Example 1
The E-Commerce site I chose is Best Buy website (www.bestbuy.com).
1.
Visibility of system status
The Best Buy let users know what’s going on and where the users are in process.
There is always a clear label that appears in the top of the page, not matter which
process the users are. For example, if the users create an account on Best Buy
website, there is a label “create a bestbuy.com account” will show up on the top
of that page. The users will clearly know they are in “create an account” process.
2.
Match between system and the real world
The Best Buy E-Commerce system understands user’s language. It not only
understands the user’s vocabulary, but also can know users’ expectations from
context. For example, if I type “Camon camera” on the search engine of Best Buy
website, the system can understand and automatically correct is as “Canon
camera”. The system will provide the products that users want although they
spell wrong.
3.
User control and freedom
The users can easily go back and continue to next step if they need undo or redo
their operation. The Best Buy give the users freedom to explore and see content
in anywhere on its site. Best Buy provides users the option to compare different
products by price, function and feature. It helps users find appropriate products
for themselves.
4.
Consistency and standards
The Best Buy website use same labels for things that do the same thing. It uses
the same words to guide users to the next process. No matter which kind of
product you want to buy, you just have to click the “shop now” button. If you
want to see the details of the products or new service, you just have to click “see
details”. Everything in Best Buy website is consistent and standard.
5.
Error prevention
If the users want to buy a product, they will choose the option “add to cart”.
Subsequently, there is a confirmation page will pop up. It lets users make sure
and review their choice before committing. The users can check what product
they have in cart at any time. Best Buy do this can prevent a lot of mistakes for
users.
6.
Recognition rather than recall
The Best Buy provides users all the information of products, such as overview,
specifications, ratings&reviews and accessories. If users put their mouse on this
information for a second, the tool tips will show on the right and give users extra
information.
7.
Flexibility and efficiency
The Best Buy search engine can memory users’ search record. If we search same
products many time, the process will be much effective than the first time we
search. However, I didn’t find keyboard shortcuts on the site that like other
companies do, such as apple iTunes.
8.
Aesthetic and minimalist design
Look at the website of Best Buy, the full page is very colorful and fancy. Many
new products and advertisings take users’ focus. The Best Buy carefully designed
each element of whole page. This information is rich but not messy. The users
can easily find where the important information is. The search engine appears on
the top of the whole page, the users can use it to search products that they look
for after they understand the information on home page.
9.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
If the users miss some personal information when they register their account or
fill in the purchase form on Best Buy website, the system will point the mistake
out and tell users which information is missed. The users type a wrong products’
name, the system will automatically correct it into a right name like I told about
early.
10. Help and documentation
On the top right corner of Best Buy website, there is a customer service option.
After click, we can find customer help area. It lists many common problems the
user can meet. The users can easily find the solution of their problem. If they still
cannot solve their problem, they can directly contact the Best Buy by phone or
online. The Best Buy left users enough contact information.
How do you think the usability of the site you chose will affect the parent
company's business?
I think Best Buy expand its E-Commerce business can effective increase its
profits, because eliminate the limit of distance. We can imagine that we just can
go shopping at store which closes to home before we can shop online several
decades ago. The company has to open many chain retails in order to get more
market share. It will waste many operating costs. Right now, more and more
companies have their own E-commerce and the people are getting lazier and
lazier. The customers can shop online to buy any products from any shop. The
company will increase its profits and reduce the cost.
COMMENT
Personally, i don’t like shopping to the the Best Buy from online
store. Because when i ope the side that i always feel like dizzy from
there pictures, as like product models in category, colors in category,
function in category and etc. Normally, i perfect to go the store to
take choose the product i want. But after after i read your analysis
that i went the Web and found interesting about weekly deals. And i
found most of them products with low price for dealing. so, i think
The Best Buy online store is much more easier to find a great prices
than to the the entity store.
Example 2
Staples.com
1. Visibility of system status
Staples.com clearly informs the user of what is taking place on the site. The pages
load quickly, and when the user is idle, there is a flashing cursor to let them
know where they have stopped I never had the feeling that the site was not
responding to y commands.
2. Match between system and the real world
The terminology used at staples.com was easy to understand and direct. “Add to
cart” “continue shopping” “product details” etc. are all terms that cannot be
misinterpreted by novice internet shoppers.
3. User control and freedom
Staples.com displays a prominent red “X” at the top right corner of item
descriptions. If this is not the desired product it is clear how to opt out from the
item. They also have the “home” button on the top left of each screen. If at any
time a user feels they have traveled to an incorrect page, it is very easy to leave
and return to the home page.
4. Consistency and standards
Staples.com is consistent throughout the site. The same terminology is used in
the shopping mode as the check-out mode. It was clear to me what items I was
putting in my cart, the cost of each product, and total amount I spent.
5. Error prevention
Staples.com offers a complete review of your shopping cart prior to completing
the order. This review would provide some degree of error prevention so a
shopper could identify the actual items being purchased, and the quantity in the
cart. Although I couldn’t find the site I was thinking of, I recently visited a site
that had a pop up to question every move I made. “You’ve placed item B in your
cart” “Is this correct?’. I recall being quite annoyed by the constant pop ups every
time I selected something, but apparently they were going a little overboard on
the error prevention. If I find the site I’ll add it on later.
6. Recognition rather than recall
Staples.com has your shopping cart displayed at the top of each page. It lists how
many items are in the cart as well as the dollar value. This allows users to see
exactly how much they are spending and hopefully give them some indication of
what they have already entered into the cart. Staples.com also has a pop-up that
comes after about 3 minutes of inactivity that offers assistance in finding
products and help with the site.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use Accelerators
Staples.com offers frequent users the ability to sign in under an account. It
provides a history of purchases, frequently purchased products and quick
reordering of your pre-entered shopping lists. Although the occasional shopper
would not find this useful, return customers could same time in the long run by
utilizing the features.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
Staples.com provides simple command boxes that are very direct and offer
picture icons so they can be understood by all. They use a brightly colored
shopping cart icon, red “x’s for deleting things from carts, camera icons to take a
closer look at a product, and arrows for moving forward or backward. A user
could almost be illiterate and still manage easily to navigate the site.
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
I spent about 30 minutes on the staples.com site and received no “error”
messages. The closest I came to was an out of stock item. Although I don’t
constitute that as an actual error, staples.com did provide alternative
suggestions to the product I attempted to put in my cart.
10. Help and documentation
Staples.com provides a “help center” tab in the top center of each page. The help
topics are easy to understand and all clearly labeled, including such things as
how to make a return, warranty policies and price match policies. They also
provide an 800 number to reach a representative and a chat box for assistance.
Overall, I was impressed with Staples.com’s ability to meet the usability
heuristics. I have used the site numerous times in the past, but never noticed
how much effort they put into making the site user friendly. Obviously there was
a lot more thought put into the construction than I would have thought before.
COMMENT
Staples has clearly put alot of thought into their site. A couple of things you
mentioned impressed me: The offer of help that pops up after about three
minutes of inactivity. This is a good feature for a user who is "stuck" about what
to do next as well as a good inducement for a user who has maybe lost
interest. The offer of an alternative when something you ordered was out of
stock. I like that they did that rather than just inform you that your choice was
unavailable.
At first I found the menu on the left (with all of its items) a little
overwhelming. Then I realized it is set up in the same way as the aisles in its
stores. This maintains a consistent "feel" between the brick and mortar store
and the e-store.
Example 3
1. Visibility of system status
- When we are using www.expedia.com to search for hotels, flights, car rentals
and etc., the website will respond by showing the full page feedback. For
example, I try to search for a roundtrip ticket from Manchester to Los Angeles
then the website shows a full page feedback that says “searching for the best
roundtrip flights”. This is to let the users know that the website is working hard
to find the results they are looking for.
2. Match between system and the real world.
- During the searching process, you can type only just the first few letters of your
destination on the provided search box and the website will immediately pop up
the full name of your search destinations.
3. User control and freedom
-There will be the search box on almost the top left of the page, when you are not
satisfy with your first search result you can easily start the search process all
over again.
4. Consistency and standards
-Expedia website is consistent for the whole website. No matter you are trying to
search for flights, rental cars, hotels, destinations information or etc., the words
and terms that the website is using will be the same everywhere.
5. Error prevention
- Before customers proceed to the next step by clicking on the “continue
booking” button, there will be a small white box with the text “free cancellation
within 24 hours!” next to that button for customers to choose in case they change
their minds. I find that this is a very helpful feature which can help making sure
that we are satisfy with our orders.
6. Recognition rather than recall
-The full detail trip summary box on the top right of the page is always telling
what selection the customers have been made so far. This enables customers to
easily view their trip summary.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use Accelerators
- The website will automatically show users’ previous searches clearly on the
first page, this help eliminating the need to type in the destination name every
time.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
- I find that the design of the website is too complicated, not in the minimalist
style and there are also a lot of advertisements showing on each page. I had a
difficulties navigating on their website because there were too many details to
see but since expedia.com is a travel website therefore I can understand that it’s
hard to cut down on most of the content.
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
-The error messages are stated clearly in red color alphabets every time the
users forget to type in any information. For example, when the website requires
users to type in their names, last names, phone numbers and etc. and if users
forget to fill in the information, the website will promptly display the easy to
understand error messages with red color alphabets.
10. Help and documentation
- When users are dealing with complicated application forms, where the
information that they provide has to be exact, it is a good idea to provide them
with detailed instructions. Users can click on the “customer support” link that
located on the top right of the page. This feature allows users to type in their
questions or search for similar topics with their problems.
COMMENT
Expedia is a site I have not yet used but while viewing the page I like
the deals they have for every category, they do a great job with
highlight the areas of focus on the site, the search area is great
because During the searching process, you can type only just the first
few letters of your destination on the provided search box and the
website will immediately pop up the full name of your search
destinations with many cues that will help users not make
errors, and if that happens they allow you the ability to fix errors
with the option of free cancellation which I think is really good. And
they make it clear that they want to save you money all throughout
your navigation of the site, showing the strategy of low cost. You did
a good job of presenting this site because i found these same things
you discovered