One of the great ironies of Web site design is that, despite our efforts to create an experience that keeps users on our pages, we constantly invite them to move away. This is largely because information architecture (how we organize sites) is linear in nature (like reading books). The result: users have to leave pages in order to view related content. Unfortunately users are often forced to back up and start over to navigate through our content.
In fact, according to Jakob Nielsen, the “back button” on Web browsers is the second most used navigation feature.
This navigation problem is painfully apparent in sites tied to a company’s financial success, like e-commerce sites. I’ve experienced this first-hand: prior to coming to D2 I spent most of nine years developing and managing e-commerce businesses. I know that most site managers struggle to get visitors to their sites. Why is it then that we make them jump through hoops to buy products from us?
For example, imagine if, when shopping at your local store, you had to bring each item to the counter before you selected another. That’s what most e-commerce sites make you do.
A typical online shopping experience generally goes like this:
- You search for an item
- You find it (hopefully)
- You add it to your cart
- You checkout (fingers crossed)
What if the customer wants another item? After an item is added to the shopping cart the typical online buying process leaves the customer at the shopping cart or occasionally on a product detail page. Either way they are no longer in the category they were shopping in. If they want more stuff, they’ll have to find their way back to the category and start shopping again. From a usability standpoint this is all wrong. Can it be fixed?
In my next post will discuss some of the solutions Web designers have come up with over the years and the one I believe got us the closest yet.
Tags: checkout, e commerce businesses, e-commerce, information architecture, navigational problem, online shopping, shopping experience, usability, web designers, web users
