Ecommerce user journeys contain many phases where retailers can inluence outcomes, corresponding to phases within the purchase decision cycle. The PIEPP purchase decision cycle model is great at helping to explain the complexities of human decision-making when we buy things.

PIEPP stands for:

Problem recognition - Identifying a need, whether “real” or not.

Information search - The more complicated the object, or the higher its ticket price, the more the information is needed to make a purchase.

Evaluation of criteria - Assessing whether the product meets your needs - a conscious and unconscious process.

Purchase decision - Are there any barriers to stop

The role of imagery in ecommerce is most apparent when considering its use in relation to product display. The nature of conducting transactions across the internet distances the user from the physical product – so they have none of the sensory information usually available when physically present such as touching, feeling, examining, seeing the product from any angle they wish, trying it on, etc.

Online retailing distances the user from the physical product - imagery plays a vital role in filling this sensory gap

Imagery therefore plays a vital role in filling this sensory gap – and as technology advances, the extent

An ecommerce product page is the online equivalent of a product display in a bricks-and-mortar shop front – the window through which you can display, inform, eulogise and promote a product to the world.

Whether a visitor has arrived there by navigating through faceted search, via a search engine, a referring website, or an email marketing campaign – the product page presents the opportunity to place your product in front of a potential customer…

In Part 2 we discussed optimising navigation and website structure to get the most out of your information architecture. In this part we will discuss issues relating to information retrieval and how computers and humans absorb your messaging and the way you present your data.

Information Architecture & Information Retrieval

Before we start discussing website navigation and structure it is important to touch on information retrieval as a driving force behind good information architecture design.

Information retrieval is the science of searching for documents, for information within documents and for

In part 1 we discussed a rudimentary appraisal of your website’s information architecture so you could gauge whether it met some basic commercial requirements. In this part we will discuss issues relating to navigation and website structure.

What is so important about navigation and structure?

How do I get around?

Navigation - determines how easily people can find things and retrieve data from the website - a vital component of successful task completion activities that drives bottom line. Taking a user perspective - when they hit a page, will they

Integrating online and offline marketing campaigns and providing a successful multi-channel user experience is a powerful way to increase profitability and customer loyalty.

It therefore should be a priority to ensure that all your channels work together, mutually supporting each other with your brand and offering messages, and that these channels provide a seamless path for your users through to an acquisition…

In April 2009, YouTube started to blog about the beta changes that they were making to the YouTube channels – inventively dubbed “YouTube Channels 2.0″.

The new editor has some distinct advantages over the old editor and provides a much improved interface for the creation and maintenance of your channel…

Why do you need to optimise your website’s information architecture? A simple question that requires some serious thought; this is because IA (information architecture) has a big influence your website’s commercial success or failure because it is at the heart of the user experience (UX).

Who designed your IA?

How does IA design go wrong? The seriousness of some decisions made about IA are often not understood by those making the decisions.

In our experience, whilst many decision makers get many of the issues relating to IA, through common sense, commercial acumen, training and/or an autodidactic interest, they rarely know or appreciate all of the issues.

The factors from whence these issue can derive are generally…

While most designers aren’t literally asked to “make things look pretty” the general perception is that visual design is a finishing touch.

Most websites are highly functional, even those that are purely visual, there will always be functional element beyond that of a book, magazine or brochure. While turning pages is familiar to everyone, navigating a website is not always so straightforward.

In December 2008, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published version 2.0 of their Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the first major revision since 1999. These guidelines define how to produce Web content that is accessible to people with disabilities, including visual, auditory and physical, as-well as people with changing abilities due to ageing.

Version 2.0 of the W3C WCAG document is not too dissimilar from previous versions, but is far more comprehensive and includes more detail and explanation of how to tackle potential accessibility issues.