Scott gunter usability sciences conversion conference 2015 10 ways to improve findability

10 WAYS TO IMPROVE

FINDABILITY

CONVERSION CONFERENCE

MAY 2015

Scott Gunter - Usability Sciences@usabilitydotcom

[email protected]

#convcon

#convcon @usabilitydotcom

I want you to think about the last time you visited a website where you were

intending to buy something.

Now, I’d like you to raise your hand if you found exactly what you were

looking for.


Over 50% of website

visitors are unable to find

what they are looking for

Source: Usability Sciences 10 million+ site intercept survey responses across

500+ websites


Why is findability a big issue?

Every website in the world has one thing in common.

It’s a place where people go to find something whether it be a

product, service, what your friends is doing, etc.

So it shouldn't shock you that visitors not being able to find what

they were looking for is the top reason for visit failure.


Findability

Site Search

On-site keyword search

Navigation

Visual and interactive

presentation of the taxonomy

Taxonomy

Hierarchical structure of a

website’s content

Major influencers of poor findability

10 Ways To Improve Findability



(1) Align category labels to

how your customers think

not how your business thinks

Taxonomy


Lamp

Waste Containers

Internal jargon not matching customers way of thinking

Overly wordy labels for SEO purposes

Trash

Cans


(2) Correctly categorize

products

Taxonomy


Incorrectly located within “Scary” Costumes

Incorrectly located within “TV & Movie” Costumes


(3) Taxonomy structure

should match how

customers think

Taxonomy


Kitchen & Tableware

We recently conducted taxonomy research for

a discount variety store’s website.

The goal was to develop a user-driven

taxonomy. We did that by conducting several

rounds of card sorting exercises with target

customers.

One key learning that came out of this research

was related to where food products should be

located within their taxonomy.


Food Household

What we learned is that customers preferred to

group food items separate from kitchen-related

items.

Providing a separate Food category as well as

changing the original category to Household

made it easier for customers to locate items on

the website.


A taxonomy is like your garage. After years

and years of adding stuff to it, it might be

time to take everything out and reorganize

it.

At least once a year, evaluate your

taxonomy to ensure it is meeting your

customer’s needs.


(4) Always provide an option

to ‘browse by category’ on

mobile channels

Navigation


Mobile Website Mobile App

Where is the ‘browse by

category’ option?


(5) Don’t rely on

manufacturer information

alone for product filtering

Navigation


Because this apparel site is only using

manufacturer supplied sizes they ended

up with multiple attributes that mean the

same thing to participants: X-Large and

1X, XXL and 2X, and XXXL and 3X.

This creates confusion and makes the list

of attributes unnecessarily long.

In this example, like sizes should be

consolidated making it easier for

costumers to find the right product.


(6) Provide a user

definable price filter

Navigation


Always provide pre-defined price ranges in

addition to a user-definable price range


(7) Don’t overuse mega

menus

Navigation


Notice the number of columns as well as the redundant use of category labels like Baby

Shower, Wedding, Bridal Shower, Carnival, and Graduation. This makes it difficult for

visitors to find the right category.


Page

fold

Not only do you have an overwhelming number

of columns and vertical groupings, but you also

have graphical elements that, in our experience,

will be viewed as ads.

Additionally, the menu completely covers up the

contents of the page and that’s at a pretty high

monitor resolution (1920 x 1080).


While this next example is light on the number of categories displayed, the use of

graphics along with the a mixture of font sizes and colors makes it difficult for visitors to

quickly decide which category to select. So again, be careful to not over use your mega

menu.


(8) Handle search

misspellings gracefully

Site Search


Party Supply

Website

Appliance

Website


Clothing

Website

(1) Link to assumed term(s) (2) Assumes what you meant

Handling Misspellings


(9) Make SKU #s

searchable

Site Search


Either the site doesn’t allow me to search by SKU # or the shirt is

longer available. Either way I’m not happy because I had money in

hand and couldn’t buy what I wanted.

So if you are the site owner, how do you handle a situation like

this?


First off, you should always visitors to search by SKU #.

Here’s why…

We conducted research for a jeans brand several years ago that, at the time, did not

offer visitors the ability to search by SKU #. The research uncovered that searching by

SKU # was a highly desired feature. After adding this capability to their search

engine, they experienced a lift in overall sales that the client tied directly to the

addition of this capability.


Unfortunately, the item “T32670” is no longer available.

However, here are some similar products to choose from.

Now, if you offer searching by SKU #, but the product is no longer available then a

different approach is needed.

Our recommendation is to leverage your database of discontinued SKU #’s so that

when a search is conducted on one of those SKU #’s you can return a list of similar

products along with a statement indicating that “Unfortunately, the item you searched

for is no longer available. However, here are some similar products to choose from.”

This could potentially help “save the sell” for your website.


(10) Provide a consistent

and seamless experience

across channels


…one consistent and seamless

experience across channels…

…wherever, whenever.

In Store

Desktop

Mobile

Email

Social Media

TabletDesktop

Mobile


Button

“Find item in store” link overlooked on mobile

device.

This was because a link was used on mobile

rather than the more easily noticed button on

desktop and tablet versions of the site.

This inconsistency directly impacted the visitors

ability to purchase and is why consistency is

important for the omni-channel shopper.

Techniques for exposing the root cause of

findability issues

Do You Have A Findability Issue?



The fastest, most productive route to identifying findability

issues is to deploy a site intercept survey.

How successful were you in

finding your desired product?

What’s the purpose

of your visit?

If you were not

successful, why?

What product are

you looking for?

Beginning of visit… …end of visitTailor questions

Conduct deeper analysis

If your taxonomy is at fault…


Stakeholder Interviews

Card Sort or Tree Test

Competitive Taxonomy Assessment

Focus Groups

Tree Test

Stakeholder Interviews provide the necessary background for a successful

research project.

Card Sorting helps you find out how people think your content should be

organized.

Tree Testing helps you evaluate an existing taxonomy.

Expert Review of a competitor’s taxonomy targets understanding how your

competitors approach their online taxonomy.

Focus Groups provide perspective from target audiences on their preferences

for locating information.

Tree Testing is an effective method for validating whether a proposed

taxonomy will make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for.

Discovery &

Recommendation

Development

Background

Validation

Card Sorting

Card Sorting is a process where participants are asked to arrange products from your website into groups that make sense to them.

Then they are asked to name each group


Tree Testing

Tree Testing is a process where participants are asked to identify the location of content within a simplified text version of your site structure (the tree).


This ensures that the structure is evaluated in isolation, nullifying the effects of navigational aids, visual design, and other factors.

If your navigation is at fault…

Lab-based usability test

8 one-on-one sessions

Perform series of designed tasks focusing on navigation

“Think out loud” while working

Areas of difficulty are tracked

Appropriate questioning to probe on experience

Provide insights for improving the navigation


If your site search is at fault…


How relevant were

the search results?

What search terms

were used?

Which products

were selected?

What order were

the products listed?

If your site search is at fault…


Tips for Addressing Poor Findability

1. Be careful of using internally-driven category labels; align to how customer’s think

2. Make sure products are in the right category; resist urge to list products in multiple places

3. Taxonomy structure should match how customers think; reevaluate yearly

4. Browsing by category should be readily available regardless of device

5. Don’t rely on manufacturer information alone for product filtering


Tips for Addressing Poor Findability

6. Provide both pre-defined and user definable

price filters

7. Resist the urge to overuse mega menus

8. Handle search misspellings gracefully

9. Make SKU #s searchable; recommend similar

products if SKU is unavailable

10. Provide a consistent and seamless shopping

experience across all channels


Research Techniques for Exposing

Findability Issues


Site Intercept Survey

Taxonomy

Stakeholder Interviews

Card Sorting

Tree TestingCompetitive Assessment

Focus Groups

Navigation

Usability Test

Site Search

Search Optimization

Survey

10 WAYS TO IMPROVE

FINDABILITY

CONVERSION CONFERENCE

MAY 2015

Scott Gunter - Usability Sciences@usabilitydotcom

[email protected]

#convcon

Design

Scott gunter usability sciences conversion conference 2015 10 ways to improve findability