Tracking order and delivery
This section describes in detail and evaluates all the stages and tools involved in tracking orders and the delivery process.
The overall customer experience
Finally I will evaluate the effectiveness of the site as a whole and give my opinion on the site's design. I will also suggest any areas for improvement.
First impression and purpose of site
The first impression any prospective customer has of a consumer website is, in my opinion, very significant. It can either entice or deter customers from using the company to purchase goods. Therefore any company (especially those which rely totally on their website for business) must design their homepage to visually impress users straight away and provide them with attractive offers.
Ebuyer's website does impress. Straight away the user's eyes are bombarded with the company's latest special offer which generates an urge within the user to click on the links to find out more about them. Below is an example of a special offer. It appears right at the centre of the homepage and takes up about 40% of its total space. The user is immediately drawn towards it.
Notice how the designers have enlarged the size of the text and changed the colour of the price to red. This is an attempt at making the offer stand out. They have even stated that the user won't be able to find the item cheaper anywhere else. How alluring!
Given that the purpose of the site is to advertise and sell, the layout of the homepage is not surprising. Yet, my first notion with regard to how successful the website is at achieving its goal is that the customer is instantly engaged and enticed simply by its aesthetic design. However, this inkling is subject to further examination of the website in its entirety.
Structure and navigation
To retain customers a transactional website must have an extremely easy to follow site structure. This will almost always guarantee a positive customer experience. Ebuyer would appear to be very easy to use; the site is split up into different 'stores'. These stores are basically the different categories of products available. The way the site is divided should save the user time when browsing.
The layout of each page is the same throughout, and so is the navigation. The three main navigation features are the navigation bar, the browse column and the search facility.
The navigation bar
This feature runs along the top of every page within the site. It is made up of ten tabs each representing the different stores. When a tab is pressed the store is loaded. Each store has its own colour scheme. This highlights the distinction between the contents of the different stores and enables the user to instantly recognise their current position in the website.
This feature can also be customised; the tabs can be changed into drop-down menus.
The browse column
This is similar to the navigation bar because it lists all the stores. But it is more detailed because it also displays all the sub-categories within each category. The order of the stores is different too. I would imagine that the most used sections are listed at the top and the less used are found nearer the bottom.
The search engine
There are two kinds of search - Quick Find and the Advanced Search. The former is found at the top of every page and is a very good example of a well designed search facility. It allows the user to enter keywords or a Quick Find code. Each product found on the website has got its own unique QF code. For example, if someone has recommended the user a product, all they need to do is provide the product's QF code and the user will be able to bring up the product's details in seconds. This is a great innovation! The advanced search allows the user to be more specific in their search. By supplying more fields including product category, subcategory and keyword the user can customise the search to meet their particular needs.
Other methods...
There are also several other methods that customers can use to navigate the site. They can use the site map, which is in my opinion very extensive in comparison to other leading websites.
Accessibility and usability
To the average internet user the Ebuyer website is very accessible. But sadly, it is not very accessible to all internet users. Below is a screenshot of the results of the W3C HTML Validation service.
Commentary on eBuyer's results...
As shown, the homepage fails mark-up validation miserably; with a total of 533 errors. This is totally unacceptable. Users with poor eyesight who rely on screen-readers will be unable to navigate or access this site with ease. I even doubt if they will be able to use it at all!
The Disability Discrimination Act requires that web site owners in the UK ensure that their web sites are accessible to people with disabilities - just as public buildings are required to be accessible to these groups. So I would assume that Ebuyer is actually breaking the law.
Also from the company's perspective, it would be beneficial to them to make the website accessible to disabled users. Many may find it easier to do most of their business online so the company is missing out on a whole genre of potential customers.
Range of products and information
The Ebuyer website provides customers with a vast amount of produce to choose from. They offer over 100,000 quality products and according to their ‘about’ page, their “list of product categories and product offerings is growing every day.”
They truly supply a huge range of computer technology products such as desktops, notebooks, printers, networking, digital cameras, software, storage etc. Plus they offer other products such as LCD and DLP TVs, MP3 players, gaming, home electronics and even some house ware and sporting equipment.
The product information provided is both extensive and meaningful. Each product has it's own 'toolbox'. An example product is shown below:
On the right is the 'toolbox'. This feature allows the user to find out basic information on the product including a summary of its entire contents. The user can also find out more detailed technical information on the product by clicking on the 'product specifications' option.
The 'compare products' option is also very useful. It allows users to compare the product with up to four other similar listed items. The products in the list are all from the same category and brand. This is a very well thought out feature which enables the customer to make a more informed decision and helps them make the most appropriate product choice.
Ebuyer (like most online stores) also has a place where customers can write their own reviews about products. The average rating is shown next to the products details. Unlike many customer review features, Ebuyer's has a special filter. This filter can display both reviews or comments and can change the order of them to best suit the customer.
This is an incredibly useful tool - especially when their are hundreds of reviews and comments to look through.
Techniques used to engage, entice and retain customers
Below is a description of four different techniques deployed by eBuyer to engage, entice or retain their customer base. Transactional web sites use many different techniques to do this and a lot of these have been used in physical stores for as long as businesses existed. But with the advent of the digital economy further opportunities have emerged that can make businesses more successful in dealing with their customers.
1. Ebuyer's "Deal of the day!" advertising campaign
Every day eBuyer has a special offer that is aimed at enticing new and retaining existing customers. The deal of the day advert is usually displayed along the right side of each page in the web site. It normally consists of bright colours that stick out from the web site's white background. An example is shown to the right. Notice how the 'deal of the day' text and the price is in bold to highlight the adverts’ presence. An attractive snapshot of the product is placed in the centre to attract even more attention. When the advert is clicked the customer is taken straight through to the product's details page. From here he or she can quickly purchase the item.
2. Blowout products
I found in my studies of e-commerce websites that this technique is unique to eBuyer's operation. It is similar to when factories sell imperfect or unwanted goods. A 'blowout' is an open box product that has had its price discounted because there is a minor problem with it such as a missing user manual or the packaging has been opened. All Blowout products are offered in good working order, with a 90 day warranty to give the customer complete peace of mind. This entices all those who love to sniff out a good bargain.
3. Customer surveys
After every purchase that I have made on eBuyer, I have always been asked to complete a customer survey asking for my own personal opinion of the web site and the entire buying process. This survey has always asked questions about certain web site features. Thankfully, I have found these questions to be very easy to understand and answer and believe that even the most inexperienced e-customers would have no trouble doing the same. Most of the questions are of the multiple choice variety and I would imagine this is to make it easier for eBuyer to identify significant trends in the received data and then offer their customers a more personalised service as a result. This type of survey along with the other data collected enables eBuyer to build up a profile of their customers thus allowing them to be innovative and create new ways to persuade customers to spend more money at the web site and also reduce any wastage.
4. Email newsletters
Ebuyer's advertising and web site operation is backed up by a strong email campaign. However these emails can sometimes generate a negative reaction in existing customers. In my opinion most would look upon these as unsolicited mail (aka SPAM) and would be surprised that a creditable company like eBuyer uses these means. However they must do it for good reason. Ebuyer's email newsletter usually contains a prize draw of some kind. Below is an example of this:
This prize draw is at the head of the email newsletter and is immediately followed by some special items of interest. This is a very clever and enticing technique--the customer is attracted to the prize draw and thus eBuyer gains their attention, then they bombard the customer with a selection of mouth-watering special deals. It must have some effect on some customers otherwise eBuyer would not be using this rather suspect technique. The newsletter also gives the company a platform to inform customers of any updates to the site. In their most recent newsletter, they invite existing customers to preview the new beta version of their site.
Judging by these four techniques deployed, I would suggest that eBuyer makes the most of all the customer information that they collect; especially in the realm of advertising.
The overall experience – evaluation
This evaluation aims to provide the reader with a clear and balanced picture of the overall effectiveness of the site’s design. Therefore, I have divided its contents into the following partitions:
- My general impression of the site as a whole
- Weaknesses of design
- Strengths of design
- Success of methods used to capture data
- My own opinion of the buying experience
-
How engaging have others found the process of making a purchase?
- Suggestions for improvements/enhancements
My general impression of the site as a whole
EBuyer’s website does offer customers with a vast amount of product choice and information. This is inline with the company’s business philosophy which is: “Give customers and businesses what they want, when they want it”. The consistency of the quality of their products throughout their site and the sheer competitiveness of their prices are virtues that all sales companies of their type desire.
Suggestions for improvements/enhancements
My first and most poignant suggestion is to make the website conform to W3C web standards. Disabled persons will find it very difficult to navigate the current website. This is unfair; websites should be easily accessible for all! Because the site has a huge amount of scripting errors on it, it may need to be redesigned. This, in my opinion, is more than worth while. Firstly, it shouldn’t be very hard to accomplish. Most consumer websites have a facelift every couple of years, and in this process the web developers could make sure that it conforms to the standards. Secondly, if a website meets web standards it far easier to update in the future. Thirdly, in addition to those using devices other than a standard web browser because of disabilities, there are now a growing number of people who are accessing the web via PDAs or mobile phones. These devices are often far more limited in their display capabilities than a regular web browser. If eBuyer’s website met the web standards it is much more likely that these users will find what they are looking for and do business on the move with them. My second suggestion to eBuyer is to provide better more thorough instructions regarding the returns and refunds part of their operation on the site. This will save customers the inconvenience of ringing up the call centre asking for advice.
