Exclaimed one of the usability professionals during one of the live critiques of a retailer’s site. The retailer sunk into their chair and didn’t respond. Yet over three days of the Web Design and Usability conference in Orlando, many retailers volunteered to have their sites reviewed live on stage by design and usability specialists, in front of hundreds of their peers.

Delivered with a genuine desire to help, the advice was invaluable throughout the sessions as it continued: “We have a usability problem”, “you may want to think of doing something better here.”, “That seems a little bit confusing”, “I’m not sure what you are trying to achieve with this.” That was interesting…how do we find that again?” “What were you trying to achieve with that?”

The Conference covered Usability and Design in a very effective manner. In addition to real time reviews, the theory and practice of succeeding in design and usability were dealt with via contemporary case studies, research, and best practice presentations.

Participants learned how to choose a designer, how to run and manage the process, challenges to over come, tools to use and best practice outcomes. Through the sessions specific focus topics were covered with some detail such as search and navigation, checkout, SEO, mobile, product pages, social community, new technologies and of course maximising conversions.

Highlights for me included the free private 30-minute sessions with usability and design experts, where I have to say Lasoo.com.au passed with flying colours for all four sessions. The importance of research was highlighted, mixing both quantitative and qualitative research along with your site analytics - “make decisions from facts and not opinions”.

Overwhelmingly everything was focussed on understanding that you have real people with real needs looking at your sites and in other locations talking about you or your competitors. Understanding, listening, and ensuing you interface with them in the most intuitive, relevant and easy way is the secret of success.

Paul Marshall

“If you’re going to be naked, you’d better be buff!”

Wise words from Best Buy’s SVP and GM John Thompson, the keynote opening address at day two of the Internet Retailer’s Web Design & Usability conference in Orlando. Speaking of course about the new transparent and exposed nature of operating online, in an evolved consumer world, North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics, PCs, appliances and entertainment software outlined the key strategies for staying relevant in a changing world. In other words, how they got buff.

After outlining some very compelling statistics about the changing socialisation, media consumption and shopping behaviours of consumers, Thompson highlighted the three key pillars of Best Buy’s strategy: Accessibility, Localisation and Personalisation.

Accessibility is all about being where the consumer is, and that is increasingly in places other than Best Buy’s site. Key areas of focus here included search engine optimisation (although they sell one in every three TVs in the US, only nine months ago they did not make the front page of Google for a “TVs” search); availability from mobile devices; and participation and presence in social media platforms and applications.

For Localisation, Best Buy focussed on true cross-channel harmony, utilising the strength of its 1300 stores along with its digital media presence. A local store page was created for each store, with the editorial control given to the store manager. A true sense of community can be created in this way. Best Buy has even gone to the level of consumer-generated store ratings – a truly transparent move.

The goal of Personalisation is to understand each customer uniquely and then to ensure all communications with them is relevant. Best Buy uses advanced site analytics to create a differentiated experience for the customer based on their profile and behaviour. For those who are new to Best Buy, it’s known internally as Personymous – a special Persona created to deal with new (anonymous) customers until more can be learned about them.

Offering value through connectivity is the key to Best Buy’s on going success as a multi-channel retailer. Staying relevant to the customer is ingrained in the culture as staff continue to focus on their customers, listen to their needs and let the customer lead them into the future

Conference wrap up tomorrow.

Paul Marshall

There are $3.2 billion of aftermarket automotive parts sold online in the US each year. Speaking at the Internet Retailer’s Web Design and Usability conference in Orlando this week Scott Bauhofer, the SVP & GM of ecommerce for Advance Auto Parts, the US’s leading retailer in the sector, warned retailers not to delay in participating and gaining expertise in multichannel retailing. It was an important statement to help set the scene of the conference.

Focussing on critical elements of usability and design, the conference is bringing together a great range of presentations featuring real case studies by the people involved. This year, in particular, brings a great show of “look what we have done” and presents actual results for the past year, highlighting the power of the online channel. With key success stories about traffic, conversion and sales revenue, we are soberly reminded that it is a difficult process to get right.

Taking a site to market, or redesigning a site, is an exhausting process. It’s a process which must have specific business goals and not generic ones, according to Tellus, a design firm in the US. The process from envision through to completion involves the juggling of the (often opposing) demands of marketing, technical, financial, design and usability.

The show is offering live public critique of websites, for the brave sites owners in the audience, as well as free 30 minute private critiques by leading design and usability specialists from across the US.

The conference has close to 1000 attendees, including a good smattering of Australians, noted as last to leave the end-of-day function on the first day. Stay tuned for a further update on the show tomorrow.

Paul Marshall