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Have you ever visited a site only to have a complicated and confusing experience? Have you ever then blamed yourself for not being able to understand how you were supposed to navigate the site? This article by Ivana McConnell on UXPin takes a fascinating look at the psychology behind bad user experiences.
When a site is difficult to navigate, users tend to blame themselves instead of a poorly designed site. Regardless of whether the user blames their actions or the site, one thing is true: your customer had an unpleasant and frustrating time with your site and will be reluctant to return.
This realization feeds into the changing role of the designer within a tech company. The designer’s job is no longer to simply make things aesthetically pleasing; they are responsible for the experience your customer has. As McConnell says, “Designers aren’t there just to make digital products beautiful, but to make people feel good when they use them–especially when things go wrong.”
There are a number of other aspects that can determine your customer’s experience, things like poor site speed or a confusing checkout, but placing a user-friendly design at the top of the list of priorities will help your site become your customer’s favorite place online.
Before selecting your eCommerce consultant, your organization first has to decide on an eCommerce platform. This decision is a big one and includes a lot of research, a process that only gets more involved when the project is for a B2B eCommerce site. This article from eCommerce & B2B highlights five best practices to follow when selecting a B2B eCommerce platform, including the following:
Start With Writing a Business Case
Any major eCommerce project comes about as a need. Defining the business aspects that are being addressed or problems being solved by the project will make the benefits more tangible. This is also a good time to define critical success factors and measures of success. After all, if you never define what success means for the project, how will you know if you have achieved it?
Understand the Components of an eCommerce System
When researching B2B eCommerce platforms, it is crucial to know every detail of the platform in consideration. What functionality does it have out of the box? What requires an added module or custom coding? In order to better understand the features of a platform, your organization needs to know what is important to you. Establishing project priorities and scope will help you match the right platform to your project.
Integration, Integration, Integration
A B2B eCommerce site does not exist in a vacuum. There are many other systems included in the environment, including ERP, CRM, Order Management, CMS, and more. Understanding what you need and how it integrates into your potential platform from the beginning will save your organization time and money down the line.
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