eCommerce Blog

You’d never head out on a road trip without a map—or, more likely, your car’s GPS system. The same concept applies when hunting for a product or service on the web. If a site doesn’t provide you with a well-planned, easily navigable interface, you’re likely to feel just as frustrated as you would on a desolate stretch of interstate without a road sign in sight. Frustrated, and highly unlikely to get to where you want to go.

The importance of effective website navigation has skyrocketed along with the widespread  use of search engines. Earlier this year, eCommerce analysts estimated that only 25% of online consumers begin the shopping process at a site’s home page, with a large majority landing directly on other pages via Google, Yahoo, or a shopping comparison site. With shoppers dropping in at multiple locations throughout your site, it’s critical that you present them with a cohesive, context-independent navigational structure that shows how the page fits into the grand scheme of things.

There are still a surprisingly large number of online stores that just don’t get it. The good news is, you can learn from their mistakes. Let’s step through some of the most common navigational blunders:

Using graphics as navigational elements

It may look nice, but this is a surefire way to make your site’s navigation virtually invisible to search engines. Always use simple, text-based links for your category and subcategory listings, and make sure you name them with popular search keywords in mind. The repetition of these strategically named links on every page of your site serves as a boon for organic search traffic and makes it easier for users to find what they’re looking for.

Mixing and matching different link types

Your navigational structure should be logically organized by the nature of the links. Many sites make the mistake of grouping together product categories with service-oriented links, resulting in a seemingly random hodgepodge of destinations and leaving the consumer feeling disoriented.

For example, an online children’s books store had the following links listed along the left side of the page:
• Board Books
• Books for Dad
• Books for Mom
• Classic Children’s Books
• Best-Selling Books
• Newsletter Sign-Up
• Create Registry

The first five links take the consumer to a filtered product grouping, but the final two are service-related. It would be more logical to move “Newsletter Sign-Up” and “Create Registry” elsewhere, perhaps across the top of the page with the other action-oriented links, such as “Live Chat” and “My Account.” One commonly adopted strategy is to place all action-oriented links across the top, product offerings along the left-hand side of the page, and customer service links along the bottom.

Listing too many navigational elements

If your site has more than 10 top-level categories, you’re liable to send a chunk of would-be consumers scurrying off in search of simpler routes. Review your categories with an eye toward which ones could possibly be combined or relegated to a lower level. Staples.com presents a manageable six top-level categories, while Sears.com risks overwhelming their users with a whopping 15 categories.

Listing too few navigational elements

Don’t go too far in your efforts to simplify your navigational structure. If you have a very small number of categories that become bloated with subcategories and products, it will take the consumer longer to drill down to what they’re looking for. OfficeDepot.com, for example, includes only four very broad top-level categories.

Bypassing a site map

They may not see as much action as the main navigation, but site maps help to orient consumers who may have drifted off course. They also provide the added benefits of increasing visibility to search engines, promoting accessibility for users with disabilities, and facilitating the monitoring of broken links. When designing your site map, present all links as simple hyperlinked text.

Not letting consumers search

You may have the best navigational structure since Grand Central Station, but that doesn’t mean you can do away with an effective internal search tool. There will always be shoppers who need to quickly pinpoint a specific item or service, bypassing the navigational elements and heading straight to the search text box. Don’t limit your buyers to browsers—accommodate searchers with a visible, easy-to-use mechanism that produces logical results.

Varying navigational structures from page to page

Just as you’ll find consistent signage placement along the interstate, a website should use the same routing mechanism throughout. Place the elements in the same place and in the same order on every page, training the user on where to find your offerings. Best industry practice calls for the main navigational links to be placed across the top or down the left-hand side of the page.

Not providing a way home

No matter what page a user has landed on, they should see a clearly evident path back to your site’s Home page. It doesn’t have to be overtly called “Home”—many sites feature a consistent, prominent logo in the upper left corner that links back to the main URL. The knowledge that they can quickly hop back to where they started will help shoppers feel more comfortable browsing around your site.

Not leaving a trail

The online equivalent of the “You Are Here” designation on a shopping mall map, breadcrumbs provide a subtle identification factor to show shoppers where they are currently and where they’ve been. Although not as widely used as the global navigation or the search box, they do serve a valuable purpose in ensuring the comfort level of online shoppers.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 3:06 pm and is filed under eCommerce Usability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.