Early Problems: Whose Mental Model Is It, Anyway?

In the case of Rural Net problems arose early on with the development of the original interface to the web-site. This was based on user actions, with a button bar whose topic heading represented verbs rather than nouns.

Consequently, the interface was centred around a number of actions - enquire, submit, pay, notify and monitor. These actions could have a number of interpretations that were entirely subjective and dependent on the users' interpretation of the actions that they wished to perform. For instance: in the case of a user checking their local Council tax bill, would this be an enquiry, monitoring a payment, submitting a payment or paying? It assumed a particular mental model for users which was in practice impossible to predict. This problem was further exacerbated by the fact that none of the content providers were in a position to provide the specific functions promised by the action style topic headings.

The content providers were not happy with the original action-based interface. They anticipated that their end users would be put off by the use of language such as: "Citizen's View" and "Technical Annex". Structuring the site in this way also made the assumption that people would not visit Rural Net out of idle curiosity but with a clear goal of what they wished to achieve.

The original interface also included a personalization process, which gave the impression that new users must go through a registration procedure to access the site. Given that the site was sponsored by local government and the police, asking visitors for personal details could be seen as intrusive, although in fact, registration was optional and the intention was to help people viewing the site from public access terminals to save their favourite options.

The site also included a map style interface which gave access to geographical information in the region. This application had to be downloaded - a slow and tedious process which most users would give up on. The application itself was idiosyncratic and difficult to use.

Finally, there was no adequate help or site map and the search facility did not work. Given the obliqueness of the site's content headings this made Rural Net extremely difficult for the average user to navigate.

Ecommerce Customer Interface

Defining Customer Interface Requirements

There are three main areas for consideration when designing a customer-centric user interface:

1. Function: What customers want to do (tasks).

2. Logic: What steps customers must take to accomplish their tasks (organized sequences). This area must include signals and messages from memory. Look for natural mappings, like menus that provide choices.

3. Look and Feel: What customers see and how they intuitively operate the user interface. The look and feel evokes emotion, which is from memories of the customer that are applied to a current website

After you've identified your key customers, you would analyze what their key shopping tasks are. As mentioned in previous chapters, online shoppers have three main tasks: find specific products, shop and compare products, and browse for information, education, or entertainment.

The next requirement is to understand the logic in their current shopping processes. This logic comes from their experiences shopping for products at retail, in catalogs, or 1 room online stores.

The "look and feel" sets the ambiance and tone of the online store. The operational components and content required in the current shopping environments can be applied online.

Key Steps in Defining a Customer Interface

There are four key steps in defining a user interface:

1. Prepare a web task workflow analysis (function).
2. Specify design features, standards, and performance (look and feel).
3. Define site navigation and information architecture (logic).
4. Identify customer interface data elements and relationships (logic).

While understanding the requirements and the process may seem intimidating, it actually is mot. It just requires common sense and a rational mind.

Apply this information to a simple example. Say, for instance, one of your key product categories is jewelry, top-selling products are bracelets, and your key customers are women between the ages of 35 and 45.

The customer's task is to purchase a bracelet. The shopping logic is this: Look for a jewelry category, and then look for a bracelet sub-category. (Actual logic, however, is determined through analysis of current shopping habits.) The look and feel depends on your store's brand and positioning. If it is positioned on having only the finest jewelry, attributes are required that match customer expectations for it.

Customer requirements define the attributes and characteristics of the user interface. The interface reflects customer needs and expectations.

Formulating Value Proposition and Branding Objectives

The value proposition and brand of your store must be clearly discernable starting on the home page and on every page thereafter. It is reflected by your customer care center with each phone call. It is also reflected in the box that shows up at the customer's doorstep. You may not have control of all aspects of the customer experience, but knowing your company's value proposition and branding objectives helps you engineer these values into those parts that you can affect.

For example, if your value proposition is ease of use, you can reinforce this by making each major customer task easy to complete. For example, Apple is an ease-of-use player, so if the online Apple store were difficult to use, it would drain a great deal of value from the brand and the value proposition. Each page must reflect customer-focused category names and preferred navigational models.