Page Of The Site Layout On Paper example essay topic

Strategies Associated With New Media in E-commerce Introduction This paper will highlight the main points to take into consideration while designing a site for e-commerce. The Internet opens up a whole new dimension in trading and this service medium has the potential, if used correctly, to make life simpler and can be used as an effective communication tool. Nowadays you can do anything from the comfort of your own sofa. You can transfer stocks, then chat to friends in America while ordering pizza and tickets to your local theatre. But as businesses transfer to cyberspace there is a great deal of difference between the real world and of that on your Mac monitor. Website design has developed from on-screen brochures to a selection of complex worlds all contained within a site.

Designers have learnt to harness the power of information architecture and navigation so that the final product is a more friendly and easy-to-use version for the customer. If customers arrive at a site, which either frustrates them or does not give them the information they require, then they are less than likely to return. In order to be customer-effective, we need, as designers, to address every second of their visit to the site. The layout should be simple, but should hold their concentration for as long as possible. The need to provide an organised site is helped by starting designing with paper-prototyping.

Testing This, effectively, is a copy of each page of the site layout on paper. If the site works on paper there is little reason for it not to work on screen. Customers can find their way through the pages giving feedback at the end as to how easy or difficult it was to navigate through and what they might change. This kind of testing is essential, because as designers, we can get stuck in a rut and only see things as we would like to see them, not how a customer would see them. It is essential to understand that concepts and terminology need to be kept simple and 'real' because the site needs to be understood by everyone visiting it, even the 'accidental browser'. Imagine a very rich 'Tim, Nice, but Dim'.

If he does not understand the layout of the Ferrari website, he will leave disgruntled, and Ferrari has lost out on a potential sale. Paper-prototyping aids navigation, the workflow of the site as well as the order of content, page layout, functionality and has been proved to give better results for technical feasibility instead of a system that crashes in the middle of a testing session. Interfacing The aesthetic design is also crucial to initial impressions. At the end of the day, you can put earrings on a pig, but it is still a pig. This may help sell a pig on the high street, but in cyber space you cannot fool the customer with decoration, they want speed. Many sites blatantly try to be something that they are not.

The customer will always pick up on this. Another paramount point is that you should not have to change people's views, instead change the site to accommodate them. This is more likely to be an ongoing process, as sites need to be updated to follow current trends and customer's feedback. If you spend time explaining yourself, the customer is more likely to tire and loose track, and then leave the site. When designing, a note to take into consideration is that navigation is multidimensional, but the interface is two-dimensional. Throughout psychological research people arrange and store information differently.

Because of this it is a difficult task to arrange information on the interface for everyone to understand. Researching people's habits of navigation can help us do this. Customer Navigation On the net we do not choose and aim at a selected audience, as we cannot control who visits what sites. So the design needs to cater for different audiences and their customer needs. When a customer first experiences a company's website they expect a better, quicker service to make their lives easier. If their site succeeds they are more than likely to return to continue to use the service, however, if not, they are not likely to want to visit again, and the timeframe to impress them is very slim.

The initial impression must be effective with easy navigation. For example, 'ch dvd. com' has an effective system with three main pages. You cannot access the next one until the previous one is completed. You must first pick five dvds on the homepage, and then proceed to the next page to give the details and sign up before continuing to the last to process the order.

Jodie Dalgleish, author of 'Customer effective websites' categories what users want to do on the web under five 'doing areas. ' 1. Evaluate competing businesses and products 2. Select products and transact with e-service providers 3.

Get help 4. Provide feedback 5. Stay tuned-in as e-customers During point one, the interface of the site gives the impression of how switched on to customer needs they are, and this acts as a tool in the decision making process of the customer to decide which company to take preference over. During the second point, the customers look for something a little extra, something for nothing. So after they have transacted with the company, whether for money or for information, they look for anything relevant to them.

Perhaps shortcuts to other sites or personalised contents, even if it is just a personalised message sent to them direct to make them feel familiar and like an individual and not one of the masses. During point three customers look for pointers on how to navigate the site as effectively and quickly as possible so as to achieve their final goal with as much ease as possible. Someone online always available to help is very much appreciated. Point four highlights the importance of feedback on the web because customers can moan without the difficulty of talking to someone in person or face-to-face. This aids the business to define its faults and alter them appropriately.

Point five highlights their need to stay in the loop. After their experience may still return to the site to access information, check for offers and get the most out of their product or service that they have acquired. So the site must be ready for re-visits. Paper-prototyping gives an easy glance of how the set-up will be used. Real people can work their way through the site on paper and give their responses.

After this they can help with the workflow modelling which gives a useful idea of how the customer wants to access the desired information. They then decide what steps they want to pass through before they arrive at the designated outcome. Time testing helps to define time limits so that you have clear parameters to work to. If the outcome takes too long then the customer will inevitably leave and try elsewhere; thus the business is lost.

New Growth Online businesses are fundamentally changing the views of business in general. Sites such as 'amazon. com' with its wide choice of products at reduced prices are creating serious competition to not only similar websites but also to highstreet businesses. New industries and markets have also occurred due to the environment. Increased help services as well as existing businesses realising that they can offer more. For example, Ferrari can offer cars, parts, accessories and clothes on line. Text plays a huge part in enticing potential customers.

The text must be succinct and must be easy to scan over for relevant information, maybe with highlighted sections that stand out. Text content cannot be like that used in magazines or letters. People are looking for speed, which is what they should get, or they will walk if they get bored or do not get results. As an utmost rule the site must be functional, their interactive experience must be useful in one way or another. The customer must leave the site knowing that they have benefited from visiting that site. This, however should not be the sole use of the site unless you are purely an information service.

Conclusion To conclude this discussion, when designing the site interface and architecture these questions must be taken into consideration. o How am I better than competitors? o Does the branding position need to be changed? o Can the product or service be marketed the same on the net as on the highstreet? (the answer will more often than not be 'no') o Who will be visiting the site? (we need to consider everybody browsing) o What is the best way to utilise communication on the web? o What testing can be achieved to gather feedback? (this should be ongoing as a form of maintaining the site) As long as you appeal to a broad range of people and allow easy access to what you are offering, the site should blossom, and with regular updating due to feedback, should always be popular.