In e-marketing, the website experience itself is vital. Take for example the fact that website design can affect the final outcome of online transactions. The aesthetics affects the whole credibility of a business and its website, and this in turn can affect the feeling of security and resulting decision on purchases. In other words, the more a website is liked, the more it improves the attitude towards the site. In addition to the effects of the aesthetics of a website, the ‘Navigation’, ‘Usability’ and ‘Complexity’ all affect potential effectiveness of a website and in turn a sites e-marketing ability.
Navigation and Usability Being able to find information fairly easily and creating a state of flow whereby the user without too much effort, is able to surf around your site comfortably, is the basis of good navigation. An example of good navigation can be to have a static menu that is visible on every page, in the same location. A menu across the top of web-page is exactly the same on every page in the site and this allows the user to easily access any area of the site with one click of the mouse.
If a website includes transactions, then the ability to access the ‘Shopping Basket’ and ‘Checkout’ facilities should be simple, perhaps with a static menu. A very popular concept in web design and by Internet strategists is the ‘Three-Click Rule’ and this rule is that anything you need to find on a website should be within ‘three clicks of the mouse’. If a user has to go through more than 3 pages from any other given page on a website in order to find something, then the navigation needs to be improved.
Complexity Another example of a simple to use menu structure is the Yahoo homepage (i.e. yahoo.co.uk) whereby despite there being over 100 menu choices, the layout is such that the complexity of the site is not overpowering and confusing. Generally though, simplicity is key and anything which interferes or clutters a website, making it more complex, should be avoided unless it definitely offers a benefit.
Functionality In addition to site architecture and navigation, the download speed of a site can be essential. Bad download speed, can lose a customer, with a customer who has problems with the download speed of a given site, often likely to surf for another alternative site. These days with the mass use of broadband, this is les of an issue, but still be careful. Software packages such as Photoshop offer you the option to save a copy of a picture/photo as a web optimised, lower file size version (using the ‘File à Save for Web’ menu option). By trying to keep all pictures to below 50k where possible, a website will load far faster and the affects of this site design, will have a direct impact on the e-marketing of the site.