A new generation of retail website design

[mandy]

Maslow`s hierarchy of needs? Cognitive dissonance? High-tech cameras that record what eyes see, versus what viewers report they see? These are not the stuff of Psych Lab experiments—they are representative of some of the thinking and technology underpinning a new generation of retail web site design.

Though online marketing tools such as search have attracted much of the money and effort expended by online retailers to acquire customers and sales, they`re only the starting point on the road to conversion. The rest is what happens to visitors after they`re on the site. It`s there, in the art—and increasingly the science—of site design, that retailers are looking deeper to find gains. As a result, new planning methodology, research tools and technology are part of retail site design today, as sites have evolved from brochureware to online catalogs to an increasingly interactive experience...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=19353

[misteroriginal]

Not sure how it helps the little guy. Interesting read, though.

[maggie777]

[quote author=misteroriginal link=topic=4639.msg19761#msg19761 date=1154776825]
Not sure how it helps the little guy. [/quote]

I understand why an eBaY focused hobby seller with an eBaY focused website would think that.

[misteroriginal]

Aw, now you've gone and done it. You got me all riled up!

When the auto parts and accessories retailer planned the new site that went up in May, it took the approach of putting corporate objectives to the side and instead thought like a customer: How could it design a site that would make customers see that it was in their best interest to buy from J.C. Whitney and not somewhere else?

You have to be in this frame of mind when you're building an online site, but...

For instance, site operators now must design around the fact that home pages get less traffic than in the past as more visitors bypass that messaging and access the site from a variety of entry points. Site design also is looking beyond landing and category pages to pay new attention to pages and functions buried deep within the site.

Nothing new here...

"The customer is going to go out and find information about your product. You are not going to be able to keep that from happening, so you might as well be part of the conversation,"

good idea, but not at all new. Heck, even the perpetually outdated ZenCart has it.

"If a customer has come back to your site looking for a swimsuit a couple of times, you know they are in the market. So when they come back again, target them with a swimsuit promotion,"

or Girls Gone Wild DVDs, mister blind guy!

The third direction that Freidman sees designing traveling is toward rich media. Applications such as Flash are being used to create persistent shopping carts that stay visible throughout the shopping process as the visitor travels through a site.

No duh! Great if you can afford it or have the skills to do it yourself. Name one person on this forum who's building custom Rich Media Applications. I'm working on it, and hoping it doesn't turn out like last year's shopping cart fiasco.

Critical Mass refers to the phenomenon of what design elements and features influence conversion as "convergence," noting that analytics and testing are making online retailers smarter about what levers to pull on pages. To those research tools, Critical Mass adds something new: eye tracking studies, so far used by relatively few retailers to plot site design.

Oh yeah, I'll just run to Wal-Mart tonight and get the equipment I need. Tomorrow I'll hire the team of experts, pay the customers to participate, etc. Name one person on this forum performing informal usability tests, let alone eye-tracking.

"If you think of TV as a `lean-back` kind of experience, the Internet is a `lean-forward` experience," says Clemmons. "So look for the kind of lean-forward tools and experiences that you can put on a computer monitor that will encourage people to interact, to participate, and to really see that product in their home as something they desire."

Now this I agree with 100% and I'd LOVE nothing more than to collectively try to figure out all the Web 2.0 stuff he lists at the end of the article. TT ain't the place for that, though. This here's the place to obsess over eBay irritants.

[vitalfinds]

This here's the place to obsess over eBay irritants.

I've wondered about this also.  Lots of comments about what not to do, but ...

And if BBH is offerring a service, then let's hear about it!  Do we need Kirk and I to prepare a "spamming" tutorial? (As some have referred to the exchanging of information).

[misteroriginal]

I'm on a mission from God to build stuff. I'm sick of ripping on what other people have built (eBay, WP, MW, etc), although I'll admit I learned a lot from it. I love the bears, but agree on the overload of comments on what not to do.

I also agree I'd like to hear more about the service BBH & Co are offering. For months, I glanced at the picture of the lady, noticed she was clothed, and didn't bother to read the print about the hosting services.

[regic]

I'm splitting the spam related posts into their own topic.  I'll post a link to the new topic in a minute.

Topic on what constitutes SPAM moved here: http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...646.0.html

[misteroriginal]

So instead of chasing a Greek girl, your suggesting a Hawaiin? Hmmm...


That just might work!