Site structure impact on sales?

by Otto+
7 replies
  • ECOMMERCE
  • |
Hello,

I work at an e-commerce company which sells replacement parts, we carry thousands of products which fall into several categories & subcategories and at the same time, fit different brand, model and version items.

Currently the only way for an user to find any part he needs is to provide the brand, model and version of the item he has using a set of select boxes, after that it would be taken to a page with the list of all the categories and then after clicking one of the categories, see a list of all the parts that match what he was looking for.

There is no other way to navigate the site, there is no link to the categories or subcategories on the home page.

Would this have any impact on the purchase decision of the users?

Would the current navigation flow (via select boxes) give the users a "weird" experience and reduce the change that they place an order?


I will appreciate your thoughts.

Kind regards,
Otto
#impact #sales #site #structure
  • Profile picture of the author kjamesnv
    This seems like a situation where you should do some usability testing. Have some people who have not been to your site before, try to locate different products. Observe them and see if they are able to find the items easily. If they can't then you need to re-think your navigation, search etc.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8885474].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Etoot
    Why not putting Search facility in your site, so that the user can just type in the desired part name and he is immediately taken to that particular page. It will greatly increase your sales/leads.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8885737].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Purchase
    Access to top level categories and a search facility are important - these are basics on 99% of ecommerce sites. Online shoppers like to browse for similar items, and requiring information from them straight away may put people off.

    To be honest, look through your analytics and see which steps have high exit and bounce rates. This should give you a good indication of what's working for you and what's not.

    What are your competitors doing? If your number 1 competitor does it a certain way, there's probably a good reason why.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8886255].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author amcg
    Originally Posted by Otto+ View Post

    Hello,

    I work at an e-commerce company which sells replacement parts, we carry thousands of products which fall into several categories & subcategories and at the same time, fit different brand, model and version items.

    Currently the only way for an user to find any part he needs is to provide the brand, model and version of the item he has using a set of select boxes, after that it would be taken to a page with the list of all the categories and then after clicking one of the categories, see a list of all the parts that match what he was looking for.

    There is no other way to navigate the site, there is no link to the categories or subcategories on the home page.

    Would this have any impact on the purchase decision of the users?

    Would the current navigation flow (via select boxes) give the users a "weird" experience and reduce the change that they place an order?


    I will appreciate your thoughts.

    Kind regards,
    Otto
    The more intuitive your UI/UX is, the more sales you'll make. I think folks base their UI on the two most popular ecommerce websites - Amazon/Ebay - when they would probably be better placed to focus on the needs of their customers instead.

    There are best practices out there - research them here on WF and elsewhere, implement them and you should see results.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8886438].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Otto+
    Thank you for all the answers so far, I have found them very helpful and will try to apply some of the recommendations given.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8887089].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Solid Commerce
    Yes, lots of super helpful information in this thread.

    I would definitely agree, in that usability testing is key. I would look into connecting with some people who would WANT to use your site. Ie, someone from your intended audience. Sit them down, if you can, and find out what they would want out of your site, if they could decide for themselves.

    Basically, you want -- in very general terms -- to make it as EASY as possible for your customers/visitors to find what they're looking for with minimal effort.

    How you go about solving that puzzle is totally up to you, and is generally where a bit of creativity comes into play.

    This article from eConsultancy the other day might have some great inspiration:

    Which ecommerce sites are getting it right? Here's 21 of the best... | Econsultancy
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8890007].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author usability
    Originally Posted by Otto+ View Post

    [B]Would this have any impact on the purchase decision of the users?
    Hi Otto,

    I've got to agree that usability testing is really important here. If you're unable (by either time or budget constraints) to do testing in-house, you could always try a 3rd party professional usability testing company like userlytics.com. I do some work for them occasionally, and they've got some pretty cool options for anything from planning to analysis.

    Another option could be to try to test it on a few people you know who don't know the site, who are as close to your target demographic as possible. They could be friends or acquaintences in a pinch. It would be better than nothing!

    I hope you've found some good information by now and that it's helped you with your continued web dev projects.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8975103].message }}

Trending Topics