit
"start_id=100" in the URL to "start_id=3200" to jump close to where the Ws start in the list; your interface isn't elegant or friendly.
What is this "permission" of which you speak?
People often cite getting spammed by vendors as a barrier to online shopping.
Users are right about this. Too many vendors believe that buying something is
"opting in." No. To opt in on a mailing list is taking some specific action to
get on that mailing list. It is never implicit in some other action. When I buy your product or contact support -- if I didn't specifically take steps
to try to get on your e-mail list -- I have not opted in.
When you send opt-out mail, users get the message that you want them to jump
through hoops for your pleasure. Users rightfully dislike this. If you want
to encourage people to sign up for a mailing list, make it an option at
purchase time. But remember, an option is something the user chooses; it
is not something phrased as confusingly as possible in an area hidden past the
submit button and written in small print.
Some sites carefully phrase their opt-out checkboxes to confuse users in
hopes they will inadvertently sign up for the list. I have news for
you: If reversing the sense of the question increases your subscriptions,
that's because most users don't want to be on your list. Quit doing it!
If you get a reputation of not sending mail unless people ask for it,
some people might ask for it. Don't rely on purchased security logos to
give you a reputation. And please, don't casually assume the only thing
anyone cares about is where you sell addresses. "We don't sell addresses,
but we will send you daily junk mail for weeks" isn't an improvement. Make it clear
what the options are, and if people don't ask to be on your list, leave them
alone.
Hiding information from the user
Some online shopping vendors like to specify that you must call to get
a price quote. I have tried that option a couple of times, only to find that
it was a $5 discount on a $1,000 product. I assume this reflects some
kind of minimum advertised price collusion; but, in practice, it makes me less
likely to inquire further about the product. If I can't tell from looking
at the page whether this is a $500 product or a $2,500 product, I will probably
look elsewhere rather than call. This applies to nearly everything.
Even if you design a product Web site for something that only other
companies sell to end users, post something to give me an idea of
what it costs. This is why the phrase "manufacturer's suggested retail price" was
invented.
If you want your online store to be effective, don't require
the user to call you under normal circumstances. Call me optimistic, but
I don't think the desire to buy a product is an exception that requires special handling.
Make sure key information (such as privacy and return policies) is easily available before the user tries to check out. Shoppers will appreciate a chance to read these in advance. Of course, some of them won't bother; make sure your checkout procedure clearly allows an unambiguous cancellation.
By the way, whether or not something is in stock isn't a minor trivia point only the purest geeks care about; it is one of the primary things a potential customer needs to know. Furthermore, a PDF file, or a JavaScript pop-up window (just like the ads you normally block) with the information the user wants aren't good ways to provide information. Plain old HTML works just fine.
Fill out your own rebate form
Please don't insult users with advertised prices that presuppose successful
submission of a rebate form. It is not difficult to fill these forms out; but the error rate among rebate processing places is high enough to make it a lot of extra effort. When your customers have to sue either
you or your supplier to get their rebates, they don't come back. Just
advertise the amount you'll actually charge to the customer's credit card.
If you can't work out a deal with the vendor offering the rebate, just drop
it. It's better for everybody.
And please, no more Santa stuff
Pay attention to what users want and don't waste their
time with silly questions. Leave them alone if they want to be left alone,
and that doesn't mean send spam until they say stop. Put the information
that users need to make an informed decision high up on the page where they
can read it. Avoid proprietary formats (and yes, PDF and Flash count for many
users) and dependency on JavaScript; users often prefer plain text and a secure
browser. Advertise the price that you actually charge, rather than some alluring bait as a price.
Last, but not least, stop all the overdone Santa stuff. Everyone was tired of Santa in mid-November or earlier.
Your regular store is fine, thanks.
This week's action item: Try to find the cheapest hard drive you can that's at least
100 GB. For extra fun, try to find only drives with 3-year warranties,
and don't count rebate prices. The hard drive you found was probably cheaper
than one in any local retail store, but was it worth it?
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About the author  | 
| | Peter Seebach has been using computers for years and is gradually becoming acclimated. He still doesn't know why mice need to be cleaned so often, though. |
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