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Articles from INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS (263 Articles)
A new survey has found out what web browsers find most frustrating about websites
Study shows most annoying website attributes
Posted July 31, 2012 |
As many jewellery retailers contemplate expanding their web presence
into online retail, a new consumer study has provided a guide of what
features to provide and what to avoid.
The poll of more than 36,000 respondents by online Melbourne-based survey company Webreep has identified a series of factors that contributed to a positive or negative experience in browsing a website.
‘Hard to find information’ was nominated most frequently as the biggest deterrent to enjoying a website, followed by slow download speed, slow response to emails, bad quality information, and unattractive design.
The study gained greater significance in light of a PwC and Frost & Sullivan report also released last week, which found 53 per cent of consumers aged over 15 are shopping online. The Australian online retail economy is also tipped to hit almost $27 billion by 2016.
The two studies are sure to resonate with Australian jewellery retailers, many of who have already made efforts to refine their online presence.
Nationwide Jewellers recently announced a website solution option for its members, which will be available to browse at the upcoming Sydney fair. Nationwide managing director Colin Pocklington told Jeweller that its web developer was already aware of many of the consumer bugbears.
“In terms of our own observations, these are obviously things people don’t like,” Pocklington told Jeweller. “The designer we use lectures at TAFE on web design, so he’s up with guidelines on best practices. He knows what we should and shouldn’t do. Sometimes you can’t have everything, we may have ideas and he might say ‘I could do that but it makes online response times slow’.”
Pocklington said poor response times to consumer questions via email were also unacceptable for a business operating online.
“We’ll be doing all of the online showroom part of the website [where people browse, enquire, and order jewellery] centrally here at Nationwide,” he said. “If consumers send an email through it, it will be answered here, because we can’t take the risk that the retailer may not respond. If you don’t respond, the consumer will quickly lose faith.”
The attributes consumers valued most in a website included ease of use, testimonials, attractive design and high quality and relevant information.
Pocklington said that Nationwide hadn’t considered testimonials, but may consider them in light of the study. He also believed that providing free and useful information in tandem with selling products made websites enticing.
“We’re going to have a lot of other reference material on buying jewellery and looking after and cleaning jewellery [available on the website],” he said. “It’s good to give something for free, it gives something worthwhile back to the consumer beyond the product.”
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