Human Interface Group's presentations by Johan verhaegen - eTradeSummit 2014

Usability in e-commercea design framework to lubricate your design discussions

A typical project brief“Our new service should breath our brand and wow our customers. Here’s

the RFQ with all the features we need, all we need you to do is to create a

gorgeous design. ”

Johan Verhaegen – UX Strategist Human Interface Group

Vision & missionWe give strategic advice and create the engaging user experience you need.

We help our customers getting their results.

UX Strategy UX Design User Assistance

business+design

a design

frameworktrust-and-tried best practices

business+designa difficult relationship

Project brief uncovers a schism: business ⎟⎟ design

• “Breath … wow … gorgeous” -> uncovers a schism

• Business• business sees design as the final step in the creation

process• business involves design only way down the project line

• Design• designers don’t understand their role in the process• designers won’t get out of their comfort zone• designers ‘dribbble’ themselves to death

business

design

business

design

“Design doesn’t just make things beautiful,it makes them work.”

Scott Dadich – The Age of Invisible Design (Wired, September 2013)

http://www.mobify.com/blog/

http://www.mobify.com/blog/

design ∞ produce

“Impressive!”

Eh, how do we pull this off exactly?

Simply copying the giants is not a decente-commerce strategy.

@johanverhaegen

business+designa design framework to the rescue

Without a design framework, your designs will eventually become a chaotic jumble of preferences and opinions.

@johanverhaegen

Design theoryUser researchUser evidence

Design framework – foundations

Design theory – UX authorities

Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox10 usability Heuristics for User Interface Design

Susan Weinschenk

Scientific foundation for design decisions, interaction design principles

‘People process information in chunks’

User research – UX referencesProfound research on similar products, best practices, interpretations, conclusions, …

‘Customers like to be in control of their shopping baskets’

User evidence – HIG projects Data gleaned directly from projects - user observations, usability testing, …

‘Users feel overwhelmed when offered too many choices’

Value proposition

Usability principles

Design principles

e-shop design

Design framework – mechanism

Value proposition

shop without worries

comfortably choose between 7 million articles

enjoy the best service

rent unique places to stay from

local hosts in 190 countries

Usability principles for e-shops

1 People are motivated by control

2 People are motivated by progress

3 People process information better in bite-sized chunks

1. People are motivated by control

• People are motivated by autonomy

• Your customer is in control and is able to do things

himself

e-shop design principle: always in control• “I choose whether I browse or search”

• “I am in full control of my shopping basket”

• “I decide where and when my goods are delivered.”

2. People are motivated by progress

• Small signs of progress have a big effect

• People don’t always choose the fastest way

• offer more than one way, so that users have a choice

• Keep users informed during the entire journeye-shop design principle: online is easier• “I know what the next step is. I’m confident I will succeed in ordering my

stuff.”

• “I easily choose between products I want to add to my basket.”

• “When I’m done shopping on the site, my shopping journey isn’t finished.”

3. People process information in chunks

• Too many choices paralyzes the decision process

• if possible, limit the number of choices to 3 or 4

• if you have to offer more options, offer them progressively

• People typically remember only 4 items once, that's why they have the tendency to divide and group items

e-shop design principle: progressive disclosure• “I find all the information I need, at the right time and place.”

• “I don’t feel overwhelmed by information.”

Value proposition

Usability principles

Design principles

e-shop design

Design framework - mechanism

trust-and-tried best practicessearch + search results + product page

Best Practices – Search

• On typical e-commerce sites customers tend to choose browsing over searching

• … unless you promote search for a specific reason

• Customers see the prominence of the search field as an indicator of how strongly the site recommends search as a way to find products or services.

Centered on homepage for

maximum effect

Surrounding hero image for major impact

Extra dark background for better contrast

Distinct color to focus

on call-to-action

Best Practices – Search

Deliver results fast with autocomplete scope suggestions

Distinct style in the autocomplete suggestions

Best Practices – Search

Deliver results fast with power search tools

Best Practices – Search

Best Practices – Search results

Enable customers to browse in categories and subcategories

If relevant, offer themes as alternative entry points

Provide options to sort the results

Assist the customer finding the exact product with facetted sorting

Best Practices – Search results

Filter for highly personalized results

Browse

Filter

Sort

Theme

Filter

Filter

Filter

Filter

Best Practices – to the product page

• Search• customer already knows the specific item he wants and

has a good notion on how it can be identified• customer needs to understand the search space and

they should be able to put in the right keywords

• Browse• customer doesn’t know yet the specific item he wants• items should be categorized in a customer-logic way,

consistent with offline and online shopping experiences

• navigation should help a customer to quickly get amental model of the search space

as simple and striking as possible so it passes the blink test

a clear and effective layout

minimal and non-distracting navigation

well-positioned call-to-action

fluent shopping continuation

as simple and striking as possible so it passes the blink test

a clear and effective layout

minimalnon-distracting navigation

well-positioned call-to-action

Before you take off:3 things to take away with you

business+design are two sides of the same coin

your design framework is your compass

an engaging user experience makes a customer happy

De Regenboog 112800 Mechelen+32 (0)15 40 01 38info@higroup.com

johan.verhaegen@higroup.com

Human Interface Group

Human Interface Group

@higroup

Thank you!