Copyright by Debra L. Zahay 2002 Effective Web Site Design Debra L. Zahay Assistant Professor,...

Copyright by Debra L. Zahay 2002

Effective Web Site Design

Debra L. Zahay

Assistant Professor, Marketing and E-Commerce

North Carolina State University,

Thanks to Ann Schlosser and Mary Lou Roberts


What do you like about web sites you have used in this class, or

elsewhere?


Good web site design


STRATEGIC PREMISE

Business Websites Are Not An Exercise In Either Technology Or Aesthetics.

THEY ARE AN EXERCISE IN

COST-EFFECTIVE EXECUTION

OF MARKETING STRATEGY.


OVERRIDING STRATEGIC CONCEPT


Good web site design, ala Zahay

• Takes the customer into account– Level of expertise

– Time

– Objectives

• Is easy to navigate (point back to home page always)

• Has few business rules, or logic streams• Loads easily• Information is on one page or screen (usually)


Web site communicates

• Make sure that your message is consistent with your positioning, segmentation, advertising themes and images

• Make it easy for the customer to contact you

• Don’t provide a contact link if you are not going to follow through


Customer-Effective Websites• Find out what customers want--YOUR

customers, not just everyone• Follow a development process• Look at your customer process• Utilize metaphors, desktop, file cabinet,

shopping cart• Include customer control, or a way for

customer to co-create, interactJodie Dalgleish, Gartner Group


IdeaGeneration

IdeaScreening

ConceptDevelopmentand Testing

MarketingStrategy

BusinessAnalysis

ProductDevelopment

TestMarketing

Commercial-ization

New Product Development Process


ESTABLISH SITE OBJECTIVES

• Where Do Web Site Objectives Come From?

• What Are Criteria For Good Objectives?

• Branding vs. Sales Objectives


IDENTIFY/DESCRIBE TARGET MARKET

• Who Is Your Target?

• How Do You Get Information About Them?


DESIGN SITE CONTENT & NAV STRUCTURE


WHAT IS USABILITY TESTING?

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?


DEPLOY AND TUNE SITE

• Essentially Technical Task

• What Is Marketing’s Role?


MEASURE/EVALUATE SITE EFFECTIVENESS

• Is Site Meeting Its Objectives?

• How Can It Be Improved?


REFINE & IMPROVE EFFECTIVENESS

• Continuous Process– Incremental Improvements– Major Relaunch

• Focus on– Objectives– Customer Experience


IMPORTANT WARNING

Budget Two to Three Times

Development Cost

For Annual Maintenance


MEASURING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

• Single Measures

• Multiple Measures

– Always Preferable

– Satisfaction Is A Multidimensional Construct


SOURCES

• “Do It Yourself” Marketing Research

– Votations.com

• Research And Rating Services

– Bizrate.com

– Forrester.com


DRIVERS OF E-COMMERCE SATISFACTION


CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FACTORS

• Ease of Use

• Access Speed

• Reliability

• Attractiveness

• Customer ExpectationsSource: WebCriteria presentation


A CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PLAN

• Identify Site Goals and Success Metrics

• Focus on Needs and Expectations of Customers– Define Customer Experience Standards

• Develop a Customer-Centered Design That Fulfills Customer Needs and Expectations

• Engage in Continuous Improvement Through Measurement and Assessment

Adapted from WebCriteria brochure


What is “Flow”

• Csiksezentmihalyi (1977) defined and researched the concept

• Broad range of contexts, sports, work, shopping, games, hobbies and computer use, consumer navigation of the web

• Engaged in a transaction/activity where there is a sense of losing time passing and the immediate physical surroundings, optimal or “peak” experience


Have you experienced “FLOW”?

When? Share with your neighbor?


Flow in Cyberspace• “You begin navigating through Cyberspace.

Following one link to another, you begin to lose yourself. After what seems like minutes, it’s 2am.”

• Flow experience– Seamless sequence of responses facilitated by machine

interactivity

– Intrinsically enjoyable

– Loss of self-consciousness

– Self-reinforcing H&N 1996


When FLOW happens. . . .

• “Every day--Whenever I work both on and off the web, this happpens….and also if I’m merely reading”

• “Designing web pages”

• “When I learnt HTML by myself with the help fo great Tutorial sites”

• “When I was just cruising”– Hoffman and Novak, 1996


Does Flow bring Profits?

• Are customers “in flow” more likely to purchase?

• What does “flow” mean for web site design?

• What are some negative consequences?


Product Interactivity Defined

• A mediated experience with a product that is apart from one’s immediate physical surroundings.

– Engages the consumer in imagining using the product

– Delivers product knowledge via virtual acquaintance

– Examples: • Simulated driving experiences

• Simulated product rotations

Product Interactivity based on working paper by Ann Schlosser, Winter AMA, 2000Pertinent virtual reality references: Biocca, 1992; Laurel, 1991; Steuer, 1992


Product Interactivity

"This shockwave file is a chance to get an interactive introduction to Kodak's new high-resolution digital camera….You'll get to hold and use the DC120 (virtually, of course)."


Preliminary Evidence Information

Rich (IR)Product

Interactivity (PI)

Navigation(N)

Significant effect from regression

Attitude Toward:

Site .15 .22* .43* PI, N

Product .15 .05 .30* N

Intentions To:

Revisit -.02 .10 .33* N

Buy -.02 .26* .06 PI

Buy online

-.03 .25* -.01 (PI)

Study 1 of Schlosser and Kanfer, 2000


Land’s End

• Think about what’s going on…….– Product Interactivity?– Product Customization (mass)?– Flow Experience?


STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

• Keep Marketing Effectiveness Paramount– Focus On Customers—Needs/Experience– Focus On Objectives

• Marketing Must Drive, Not Technology• Maintenance Is As Important As Development

—And More Expensive!• Content And Navigation Are Both Critical• Beware “Flashy” Design Execution

Copyright by Debra L. Zahay 2002 Effective Web Site Design Debra L. Zahay Assistant Professor,...

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