A 2004 study by Forrester Research sought to explore that question, by asking “what are the factors most likely to drive repeat visitors to a website?”  Not unsurprisingly three of the four factors which came back referred directly to design issues.  It is good to reflect on the fact that how you design your site therefore directly impacts its effectiveness to your business.

In many ways, website design has stabilised over the last number of years; with larger companies who dominate the Internet bringing stability, and very often a common interface approach, based on best practice.  These companies understand and embrace the conclusions from the Forrester report and so they concentrate on is findings:

Ease of use – how easy is it to navigate the site, to carry out the task I want to fulfil, to get a phone number or email address from, in the midst of a busy hectic work environment?

Download time – is my time wasted with irrelevant graphics or indulgent sales messages, or can I get straight to fulfilling my task quickly and easily?

Freshness – the site must convey a sense of clean, crisp, brightness, with plenty of functionality, displayed in an uncluttered, helpful fashion.  Additionally the site must have fresh content, provided as a result of an identified publishing schedule.

Tomorrow’s e–commerce winners will be the sites that use design to help customers accomplish their goals better, faster and more easily. The Internet has come of age as a service medium and has the potential, if harnessed correctly, to liberate customers rather than frustrate and restrain them.

The Internet and email allow us to market to individuals more effectively than we ever have before. There’s nothing new in talking to customers; we just have an improved chance of getting results with effective well thought out design. With the channel surfing mentality of web–browsers we have a lot more to lose, a lot more quickly, if we don’t find out what we need to know and change the way we do things.

It takes discipline to design and create an effective website. Part of that discipline is talking to customers and effectively translating their needs, attitudes and behaviours into a productive and fruitful online experience.  Ignoring what customers are trying to do when they visit your website, you will be irrelevant and frustrate them.  Embracing their needs, even above and beyond your own desire to get your marketing messages across, will enhance your brand and make your customers happy.

Your website must be designed and built with the same attention to detail and architectural principles as the physical spaces in which people shop. The Internet presents similar issues and design challenges to that of traditional channels. Good e–commerce sites use various design elements to convey a sense of security and trust that go beyond the technical aspects of enabling secure transactions over the web.

The stabilising of website design over the past years is something which we should all welcome.  It makes the web a better and easier place for its billion plus users.  This is not to downgrade the design of a website to a commoditised service, rather it puts the discipline of effective, commercially focussed web interface design where it belongs – right at the centre of a successful online venture.