E-Marketing Lecture 29

1. E-MarketingLecture 29 Site Design Instructor: HanniyaAbid Assistant Professor COMSATS Institute of Information Technology

2. Objectives By the end of this lecture you will: • Know what makes an excellent web site • Be able to review the components of a site

3. Introduction to web site design • Web site design = Function + Content + Form + Organization + Interaction • Combining these elements web site design presents a challenge few have mastered since success requires a range of skills. Companies need to harness internal skills and/or use specialist agencies on all of the success factors for web site design which we will review.

4. Introduction to web site design • Accessibility • This should be built into all web sites since it is a legal requirement under disability and discrimination law. • An accessible design supports visually impaired site users and other disabled users with limited limb movements. • It also helps users accessing the site with a range of different web browsers using different devices such as mobiles or PDAs and it also assists search engine optimization.

5. Introduction to web site design • User-centred design and usability – With a user-friendly site visitors can find the information they are seeking, have a satisfactory experience and complete actions efficiently. User-centred web site design is an essential approach to ensure the web site meets visitors needs. Research to identify appropriate personas, customer journeys and relevant content is a key activity. • Information architecture and findability– Analysis and design to create a sound system of structure and labelling content in headings and navigation is essential to help findability through standard navigation and on-site search.

6. Introduction to web site design • Search engine optimization (SEO) – If SEO is n ’t considered in site design and within content management systems, search robots will be unable to crawl content and the relevance of different pages will be unclear. • Web standards – Complying with standards to produce consistency in the way sites are coded and displayed in different browsers as promoted through the World Wide Web consortium ( www.w3.org ) and the Webstandards Project ( www.webstandards.org ).

7. Introduction to web site design • Persuasion to deliver commercial results – Your design should emphasize specific content and journeys through the site in order for your site to meet it s objectives. Users should not be given free rein to visit any content, instead you should prioritize your most valuable content in a similar way to a supermarket using merchandising to promote specific products. We also need to study the psychology of customer engagement to understand the content, messages and visual design that influence customer perceptions.

8. Introduction to web site design • Visual design – The experience of a brand and a site will not be memorable and positive if the visual design isn ’ t energizing and doesn ’ t fit with what the visitor would expect from a brand. • Web analytics – Analysis of site visitor journeys can help improve navigation and conversion to different site goals. • Legal requirements – Site owners need to check they comply with the many laws to control a web presence. • Internet marketing planning and improvement process – The web site must fit within the wider world where it supports different organization goals, integrates with other sales channels and is continuously reviewed and improved to achieve them.

9. Introduction to web site design • Web Site Goals • Clarifying the key objectives and purpose of the site helps to determine the functions and content of the site. In turn content drives form (the way it looks) and finally form drives the organization of the web site. We will also look at how interaction should be built into the site to improve the visitor experience.

10. Introduction to web site design • So what is the purpose, or objective, of a web site? First, to help customers, or other stakeholders, ask ‘ How can my web site help my customers? ’ For example: • Help them buy something they need. • Help them find information. • Help them to save money and time. • Help them to talk to the organization. • Help them to enjoy a better web experience.

11. Introduction to web site design • These are the 5Ss Sell, Serve, Speak, Save and Sizzle, as seen from the customer perspective. Site design can help achieve the 5Ss as follows: • Sell – Growing sales can be achieved through effectively communicating a crystal clear online value proposition and through making e-commerce and lead generation easier. • Serve – We can add value through designing easy-to-use interactive services that help customers to find relevant, up-to-date information quickly.

12. Introduction to web site design • Speak – We can use the site to converse with and get closer to customers by providing tailored content and designing interactive facilities to create a dialogue or even a trialogue when customers talk to each other, as well as learning about their needs. • Save – Costs are saved through delivering online content and services that may have previously been achieved through print and post or face-to-face service and sales transactions. • Sizzle – An excellent site design helps build the brand and reinforces the brand values through the type of content, interactivities and overall style, tone or feel.

14. Introduction to web site design • Design priorities do vary, but many companies use the objectives of customer relationship management to serve as objectives for their site: • Customer acquisition – Acquisition means winning customers – converting prospects (visitors) into customers on site. • Customer retention – Retention means keeping customers – ensuring they repeat buy. Timely, personalized and relevant e-mails and offers can bring them back to you via the site.

15. Introduction to web site design • Customer extension – Extension means extending the share of wallet. Selling other relevant products and services to the same customer. For example, the database can identify similar customers that bought A but not B and then make recommendations.

16. Introduction to web site design For each of these, design can help convert the visitor to the required marketing outcome. Achieving site stickiness increases the chance of achieving these objectives.

18. Introduction to web site design

20. Introduction to web site design • Key Variables for Web Design Objectives So what factors facilitate online sales and encourage visitors back again and again? What are the key variables? A Forrester survey of 8600 US consumers ( www.forrester.com ) showed that web users believe four main factors encouraged them to return to a site: 1 High quality content. 2 Ease of use. 3 Quick to download. 4 Updated frequently.

21. Introduction to web site design • Other factors such as coupons and offers and leading-edge technologies were insignificant in comparison. Let’s explore these four factors in more detail. • Content is important.It was said in the mid-1990s that ‘content is king ’, but recent thinking suggests that ‘context is king ’. Having the right information in the right place at the right time – just when you need it – is king. For example, online travel package sites now need much more than plain listings of hotels to compete, they need guest reviews, resort guides and even videos. Quality content helps site visitors make the right decision and also attracts visitors through search engine optimization so increasing brand awareness.

22. Introduction to web site design • Ease of use is also important. Easy-to-use sites mean good navigation. The form or structure of the site is neither over-complicated nor too big. You never get lost in a good site since it’s always clearly signposted. Take sales – the order page should be easily found. E-commerce transactions must be easy to make and provide reassurance about security and privacy. • Quick to download. Good sites also download quickly. Bad sites are cumbersome and slow. Visitors won’t wait. Assess performance with services like SciVisum or Site Confidence.

23. Introduction to web site design • Frequently updated. Good sites stay fresh. They put up new information which is useful, relevant and timely for their audience. They also systematically take out old, out-of-date, information (particularly offers with expiry dates) as this destroys credibility. This is expensive. It takes time, energy and skills to maintain a site. Does your site encourage repeat visits? Does it encourage customers to come back? Does the site offer them genuinely good reasons to return?

24. Introduction to web site design • E-retailers also need to research what blocks purchase – what causes ‘shopping cart abandonment ’ . Remember that for most e-tail sites, fewer than 10% of new visitors make a purchase. • You can see how a combination of technical problems and poor design coupled with inadequate information can hamper the online shopper.

25. Introduction to web site design • Every site can improve its conversion rate by researching the factors that cause abandonment and improving the design to correct problems. Even Amazon still continually needs to refine its site to reduce abandonment and increase average order value. • There is more on all of these issues in the aesthetics, navigation, interaction and copywriting sections .

30. Introduction to web site design • Usability and Accessibility Effective web site designs are today informed by two key approaches used by professional designers. These are usability and accessibility. • Usability is a concept applied to the design of a range of products which describes how easy they are to use. The British Standard/ISO Standard ‘Human Centred design processes for interactive systems ’ defines usability as: ‘ the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use’ . (BSI 1999 ).

31. Introduction to web site design • You can see how the concept can be readily applied to web site design – web visitors often have defined goals such as finding particular information or completing an action such as booking a flight or viewing an account balance. • In Jakob Nielsen ’ s book Designing Web Usability (2000), he describes usability as follows ‘An engineering approach to web site design to ensure the user interface of the site is learnable, memorable, error free, efficient and gives user satisfaction. It incorporates testing and evaluation to ensure the best use of navigation and links to access information in the shortest possible time. A companion process to information architecture’

32. Introduction to web site design • In practice, usability involves two approaches. Firstly, expert reviews are often performed at the beginning of a redesign project as a way of identifying problems with a previous design. Secondly, usability testing which involves: 1 Identifying representative users of the site. 2 Asking them to perform specific tasks such as finding a product or completing an order. 3 Observing what they do and how they succeed.

33. Introduction to web site design • For a site to be successful, the tasks or actions need to be completed: • Effectively – web usability specialists measure task completion, for example, only three out of ten visitors to a web site may be able to find a telephone number or other piece of information. • Efficiently – web usability specialists also measure how long it takes to complete a task on site, or the number of clicks it takes.

34. Introduction to web site design Cont… • Web accessibility is about allowing all users of a web site to interact with it regardless of disabilities they may have or the web browser or platform they are using to access the site. The visually impaired or blind are the main audience that designing an accessible web site can help, although often the site will become easier to use for sighted users due to clearer navigation and labeling. • This quote shows the importance of the accessibility to a visually impaired user of a web site who uses a screen-reader which reads out the navigation options and content on a web site. ‘For me being online is everything. It ’s my hi-fi, it ’s my source of income, it ’s my supermarket, it ’ s my telephone. It ’ s my way in’ .

35. Integrated Design • The Web and Integrated Marketing Communications Although web sites do more than just communicate (remember the 5Ss), web sites must integrate with all other communications tools, both online and offline. The web site ’s brand messages must be consistent with those in offline advertisements and mail-shots. Equally, new offers and major announcements such as awards won should be communicated consistently both online and offline. As the organization and the web site grows this job gets more difficult, but space should be reserved within the page template for these key messages which help show credibility and reinforce perceptions received through other channels.

36. Integrated Design • The Web and Buying Modes The web site should integrate with different buying modes. We must take account of customers ’ preferences of browsing, comparing, selecting or buying products either online or offline. Completing some activities of the buying process offline and some online is referred to as mixed-mode buying or multichannel behavior. The site design and offline marketing communications should be integrated to support mixed-mode buying.

37. Integrated Design • Common buying modes include: Online purchase – Some customers want to search, compare and buy online. Does your web site accommodate all stages of the buying process? Few products can be delivered online so fulfillment is usually offline.

38. Integrated Design Online browse and offline purchase – Mixed-mode buying is when customers like to browse, look or research online and eventually purchase offline in a real store or in a real meeting. Some of these customers might like to browse online, but purchase via fax or telephone because of security and privacy issues. Does your site have fax forms and telephone numbers for placing orders or taking further enquiries? Does your site integrate with other communications channels? Some sites also have ‘ call-back facilities ’ which allow visitors to request a telephone call from a sales staff to complete the purchase.

40. Integrated Design How Should the Web Integrate with the Database? • Mixed-mode buying requires good systems. A web site database should, ideally, be integrated with the old, legacy, database. • Enquiries coming in from offline mail-shots or online from the web site should be recorded centrally on the database and subsequently followed up carefully. • An integrated database can help sales reps know which web visitors have requested a real visit or a telephone call. • It can help in managing relationships

42. Online value proposition • The web gives the ultimate in customer choice. There are millions of sites to choose from and thousands of new domain names are still added every day. How will you stand out? • Good sites have good content, are regularly updated, easy to use and fast to download. • In addition to all of these, your site has to have a clear and strong proposition. A proposition to your visitor. A unique proposition. An online value proposition (OVP) .

44. Online value proposition • The OVP is similar to the traditional unique selling proposition used in advertising, although advertising executives can have great debates about how the cyber world is different. Ideally, we need to try to find a proposition that explains what your organization or site is offering that: • is different from your competitors • is not available in the real-world • makes a difference to your customers ’ lives. • At the very least the proposition should clearly show the services you are offering and your credibility to deliver. • You then need to devise a tag line that accompanies your brand identity and URL to drive home your web proposition in all communications, both web-based and real world.

45. Online value proposition • So, we have our proposition. What next? 1 First we need to leverage the proposition in traffic building. The proposition can be combined with the URL or web address and be in all advertising, as an e-mail signature and included in all marketing collateral. 2 We need to state clearly the proposition on-site. Many sites are designed so that their proposition is prominent on the home page and may be referred to on every page at the top or top left as part of the organization ’s identity. Others make the visitor work too hard to understand the proposition. 3 We need to deliver on the proposition through all interactions a customer has including online and offline fulfillment and service.

46. Customer Orientation • Defining, first, the purpose of your web site and second, your audience, are fundamental stages of web site development. • The answers drive the kind of content required; content drives the form required and form drives the structure of the site. Usability and accessibility as defined at the start of this lecture are also a key element of customer orientation. • There are many different types of audiences including your competitors, shareholders, employees, the press and customers, to name a few • Customer orientation is about trying to achieve the impossible – trying to provide content to appeal to a wide rangeof audiences.

48. Customer Orientation • As far as customers are concerned, you must remember that your web site exists for one reason and one reason only – to help customers. The big question is ‘how can my web site help my customers? ’ • A customer-orientated web site starts with customers and their needs. The site will not only fulfill basic customer needs, it may even delight customers by fully understanding and satisfying the different needs which different customers have. So ask customers!

49. Customer Orientation • Try thinking about the types of services you can offer customers. Identify their key tasks and goals and make these options prominent. These may be services you offer already such as giving the status of an order, new added value services that don ’t cost much, or there may be new services that customers can operate themselves. Also ask customers what they think of your existing site. Ask them how you can improve your web site – what would they like to see there?

50. Customer Orientation • Rosenfeld and Morville (2002) suggest four stages of research that help achieve customer orientation: 1 Identify different audiences. 2 Rank importance of each to business. 3 List the three most important information needs of audience. 4 Ask representatives of each audience type to develop their own wish lists.