- Introduction
- Designing for Browsing Users
- Designing for Evaluators
- Designing for Regular Users
- Personalization
- Conclusion
Designing for Regular Users
Regular users have visited your web site frequently, are familiar with what you provide, and are simply interested in getting their tasks done as quickly and safely as possible. Following are some design tips that can help you reach regular users:
Don't force users to open an account. Users should be able to buy something or perform a business transaction without having to open an account and provide you with demographic information that you're interested in. It is helpful, however, to provide an option at the end of a transaction to become a member or open an account (if the user doesn't already have one)provided that you give the user some incentive for doing this. For example, you might provide a 5% discount to all accountholders/members, or provide users with some time-saving benefits the next time they do business with you by saving their address, credit card, or other such information.
Provide payment options and reassurances. This can be achieved by explaining to users how the payment information/instructions they provide are used, and mentioning that if they're still uncomfortable they can do business with you by phone or mail.
Use minimal navigation on the web pages that comprise the business transaction. For example, on the web pages that correspond to the order placement and checkout process, make sure that users can abandon the process by explicitly choosing some optionnever by accidentally clicking somewhere and losing their entered information or chosen items.
Only ask for relevant information. This will keep the process short and tolerable for the users.
Provide some notification of order and shipment details. Without some form of notification, the user may wonder whether the transaction actually completed successfully. You can provide such notification either via email or as a printable receipt at the end of the transaction.