In the Twitterverse last week, the fine folks at MarketingProfs talked about “confusability,” which they defined as “the direct opposite of usability in terms of web site or application design. This is achieved either intentionally or unintentionally.”
Around the same time, Blue Acorn CEO & President Kevin Eichelberger tweeted that he didn’t like Kmart’s new website. I checked out the site – talk about confusability! It looks as if someone vomited random text and pictures on the page, with no thought whatsoever about placement. The navigation wasn’t much better. Your eyes don’t know where to focus because there’s so much to focus on – and I’m just talking above the fold. Scroll down, and you’ll find even more confusability.
Now, this post isn’t going to be a case study on Kmart. Instead, I’d like to offer some strategies for avoiding confusability–many of which will seem like common sense, yet they obviously bear repeating, given the state of Kmart’s site.
Avoid Confusability
Understand the power of home page simplicity. You do NOT need to throw everything but the kitchen sink onto the home page. While it will likely be one of your most popular–if not the most popular–destination pages on your eCommerce site that doesn’t mean you need to include every product, every service, or every message you’re trying to communicate. Think of your home page like the front entrance to a brick and mortar store. You walk into a physical store and you should see:
- Clearly labeled aisles
- Clearly labeled shopping carts
- Clearly labeled promotions
The same is true for your eCommerce site’s home page. The goal is to get people to go deeper into your site (or, keeping with the brick and mortar store example, to walk deeper into your physical store). Visitors, whether virtual or physical, will walk out in frustration if they can’t easily find what they’re looking for.
When evaluating your eCommerce site, don’t trust yourself, your management team, or your employees. You and your team know your business better than anyone else. I have no doubt that the upper echelon at Kmart navigates their new site with ease, simply because they know where to look for everything. You absolutely need to get objective feedback from other people. If you have the money to test different layouts, messages, etc. with different focus groups, great. It’s a wise investment. But if you don’t, there are other ways: create a focus group of friends, family, colleagues and have them pick apart your eCommerce site, specifically the home page. Ask for feedback from social mediums, such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Better yet, run some eCommerce usability testing to get real feedback from real users.
Listen to the feedback. I mean really listen, especially if you’re receiving comments with a similar theme. While there’s no formula for knowing what feedback to accept and what feedback to reject, you do need to consider every comment – both positive and negative.
Sometimes a simple change can make all the difference in the world. Here’s what I’m talking about: I subscribe to two writing magazines: The Writer and Writer’s Digest. The cover of The Writer promotes its feature articles and interviews with page numbers. Writer’s Digest lists the articles and promotions, but no page numbers. Guess which magazine I consider more user-friendly, and which one I read first? It would cost WD nothing to add page numbers, yet it would score big points in the usability category if it added them.
Let’s hope Kmart is monitoring comments in Twitter and other social media–and is thinking deeply about these comments.
Study other successful and unsuccessful eCommerce sites. Not just in your industry, either. Kmart should look at Target’s site (which isn’t much better, in my opinion) and Walmart’s site (which is better), but also at stores like Crate & Barrel, Macy’s, and DSW (which is my favorite out of the ones I’ve just mentioned).
Work with an eCommerce consultant when developing your site. This isn’t a shameless plug for Blue Acorn, but rather an appeal: if you’re developing an eCommerce company or an eCommerce arm to your brick and mortar store, work with someone who is experienced and well-versed in eCommerce development.
A static website that simply acts as an e-brochure for the mom & pop store on Main Street is not the same as an eCommerce site that truly acts as a virtual marketplace. The people behind the static site probably don’t know much about eCommerce because it’s a specialty. I’m not saying anything negative about the web developer – he or she has a specialty, too, but it more than likely isn’t eCommerce. An eCommerce consultant doesn’t just “build” you an eCommerce website. He or she will guide you in developing an overall strategy for marketing and developing your brand, optimizing the site, creating PPC campaigns, understanding social media’s place in all this, and so much more.
I welcome other thoughts in the comments thread on tips for avoiding confusability. What are some strategies you employ? What are some examples of eCommerce sites that do it right… and what are some examples of those that don’t?
Matt Prindle (13)
Carla (10)
Justin @ Palmer W... (6)
Hasan Luongo (5)
Kyle (5)
Hmmm, great insight… Made me stop and think numerous times about my current websites…
I recently worked for a company who insisted on a design which had about 10 buttons, ie ten potential actions on each page, where one main one – the one you wanted the user to take, and a few subsidiary ones would have been much better. The wouldn’t listen, and now they wonder why there is such a high drop off rate through the process.