The term usability has been on everyone’s lips for the past few years, but what do we mean by usability? According to ISO (International Organization for Standardization), “usability refers to the capability of software to be understood, learned, used and attractive to the user, under specified conditions of use”.
In short, making sure users have no trouble using our online store.
Great. But how do we achieve a usable eCommerce?
There are certain aspects that help determine the usability of our online business. A current trend called “User-centered design” takes into account the needs of potential customers and users to make an eCommerce site as optimized as possible.
Anyone who enters our online store must be able to browse it and complete any purchase easily, simply, flexibly, reliably and securely. We must give users control so they’re always in charge of the browsing process.
Key usability issues for your eCommerce
In this section we’ll define several key aspects that play a fundamental role in how users perceive the online store they visit. These are areas to improve to achieve good usability.
It’s essential that our online store has optimal navigation. In other words, users should be able to find what they’re looking for easily, quickly and intuitively. This is achieved through good categorization and organization; the goal isn’t to have more categories than competing eCommerce sites, but to have those categories well organized.
Good navigation in an online business makes users more comfortable and helps them find what they want in a single click. One example of good navigation is “Breadcrumbs”: the links that appear on pages as we navigate deeper into a website. They help users see the path they’ve taken to get where they are.
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Good design
An optimal design is one where all pages share a similar structure but, beyond that, good design must fit users’ logic. What does that mean?
It’s simple. We need to design our online business as if we were its future users. An easy, intuitive, recognizable and secure design is the one most likely to make users feel confident and decide to buy.
Navigation and design go hand in hand to achieve the best possible usability in our online store, because without good structure and design we worsen users’ perception of the site.
It’s also advisable to use Calls-to-Action, the interactive buttons or links in our store, such as “Sign up” or “Add to cart”. But be careful: what matters is that users can complete the purchase on their own without any problems. Our role is to guide them so they don’t run into any complications.
Clear hierarchy and content
The homepage of any online store should reflect a good hierarchy of content and sections that defines each section’s role. By keeping a visual hierarchy between elements, we can push less important information into the background.
We must provide relevant content with accurate information that answers any questions users may have when they visit our product pages.
Keep users informed
You must clearly state the online store’s purpose without hiding information, always making basic, essential details visible to any potential customer, such as payment methods and shipping options and costs.
Likewise, we must always display the contact channels users can use to reach us if they need information or have any questions. We should always offer customers as many contact channels as possible: phone number, contact form, email address, physical address (if we have a store) and even live chat to answer queries in real time.
Good usability is hugely important for an online business: if a potential customer enters our store and finds the buying process unclear, that’s a customer we’ve lost.
We must understand that poor usability in our online store can cost us sales. Our aim is not only for users to buy from our store, but to keep coming back. We want to build loyalty among users and turn them into satisfied customers.
