Website Evaluation
These days, one's Internet presence is an integral part of interaction with the customer, and should correspondingly be regularly checked and optimised. In addition to the classic dimensions of attractiveness, ergonomics, and availability, the scope of the website's functions and the quality of the underlying processes are of crucial importance, because only then is the website an integrated part of the actual business processes.
Understanding Customer Expectations
When it comes to website evaluations, which Vocatus basically accompanies from the initial idea right through to ongoing improvement of the web presence, we firstly ascertain the expectations users actually have of the website. For example, only if functions the user wants (such as price information, brochure downloads, or an order function) are actually available do secondary criteria such as the website's attractiveness and ergonomics become relevant.
We can thus not only ascertain which functions on a website could be improved, but also the areas in which your customers particularly appreciate the improvement.
Observing Surfing Behaviour
In the next step, respondents take part in personal usability tests in which they are asked to carry out specific procedures on the website under assessment, for example, to configure a product or make an order or booking. All the actions and movements of the mouse on the website are recorded using special software and on video.
The testers are simultaneously asked about all the interactions so that one also gets information concerning where they would have anticipated a specific function, or what the user would actually have expected. The mouse and video evaluations allow one to make detailed recommendations and deduce measures that can be taken, particularly to improve the structure of the menu.
Analysing People Who Break off from Using the Site
Websites aren't an end in themselves: the company generally wants to use them to directly or indirectly generate turnover. This is why one should conduct an analysis of those who break off from using the site in the case of processes that directly drive sales, such as an enquiry, a booking, or an order.
In such cases, one finds out in detail why, for example, an ordering process is broken off shortly before the actual order, so as to deduce recommendations specific to the website and customer segment.
The multiplicity of possible reasons for breaking off, the stages at which this happens, and the various ways in which the company can influence them, make these projects extraordinarily revealing. Our experience at Vocatus shows that a few changes we recommend can markedly reduce such behaviour.
Process Evaluations
At the heart of most corporate presences is the process that turns the potential customer who's getting information about the product into a real customer. This is why Vocatus generally uses website evaluations to also test the underlying processes downstream from the website to ensure that the transition from the online world to the real world actually works.
A company's Internet presence can thus have been optimised in accordance with all the rules of website design, but if the processes that are thereby set in motion (such as bookings, orders, and enquiries) fail to function with sufficient reliability, the user will never visit the website again.
And this is the very place where our experience shows that one often encounters serious shortcomings. Inadequate process quality casts a poor light upon the website, but above all on the company as a whole, and no successful company can afford this in the long term.
Expert Evaluation and Benchmarking
In addition to assessing the website from the users' perspective, it can also make sense to assess it within the framework of an expert evaluation. Particularly if comparisons with competitors' websites are to be drawn, or a finally programmed website doesn't even exist yet, an evaluation of this sort is an ideal option.
An expert evaluation is also frequently carried out in order to supplement and/or interpret a corresponding assessment by users. This involves not merely ticking off checklists, but coming up with concrete benchmarks and suggestions for the areas in need of optimisation, which can then be directly implemented by your specialist department. In such cases, it goes without saying that we're at your side with not only our market research know-how, but also the necessary IT expertise.