Usability Optimisation Specialist | UK

Enhance searching

Search boxes have for a long time been overlooked, however, a growing number of visitors prefer using the search box rather than filtering through websites by categories/links. Traditionally keyword searches can be quite clumsy as they rely on exact keyword matches, correct spelling and don't account for punctuation in product/page names.

Our enhanced search features would be tailored to your website, but examples include:

• Search suggestion and automatic-results based on words as you type.
• Search filtering and refinement allows customers to quickly find exactly what they're looking for (can be by price or specific features).

Inline validation on enquiry forms

We help our customers get the most from their websites by monitoring page performance through the use of statistic tools such as Google Analytics. A quick change that helps to make a difference is to validate forms "inline". Rather than visitors completing forms and submitting to see any errors we can now mark any data-entry issues while the customer is completing the form.

• In the example above, several fields have been "skipped", as soon as the customer has chosen "UK" all of the required fields are highlighted. This saves the visitor time (as they don't have to wait for pages to load) and is generally less confusing as it gives immediate feedback.
• We have observed the number of seconds to complete a form drop by 50% after implementing inline validation.

Google, Bing and Yahoo sitemaps

Search Engines allow you to submit automatic sitemaps that help to speed up their page indexing and cache updates.

• A Sitemap is basically a list of all of the pages on your website. They are not always required, but if you make changes to your website on a regular basis you'll find your new pages are listed within Search Engines quicker once a sitemap is in place.
• Sitemaps also help to instruct Search Engines to index pages that your website may not link to directly. For example, you may have an archive of old pages or press releases that still contain good content but your website no longer links to them.
• The automatic Sitemaps only need to be submitted to Search Engines once and when in place they very rarely need maintenance.

404 pages

If you regularly update your website or product inventory the pages on your website will be renamed and may occasionally be removed.

• This isn't a problem for your on-site traffic as the website adapts automatically to take account of renamed/removed pages. However, there is a delay within Search Engines as they need to index the changes. The delay creates a window whereby potential new visitors can click on a link that says "404: The page cannot be found" (a complete dead end), yet the website is fully operational.
• Fortunately, we can capture 404 errors and show a newly designed page on your website that can offer visitors possible links to the page they were looking for (perhaps including alternative products or services).

Landing pages

Landing Pages are specifically designed to achieve a certain task. Tasks may be to increase customer awareness, show product variation or to advertise a certain promotion or range of products.

• If your products require expert knowledge you may require landing pages to help explain what features people should look for. Customers having seen the landing page may then find it easier to buy your products as they know which is right for them.
• If you sell similar products that vary in price dramatically a landing page can be used to show differences in quality or features. For example, pushchairs cost between £40-£400 and in principle, they all achieve the same task, but it's the level of refinement, materials and design features that can help justify the broad price range.
• If you use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising you may also wish to use landing pages to promote specific offers. For example, if on Google Adwords you promote "14MP Digital Cameras from &99.99" you wouldn't want to link to a page containing all digital cameras as people have already said they want to look at 14MP models. In this case we would design a landing page that promoted two or three of the best matching deals to increase the likelihood of a sale.

Product images - zoom & super-size

Customers need to see images of products before they consider buying online. Having good product photos is essential, they reassure the customer that you are a genuine stockist and that time has been taken to best present the products. If you have good product photography you can make more of a feature of it using zoom and super-size features.

• In addition to the reassurance customers' gain, zoom features give the customer an opportunity to look at the detail in a product. For example, if you were looking to buy a shirt, a zoom feature will allow you to see the buttons, perhaps even the quality of the stitching etc.
• There are a variety of ways to zoom images, in the example above we overlay the image on top of the website making maximum use out of all available space. We can help you choose the best method for your products.

Mobile version

Most recent mobile phones have the connection speed and screen resolution to successfully display websites. This has seen a surge in mobile traffic and the trend doesn't look likely to stop.

• To make the experience of using a mobile phone to browse your website better we can create a mobile version.
• We typically start by removing all non-essential images and fine-tune the navigation so it supports touch screens. We then refine any other interfaces (such as forms and buttons) to ensure they can be easily used.
• To see whether or not a mobile version is required we can assess your website using Google Analytics to see the percentage of visitors that have been using a mobile phone.