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Reprinted from New Jersey Business Magazine
Transactionalizing Your Web Site: User Experience and Technology Working Together
By John Flores
VP, Interactive, GráficaGroup
 The "E" in ecommerce never stood for "easy," as in easy money. The truth is that building a Web site that's capable of handling transactions requires a lot of thought, planning, and, of course, technical know-how. Many business owners and brand managers want to conduct business online, but making money on the Web, much like on the street, is not guaranteed. So, to give yourself the best chance to turn a profit, consider the following philosophical and tactical advice.
First, before you even think about technology (often the first impulse of the ecommerce-minded), ask yourself what type of user experience you want to create on the Web. In other words, presuming that you have a brick-and-mortar facility, you should strive to create a virtual shopping experience that reflects the actual shopping experience. There's a world of difference between Lord & Taylor and Wal-Mart, or Mercedes-Benz and Toyota. Stores and showrooms are constructed to cater to the expectations of consumers and service must pay off on those expectations. If you're treated well in a certain store, you remember the feeling. Even if you don't buy anything, you make a mental note to return. Have a poor experience and you're not likely to come back. Same rules apply to the Web, only at Internet speed.
John Flores,
VP, Interactive, GráficaGroup plays digital imaging tricks.
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Simply putting a shopping cart application on your site does not mean that visitors are going to spend money there. Therefore, design in the creation of your site is as critical as the technology of Web programming that supports it. And, if design and programming do not work in tandem, then danger lies ahead. For example, problems start when a Web designer comes up with something that's not technologically feasible, or when a Web programmer sets rigid technical specifications that essentially place handcuffs on creativity. In either case, your ecommerce effort will get off on the wrong foot and could lead to failure. |
Once you understand and communicate your online objectives for user experience, you then need to ask yourself a lot of technology questions: What kind of shopping cart do I want to use? What's the best tool for payment validation and credit card security? How do I want to manage online order fulfillment and inventory? Should I provision for click-to-chat capabilities with a call center? How do I want online inquiries about products or services to flow? And what about email communications? I should collect email addresses from customers, but how? And how then do I "touch" them in the future? I want to offer coupons and promotions, maybe even start a loyalty program with user names and password protection...
These issues are daunting to a non-technical person, but that does not mean that you should let a technical person make all of your ecommerce decisions. As the final authority of your brand, you must temper the inclinations of your Web technology team, which could be internal or an agency. For example, Web designers love Flash technology and Flash animation is a cool way to enhance your Web site, but Flash may hinder your ecommerce effort. A few years back, Flash was all the rage as an introduction to Web sites, but today, Flash is out for that purpose. People no longer have the patience to sit through elaborate animations or video before they arrive at the content they seek.
However, Flash animation within your site can greatly enhance the user experience. Older Web sites usually present static images of products that visitors can click to enlarge for closer inspection. Not bad, but not compelling. With Flash, you can enable the equivalent of a telephoto lens so that visitors can zoom in on your product, turn it around and ogle it from all angles. That's as near as you can get to actually holding the product in your hands.
Another key technical component that you must plan for is search engine optimization (SEO). Too many businesses think of SEO too late in the development process, sometimes even after launch! SEO is not something that gets tacked on to a posted site; rather it's a strategic technological process that begins at the beginning as part of the foundation of a Web site. Again, marketing plays a role. What does your brand stand for? What are the key words that are most relevant to your business and to the potential customers that may seek your products and services? Agreeing upon keys words and meta-tagging them appropriately within your site is an important first step that will help ensure site traffic emanating from popular search sites like Google and Yahoo. And no store - real or virtual - will succeed if people don't visit it.
Over-zealous Web prognosticators predicted that ecommerce would replace traditional commerce. Well, it hasn't. The shift has been more evolution than revolution, and all things, including your business, must evolve in order to survive. Building a Web site capable of handling transactions is a necessity that must be done right, which means striking the perfect balance between user experience and technology.
For more information, please contact Diane Lewis at 908.879.2169 x173 or via email at .
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