Last Updated on Jul 29, 2013 by Jenna Scaglione
Here at Numinix, we have been talking about holiday preparation the entire month of July in an effort to help Ecommerce stores take advantage of more traffic and profits this coming holiday season.
But, we would be remiss if we didn’t talk more about usability since a valuable user experience is the cornerstone of a successful website.
If your website visitors regularly abandon your shopping cart or website, now is the time to remedy these problems before you miss out on maximizing your profits during the holiday rush.
We have seen some of the highest abandonment rates in the industry from Ecommerce sites mainly because people are skeptical about opening their wallets, so their experience has to be perfect or at least as near perfect as possible.
So how do you ensure your visitors are enjoying a valuable experience on your website?
The topic is quite broad, but below are some of the most common usability issues:
Slow Load Time
If your website takes longer than 4-5 seconds to load, you will need to address this if you want to increase revenue. Internet users are impatient and expect quick results. This is especially true for your mobile audience.
Content Readability
For Ecommerce stores, this is not as crucial as it is for content-heavy websites, but it is still one to remember. Any time you publish content, ensure it is readable, which simply means it is digestible, broken down into easy-to-read sections with bullet points and bolded words and phrases. Essentially, make your content easy to read and avoid making it read like a novel. If you think about your content from the perspective of an impatient internet customer, you will know exactly what to do.
Don’t know where to start?
You may be looking at your website and wondering where you can improve. If you don’t know the problems, you won’t know what to solve.
It’s too easy to be biased when observing your own website, so acquiring feedback from unbiased reviewers is recommended. Generate this feedback via automatic behavior monitoring or human reviewers.
Usability Testing
Use tools such as ClickTale or CrazyEgg to discover how users navigate your website, how long they stay on individual pages, where they exit, where they click their mouse and other behaviors. Use this data to improve your website pages so users enjoy their experience more and stay on your website longer. More time on the website equates to lower abandonment and higher revenue.
If you would rather watch a human tester navigate your website and audibly recite their feedback in real time via screenshot video, User Testing is a valuable service. Or, set up a task for an unbiased person you trust and watch them complete it on your website, audibly providing feedback as they proceed. By listening to people as they navigate through your site, you will realize subtle issues that are potentially damaging your user experience.
Usability issues can cut into your holiday profits. Start now and boost your earning potential before the rush holiday season commences.