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Scrutinising How Consumers Navigate And Interact With Your Website To Ensure They Can Access Information With Ease And Pleasure Danielle West E-Commerce Marketing Manager Monster UK

Three Types of Website INFORMATION-BASED news sites, academic sites, restaurant sites, film sites INTERACTIVE networking/ community sites, portals, blogs E-COMMERCE retailers, groceries, subscription-based access Categorical definitions have become less defined since Web 2.0 as most sites are interactive to a degree or will often have something for sale. These classifications are more indicative of the main objective of the site.

VIEWING PATHS http://poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/about.htm Source: Eyetrack III Study, Poynter Institute

User Psychology Motivation Are they visiting your site to consume information, interact or make a transaction? Expectation Does your current site layout resemble that of your competitors? Exceptions are if no standard layout has been defined or if your site is a leader in the industry. Navigation Is your site navigation intuitive? How is content presented? How many clicks will it take users to arrive to their desired location? Ensuring that your consumers can find the product or information they are looking for quickly and efficiently

User Behaviour on Your Site Entry & Exit Points Regardless of what analysis tools you have access to, this information is usually available. Session Time & Page Depth These metrics will vary depending on the type of site, visit source and of course, the site layout & usability. Analytical Extras Active viewing/ site overlay, Search, Campaign Analysis

ENTRY Visitors will normally access your site via one of the following methods: Your site is their homepage The site is visited frequently or is a key part of the individual’s life Enter the URL directly into the address bar The URL is obvious, easy to remember or the brand is very strong Bookmarks The site is relevant to the user and will be visited regularly Search Engines Emails Relevant, similar or recommending sites Blogs or UGC sites

EXIT Are visitors exiting upon completing a transaction? If not, why? Are there too many steps? Is it not clear what steps a user needs to take to reach the desired point? Is your site taking too long either due to server issues or bandwith heavy content? Was the visitor not given enough information to complete the transaction confidently? Did the visitor exit immediately? If so why? Was the landing page too overwhelming? Was there not enough information? Did the site lack a clear path or call to action? Were they brought there under a false or misleading pretense?

ANALYTICS Where are your users coming from? What types of sites? How is your site featured on these sites? What is the geographic breakdown & why? Session time How long are visitors on your site? Are they on too long or not long enough? Page Depth How many steps does the average visitor need before reaching their desired destination on your site? Are visitors not going beyond two pages?

ANALYTICS Page Overlays What parts of the page are they drawn to? Campaign Management & Tracking Where is the drop-off occurring? Which campaigns are most effective? Learnings can and should influence site development and design. Test, analyse, document and improve.

CASE STUDY Objectives Expand audience Increase subscriptions Generate revenue Save the planet

ARCHITECTURE & NAVIGATION Layout should be straightforward & easy to navigate for both humans and bots. This should also be applied to the copy on the site Navigation should follow or be similar to conventions set by leading sites within the industry or related sites Channels organised by popularity Content should be easy to scan until reaching article level Visitors should be able to navigate the site with ease Test early designs on a dev server with friends or family outside the office normally unfamiliar with the product. Light web users are ideal for testing as they should be the first profile in mind when creating the navigation and design. How long does it take them to access key areas of your site? Were they able find their way back? Were their visit objectives met?

EXTRAS Media such as Flash or Swish should only be added if it is necessary to communicate something about the product that can not be done in conventional text or images or demonstrate the product. Also good to bear in mind that even with Flash Search Engine SDK SEO is more of a challenge than with conventional sites. If you or your client is set on a Flash intro, then place a prominent link for users to skip the intro and track the activity on that link. FLASH or SWISH

EXTRAS blogs RSS feeds podcasts wikis linklogs streaming media As with Flash or Swish, all of the above tools should enhance the user experience as opposed to dominate it. When used effectively, they can empower users, encourage regular visits and create a sense of identity or community that marketing or money can provide. Start as you mean to go on as these tools normally require content on a regular basis. Or worse, you create an expectation with no means to fulfil giving the impression that the media was a new tool you got bored of and are now off to play space ninjas with your friends. Unless it is a key focus of the site, test it in a small area from both the developer perspective to gauge the amount of work or time involved and the visitor’s perspective to see if the service is needed or wanted. forums

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