As we’ve seen by now, aesthetically pleasing designs don’t necessarily create more usable interfaces. Only understanding what the user will think, perceive, and predict while browsing our e-commerce can be the basis for a successful experience.
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E-Commerce Usability Principle: Learnability
It is the extent to which users can perform basic tasks they have never performed before within the system. Therefore, it is based on the users’ understanding of the project: if the user was unable to understand how to use a feature the first time he approached it, it will be quite probable that he will not learn it either in the future.
To maximize the learnable component of our website, the first activity is to minimize the cognitive load. In this sense, during the design process, it is good to take user expectations into account and match them with the design objectives, also in terms of “brand” (for example, Android users are familiar with a “back” button at the bottom of the device, while on iOS devices, the same button is located in the upper left part of the navigation bar).
E-Commerce Usability Principles: Efficiency
Efficiency measures how quickly users can perform tasks once they are familiar with the interface design. The level of efficiency is usually measured according to the number of functions learned and the percentage of users who have used the product by completing the set goal. As always, when designing an e-commerce interface, you need to keep in mind that the less user effort, the higher the conversions. For example, if the checkout page form is overloaded with fields to fill out and therefore requires a lot of effort from users, this will not lead to high conversion rates.
E-Commerce Usability Principles: Memorability
Memorability pertains to the ease of re-establishing user proficiency on the platform after a long period of non-use. The main guideline for improving memorability is to create a design that is as readable as possible for users and that generates strong mental models. Facilitating users, on the one hand, to find their ways to complete a task and, on the other, to be able to easily adapt to the proposed constraints means that, even after a long period of non-use, it remains intuitive for the user to remember the features of the platform.
E-Commerce Usability Principles: Error Prevention
How many mistakes do users make, how serious are these, and how easily can they be “recovered”? Estimating both how many possible mistakes a user can make and how easy it will be for him to “recover” from such unwanted actions allows you to improve the interface right from the design stage. Finding the most usable design also involves “calculating” what the wrong performances could be, i.e., errors due to incorrect or incomplete information on how to achieve the goal and possible unconscious splits, such as typing errors or incorrect choices on the menu dropdown.
E-Commerce Usability Principles: Satisfaction
How pleasant is it to use our e-commerce design? User satisfaction is the level of satisfaction, engagement, and comfort that the user perceives while using the platform. Satisfaction is therefore what drives users to convert into buyers and want to return to our website.
Also Read: eCommerce Website: Tips To Improve Your Website Design UX
