Design for buyers - Web Design Library - Builder.com

By Andrew Chak
(3/27/01)

In e-commerce, usability is important, but it isn't always enough to convert users to buyers. Why? Because even if a user can easily buy something on your Web site, it doesn't mean that they will buy. Users don't go to your Web site to be sold. They go there to buy. Your site needs to give them guidance and information so that they can be confident enough to buy a product.

To design a site for buyers, you must understand that a purchase decision is a process and not a single action. In his book Customer-Centered Selling, Robert L. Jolles describes the eight steps of his customer-centered decision cycle. Addressing Web commerce, we've simplified the purchase process to three basic approaches: browsing, evaluating, and transacting. Let's explore these processes though the eyes of three characters:
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