Understanding User Behavior with Google Analytics - Analytics Help The more you know about your users, the better equipped you’ll be to make smart choices about your website, mobile app, or SaaS (software as a service) application development investments. Measure what matters, from download and first use through usage, purchases, and loyalty. Google Analytics helps you capture and understand user behavior in most kinds of applications, including mobile apps (iOS and Android), web and SaaS applications, and IOT (internet of things) devices. With minimal instrumentation, Google Analytics provides many pieces of information to help you understand the behavior of users as they interact with your site or application. User data in Google Analytics is captured using either first-party cookies, randomly generated IDs, or an SDK for mobile apps. With additional instrumentation, you can gain an even richer understanding of how people interact with individual application screens or pages on a website. Measurement planning Your measurement plan should define: Goals
Search interface: 20 things to consider What questions to ask users? What to consider while prototyping? And what are the best practices in search interface design? Depending on the project, search may be one of the most complex features. Users see just a box, but designers and developers see an intricate system and a lot of work behind the box. This post is a collection of questions we should answer before designing a solution and a check-list of elements we should think about while prototyping. Part 1. 8 questions designers should answer during the research phase to understand why users search and when and how they form queries. 1. Do they search to: Navigate, find a particular web page.Find specific information (“Weather in Prague”, “Capital of Australia”).Find advice (“How to design a search interface”).Find resources, applications, documents.Find facts, data (“How many active users do we have on our website?”). 2. What were they doing right before clicking on search? 3. Interaction with search is a conversation. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Usability Testing Accordion-Style Checkouts: 2 UX Pitfalls that 75% of Sites Neglect - Articles When benchmarking checkout flows for the first time back in 2012, we found that 14% of the top 100 US e-commerce sites used an accordion-style checkout. Accordion-style checkouts have been an ever increasing trend since then, and in our latest checkout study we’ve found that it’s now 32% of checkout flows are accordion-style. In accordion-style checkout flows, the just-completed step collapses and the new step expands – hence, the name “accordion”. The accordion concept is seen here in Walmart’s checkout where step 2 (first image) collapses into a text summary once the user progresses to step 3. While an accordion checkout often is an aesthetically pleasing option, our past 9 years of large-scale checkout testing have not found that accordion-style checkouts consistently perform better than either traditional multi-page checkouts or one-step checkouts. In this article we’ll present testing findings from our Checkout Usability study that relate directly to accordion checkouts, including:
The Definitive Guide to Shopping Cart Abandonment What is the biggest drain on your profit potential? If you sell online, it could easily be shopping cart abandonment. It doesn’t matter whether you sell one product or thousands, you’ve probably experienced it: people exiting your site after clicking the Buybutton but before the sale is complete. So how do you protect yourself? Ready for some straight talk about shopping cart abandonment? Table of Contents Introduction to a Killer: Straight Talk about Shopping Cart Abandonment Reason 1: Your Website Lacks Trust Factors. Reason 2: Your Website Has Usability Problems Reason 3: Your Checkout Process Is Long and Complicated Reason 4: Your System Requires Account Creation Prior to Checkout Reason 5: Your Shipping Charges Take Shoppers by Surprise Reason 6: You Don’t Have a Return Policy Reason 7: Your Payment Options Are Limited Reason 8: Your Security Measures Are Either Too Strict or Too Lax Reason 9: Your Shopping Cart Is Hard to Find Reason 10: Your Coupon Codes Don’t Work Reason 14: Conclusion 1. 2.
6 Ecommerce Checkout Page Optimizations for Higher Conversion [2018] Checkout page optimization is a frequently overlooked area for retailers looking for routes to increase online revenue. Instead, many online business owners and managers focus on optimizing for the front end of the website –– creating beautiful designs, site experiences and merchandising product to push customers down a purchase funnel. That makes sense. After all, this is your customer’s first impression of your business, and your first opportunity to convince them to stay, browse and buy. But when it comes to buying, an online store’s checkout far surpasses any other element of the website in terms of importance — including CTA buttons, product page specifications, and other more commonly thought-of factors. This is the time when you — unknown retailer — present risk to the consumer. There are multiple ways to increase consumer trust with your product at the checkout page. Here is that full list: 1. This tactic helps to address issue #1 and #2 in our abandoned cart list above. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Icon Usability In addition to conveying brand personality through color and style, icons must first and foremost communicate meaning in a graphical user interface. Icons are, by definition, a visual representation of an object, action, or idea. If that object, action, or idea is not immediately clear to users, the icon is reduced to mere eye candy — confusing, frustrating, eye candy — and to visual noise that hinders people from completing a task. The benefits of icons in a graphical user interface (GUI) include: Despite these potential advantages, icons often cause usability problems when they are designed without consideration for their many potential downsides. “Universal” Icons Are Rare There are a few icons that enjoy mostly universal recognition from users. The 3-line hamburger icon is an excellent example of an icon that is striving to become universally known. Other icons frequently misunderstood by users include the heart and the star. Icons Need a Text Label Relative Size Aids Noticeability
Why Product Thinking is the next big thing in UX Design Uncover the jobs the product is hired for A product has a core user experience, which is basically the reason the product exists. It fulfills a need or solves a problem people have. By that, it becomes meaningful and provides a certain value. If the problem is non-existant, or the solution doesn’t fit to the problem, the product becomes meaningless and people won’t use the product; which in turn leads to the downfall of the product. „It’s not the customer’s job to know what they want“ — Steve Jobs Clay Christensen, for instance, once tried to improve the sales of milkshakes. „Fall in love with a problem, not a specific solution“ — Laura Javier
Best Practices for Homepage Links on websites A direct, one-click link to the homepage is a must-have on websites. There are several reasons why: Going back to the homepage is a common task. There are two ways to present links to homepage: implicit, through logos, and explicit, through a link labeled Home or similar. Implicit Links to the Homepage Website logos should link to the homepage. This recommendation is a long-standing web convention. However, having logos link to the homepage is not foolproof. Position the logo in the standard location: top left. The left-aligned logo is the most familiar placement, and is where users look to find it. Our research indicates logos positioned in nonstandard locations damage usability. The logo should be visually distinct from other text on the page. If the logo looks like a navigation option or like headings on the page, it can be harder to locate. Having a logo positioned in the proper place does not produce flawless results. Explicit Links to the Homepage Include actual links called Home.