Components of online products

Online Products are defined mainly by three major components
1.Interface:This is basically the various elements that you see on any website,mobile APP.
2.Interaction:This is about how user interact with the various component present on the Website,Mobile APP.
3.Navigation:This is about how user navigate through the various pages on the site/APP i.e the various links that are present on site and APP

The success of any site depends on how well these three attributes works for the user.Each of these components have various guidelines that needs to be followed

Interface

Reduce the clutter

Ensure that number of elements on the page are optimize to the space available.The elements should be arranged such that it become easy for user to access each element on the site.In case more number of element required for a particular action show them in different steps instead of showing them together on a page.
The major challenge arises when it is responsive design.In this case the design should be tested in various devices and should be adjusted to the size of device

Provide proper textual information

Each element should be self explanatory i.e user should be easily able to understand what is the use of that element.In case any additional information to be shown tool tip should be attached to that element

Arrange components as per user requirement

All the component should be arranged based on the user goal .For ex.E-commerce may have detail page about a product which may different information segments such as price ,offers,specification,Reviews,popularity etc...These components should be arranged as per the order in which user would like to see these segments.It helps in easily understanding the information and

Interaction

Make it easy to use:

The elements to be used for each steps should be chosen such that it is easy to use.For ex. in order to select a  product type we should check whether a drop down would be better or click based selection would be better.This should be chosen based on how many options are available for user to chose from.In case less option provide click base selection or else dropdown

Reduce the clicks:

Good experience also depends on the number of  events/clicks a user has to perform to achieve a particular task.For example when user want to search about a particular product on a e-commerce site ,how many clicks does he do to accomplish this particular task.The component should be chosen such that number of clicks get reduced.


Navigation

Provide appropriate links:

User comes on a site with a particular goal.Identify the various things which user want to accomplish through your site.The navigation should be defined by clearly understanding the user needs and providing the navigation which would help in achieving those needs.

Understand the current user flow through goals:

The current user behavior on the site helps you understand how user is navigating through your site.Identify the area where there is more drop out and improve those components through better navigation

Easy discovery of links:

User can easily navigate through your site only when he easily find the navigation links.Ensure that navigation link are placed at contextually right positions so that user can easily discover those links.

Home page -What should it have?

Home page is the face  of any online brand.People who visit any website ,generally visit the home page of the site at least once.Home page therefore plays a critical role in building the brand of the company in user's mind.When there are so many site competing with each other it is very important to leave an everlasting impression on user mind in order to make him visit your site repeatedly.
                                                    In this blog ,I will jot down the few important points related to home page

1.Easy search:

In case your site sells some product or leads it is important that the user who visits your site find those product easily.Therefore search become critical.The search should be simple and easy and ideally it should expose user to maximum product or listings

2.Past search history:

When user come repeatedly to your site there are chances that he may be looking for the things what he searched earlier.The search history helps him search without entering the criteria again.It works mostly in online commerce company but not in e-commerce companies.

3.Recommendations:

Based on user search behavior,there should be recommendation which helps user to easily find what he needs.Recommendation also helps in improving conversion.Recommendations should be place at the top of home page so as to ensure that people sees them

4.Testimonials:

The trust about the website can be built in user mind by showing the testimonials of the user who have used your website and products.This is more applicable for a high involvement product such as cars,property.Video testimonials can have a comparatively higher impact than the normal testimonials.

5.New features display

When something new is launched in your site it is best to showcase it on home page it helps in building awareness among the people.The awareness can help in building traction to your new features.

6.User engagement data

When there are blogs which your site creates it should be dispalyed on home page so that people who are coming just to learn can use them to improve your knowledge.It also helps in creating positive impact about the brand in the user's mind.

                                       

What defines good user experience?

Good user experience is critical for increasing repeat visitors to your site or APP. A good experience can bring in traffic without much effort and if the experience is not good it takes lot of effort to bring back the user. User experience is a function of various attributes which a product has.  In this blog I would try to jot down these attributes which define the user experience for online products.

                                        Every product has two component tangible product and intangible product. Tangible product is the one which can be seen and used such as Website/APP. Intangible product can only be experienced such as Service. User experience is combination of these two components.

 

 

The various attributes which defines user experience are as below

Tangible Product

 Easy Discovery of information

A user coming to site/APP will be able to do a transaction only when he is able to find the product he is looking for. Every site should have various ways in which the user can discover information he requires. Some of the most common method

• Search: This is the most common method that is used by most of online product to allow user to search. The search here should be comprehensive enough. Elastic or Solar search can help in improving performance of the search.
• Recommendations: These are basically based on user behavior some information is recommended to him

Correctness of data:

Every user wants information which is up to date. In case, he finds information which is wrong, the trust of the user goes down and overall has negative impact on the brand of the product. When the data is not correct, user will move to other site

Richness of data:

The data which is shown to the user should be rich enough to make sense to the user. Ex.. In case of eCommerce, which sell various products, each product should have complete information which help user in deciding the right product for him. In case of incomplete information he may not buy the product.

Easy to use interface: 

No matter how good is the information and feature on the site or app, if user is not able to use and understand it easily it will be of little benefit to the user. The various elements used on the site/APP should be selected such that it requires least effort in order to perform the various actions which user wants to perform. The best practices for UX should be followed.The interface should be made easy and simpler to user in order to improve the conversion. The below are guidelines for good user interface

• Use the right element: The element which is used should be easy to user. There may be various elements used for particular action eg In order to select a product category drop down, open selection or simple text box can be used. In this case identify which is more suitable based on volume of data and device
•  Space them properly: The elements should not be very close to each other. They should be separated properly so that they do not interfere with each other. This is very important for mobile devices.

Organization of information: 

Information makes sense to the user only when they are presented at right place and in right context. When user browses through a site, the information should be presented in the manner in which user wants.

Effective Navigation:

When user comes to any site, he browses through the various pages of the site. When it is easy to navigate, user would go through many pages and be engaged on the site. This means all the links of your site should be easily accessible to the user to navigate to the appropriate pages. There are various through which navigation can be defined

1. Header: All the important links can be embedded in the header so that user can easily navigate

2. Footer: Footer can be used effectively to help user know more about the brand.

  Intangible Product                                                            

 Service delivery:

When user comes to site/APP and does some transaction such as buys a product, he may need offline services which many include delivering product, connecting with seller etc.This service delivery plays an important role in overall experience of the product. In case online experience is good but the service delivery was not up to the mark he may not visit the site next time

Complaint resolution:

When user raises a complaint, it needs to be addressed effectively so that he gets satisfied. In case he is not satisfied, he can shift to other brand which may lead to loss of valuable customer. Costumer acquisition being a costly affair, it is critical that existing customers are satisfied and retained.

Timelines

The service should be delivered on time.When the service offered is not provided on time it leads to dissatifaction