Usabilty, money well spent

The average business metrics improvement after a usability redesign is now 83%. Whilst this is substantially less than 6 years ago, the ROI remains high because usability is still cheap to deliver relative to the gains.

Typical business metrics include: Conversion rates, such as sales or lead generation : Traffic numbers, such as page view statistics : User performance, such as the time needed to perform key tasks : Target feature usage, such as the number of users who click a link to crucial information

The reason why ROI has reduced in the last 6 years is because there are fewer horrible websites around now than there were back then. But we all know many sites need to improve – if you have a say in how your business spends it’s web budget you really should think seriously about a usability-led design project.

I’ve taken these statistics from a report by one of the heroes of web design. Jakob Neilsen has influenced design improvements to webites the world over, directly and indirectly through the influence of his books, I still go back to one of his older but very usable books, Designing Web Usability, and his website www.useit.com is a great source for web design insight.

Online shoppers are forcing retailers to raise the stakes

If you own or influence online strategy you want to heed this quote: “Today’s online shopper is extremely web-savvy and expects more than ever, forcing retailers to raise the stakes,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org. The quote came with the release of a report from Shop.org and Forrester: The State of Retailing Online 2007

What I especially like is the realisation that the best retailers developing their online strategies are focusing on two very important priorities…

1. Focusing On the Basics - Only well designed e-commerce sites get customers to the product and then through the transaction effectively, many have a lot of room for improvement. And that’s just the start of the experience, the whole delivery and service set up needs to work properly, and many just don’t today.

According to the survey, 88 percent of retailers plan to focus on improving content presented on product detail pages, with 80 percent adding alternative images, 72 percent incorporating lifestyle photography, and 63 percent integrating customer ratings and reviews. Retailers are also focusing on their homepages, integrating top sellers and “what’s new” sections, and making their Web sites more sophisticated, with dropdown menus and rollover lists in navigational areas. To differentiate themselves from competitors, online retailers are also making customer service a priority, with 33 percent of companies planning to invest more in live chat and 53 percent planning to enhance their guest checkout process within the next year.
“It’s encouraging to see more retailers planning to integrate customer feedback loops into their sales processes,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research senior analyst and lead author of the report. “Many retailers have been relying on site analytics data, which is strong at reflecting paths-to-purchase but typically weak at highlighting vulnerabilities or opportunities for improvement.”

2. Aligning Online and Offline Channels - Retailers are learning the value of operating in multiple channels, some are even recognising the need to injtegrate the channels.

Survey respondents said that 43 percent of catalog customers have also purchased from their online store and that 35 percent of online customers have also purchased from their bricks-and-mortar store. Online retailers reported that in 2006, they dedicated on average 18 percent of their marketing spend to cross-channel sales, up from 13 percent in 2005. Typically, such tactics included direct mail initiatives such as catalogs and email programs to drive customers to local stores. However, more retailers are also leveraging direct print mail as a way to increase online sales. According to the study, 66 percent of retailers measure the success of a catalog by how it increases web sales.

This all strikes a chord with me. I think the report is right, I’m seeing more retailers taking these two priorities seriously and that means we can all look forward to the continued rise of e-Commerce and Integrated Multi-Channel Retail – after 12 years in the industry that’s music to my ears!

Say it again, this is the customer experience era

I’m saying it again after saying it with the conviction of a New Year revelation (no it wasn’t a revolution) recently. And this time it’s about the banking experience; I can’t help believing many customers express unhappiness with the experience but generally don’t vote with their feet. But I’m told that inertia is breaking down – its seems that banking customers are more agile in their financial affairs than ever before – and it seems they are moving around when they see good new products!

But are they getting a good experience?

I think I should aim to find out this year and I made a startthe other day – an interesting conversation with someone who has already done more than most to challenge the banking status quo…

I was lucky enough to spend some time this week with James Alexander, ex Zopa and Egg, now at Green Thing. James is not only a very bright star but also a very nice guy so it was a pleasure to hear his views on the relationship of consumers with their banks – and his conviction that success comes from starting with customer and experience – or in his words “the increasing demand from customers for transparency and the need to feel connected with their financial actions”.

Here is a man well qualified to offer his views for consideration after his achievements at the forefront of Social Lending and I was fascinated to hear him talk about consumers having an “acute demand for something different and something better”. It echoes the other conversations I’ve been having that inspired me to declare at the start of 2008 my view that this is the customer experience era.