Contents

1. Introduction
2. Consumer Decision Making
3. Digital Marketing Landscape
4. Digital Marketing Tactics
5. Consumer Reactions
6. Successful Design
7. Supporting Technologies
8. Survey
9. Cosmetic Website Competition
10. E-commerce
11. Conclusions
1. Introduction

“On the Web, usability is a necessary

condition for survival. If a website is difficult
to use, people leave. If the homepage fails
to clearly state what a company offers
and what users can do on the site, people
leave. If users get lost on a website, they
leave. If a website’s information is hard to
read or doesn’t answer users’ key questions,
they leave. Note a pattern here?” (Jakob
Nielsen, Usability 101)
E-commerce websites have a single
objective - to make people spend money.
The question is how the role of web design
impacts the consumer decision making.
Many studies have identified the web
design as a key factor for the development
of a good interface for satisfying the
consumer needs. There are many aspects
which affect on great and successful web
site design. Computers and the web have
invaded every aspect of modern life. In
many case the high street shop assistant
has been replaced with the e-commerce
website and every single one of them
has a target to achieve. As the web
becomes more competitive companies
should constantly look for ways to make
their websites more efficient, for example
upgrading it with new applications, mobile
videos or modern designs. The main task
is to get an attention of the potential
customer by altering their behaviour and
‘’persuade’’ them.
In the last years, the dispersal of Internet
as a new vend channel is budding with
enormous growth. Furthermore, in a
market with a target of more than 1300
million people [source : Internet World
Stats (February, 2008)] and more than
70 thousand million dot-com websites in
the world [source : Domain tools, (2008,
February). Domain Counts & Internet
Statistics ] ,the opportunities of trading
are almost unlimited. Additionally , sales
through the web are up to 70 billon US$ in
United States in the second half of 2007,
which means an boost of 20% for the same
period last year [source : Emarketer (2008,
February). European B2C E-Commerce:
Spotlight on the UK]
The goal of this report is to identify the key
factors that could determine the success
of the websites, focusing on consumer
decision making, to develop a test in order
to know good and bad practises carries
out by the relevant brands and to propose
some guidelines, suggesting suitable design
of the websites.
2. Consumer Decision Making
According to Business Dictionary consumer
decision making is the process by which
consumers identify their needs, collect
information, evaluate alternatives, and
make the purchase decision. These actions
are determined by psychological and
economical factors, and are influenced
by environmental factors such as cultural,
group, and social values.
Recently, a great number of authors have
made efforts in order to demarcate the
concept associated to a successful website.
In this sense, the marketing literature has
emphasized the consumers’ perspective
in order to establish how an e-commerce
website must be for the achievement of
success. Exclusively, some authors have
pointed out the main characteristics of
websites’ quality from a consumer view
[source : P. C. Palvia, Developing and
validating an instrument for measuring user-
perceived web quality, Information and
Management ] ,some others have stressed
the consumers’ beliefs and perceptions of
the value created by the websites [source
: R. Keeney, The Value of Internet to the
Customer, Management Science] , the
importance of achieving the online customer
satisfaction [ source: M. Zviran, C. Glezer and
I. Avni, User satisfaction from commercial
Web sites ] and the impact on his purchase
intention [source: C. Ranganathan and S.
Ganapathy, Key dimensions of B2C web
sites, Information and Management] .
Therefore, it seems reasonable to offer that,
in general terms, a successful website, on the
context of the electronic commerce, “is one
that attracts customers, makes them feel the
site is trustworthy, dependable, and reliable
and generates customer satisfaction”
[source : C. Liu and K. Arnett, Exploring the
factors associated with Web site success in
the context of electronic commerce.
[source: http://www.gfkamerica.com]
3. Digital Marketing Landscape

According to ELAN (integrated marketing

specialists) the internet age has provided
the biggest advances in the way we
interact, communicate and inform
whether personally or for business, since the
industrial revolution. On a global level, this
media and, more generally, technology
has afforded digital marketers and more
importantly their clients more opportunities.
In turn delivering highly targeted effective
campaigns at lower cost for a much higher
potential return on marketing investment.

Digital marketing needs strategies that

actually work. It is all about appearing
in the right places, creating brand
awareness and driving increased traffic to
the particular website. The activity may
include:

-Directory submissions
-Search engine submissions
-Local and map submissions
-Shopping search engines (free)
-Search engine optimisation onsite
-News and Social Media
The search engine optimisation of any
website should be potently supported with
a digital marketing and online advertising
campaign to drive additional direct traffic
to the site. There are many methods of
digital and online marketing including:

-Blogging
-E-marketing
-Online press releases
-Posting to review and opinion sites
-Social networking pages
-Viral techniques
-Banner advertising & exchange
-Classifieds online
-Google AdWords PPC and other options
-Newsletter  & Non profit sponsorships
-Google Base Products

It is quite a task to choose which methods

are suitable for the particular business
(website). It will always depend on budget,
marketing goals and sales targets same as
resource.
4. Digital Marketing Landscape

Internet marketing strategy is based on few

most important elements which are:

Situation analysis ( determine online cus-

tomers behaviour, searching direct compet-
itors and intermediaries that can be used to
promote the service )

Objective or goal-setting ( setting goals

for the types of outcomes are needed to
be achieved to engage visitors with the
product/s )

Internet marketing strategy ( identifying

your target audiences and what to offer
them online through the add features of
brand online, making sure that the online
channel integrates with other channels )

Tactics

Actions ( planning campaigns and the in-

house and agency to support it; bringing in
new resource, restructuring and revising the
processes )
[ source : www.davechaffey.com ]
5. Consumer Reactions
According to Alistair Gray a consultant
at the user experience consultancy in
Webcredible (London) there are several
methods available that attempt to measure
peoples reactions to a site. None are
entirely reliable, but all will give you a clear
idea of how participants really find your site:
Mood after use - A survey can be used to
measure the mood of the contestant after
using the site. This is more consistent if the
change in mood is calculated (i.e. measure
the participants mood before and after
use). You know your site’s defeat the right
spots if the usual mood takes a jump after
use.
However, there’s a weakness in this method
- how can you be sure any change in
mood is related to your site, and not to
something the applicant was thinking
about? In order to certify your results are
reliable you need to do many more tests
than economically viable.
Facial expressions - As people use sites,
they express themselves. They smile, they
frown, they look confused. Purely define
which moods you’re looking for (ensure
both positive and negative are covered)
and keep a tally as people use the site.
The more positive expressions (or at least
lack of negative expressions) the better.
The problem with this method is the risk of
missing or misinterpreting people’s facial
expressions.
Estimated time of use - A easy method to
assess how engaged a participant was
after using a site is to ask them to report
the length of time they felt they used your
site for, and compare this to how long
they actually used it for. If participants
overestimate the time they aren’t
enjoying themselves, and if participants
underestimate the time they are. This
method is reliant upon participants being
unaware of the time throughout using the
site, and may be exaggerated by what
they are asked to do - someone asked to
do something tedious may misjudge the
time taken no matter how good the site is.
SEQAM - A method particularly popular
in the car design industry is called SEQAM
(Sensory Quality Assessment Method).
Participants are not shown the design
as a whole. They are shown a series of
alternative design parts and asked their
opinions of each. Using this method means
the participant cannot see the whole
design, and testing needs a large number
of these alternative parts.
Perceived target market – This way of
findings requires participants to define the
target market of the site. This will give you
great insight into how participants perceive
your site. Participants may struggle to frame
what they see and feel into a “target
market”. You will need to define areas (age,
interests, etc) for participants to fill out that
will guide them through the process.
Opposing scale questionnaires - This
way requires participants to fill in scale
questionnaires between 2 extremes of
feelings, e.g. “How would you rate your
experience with the site? Give 1 for
pleasant, 5 for unpleasant”. This method
requires heavy use of statistical analysis to
ensure the results are reliable - but restricted
conclusions can be pinched from the results
without this. This method often works best
when 2 or more sites are compared, as
participants give much more varied scores.
Direct feedback - Simply ask participants
how they found the site after using it.
This method is surprisingly undependable;
people adjust what they say according to
how they think you want them to answer.
There have been times when a participant
is plainly incapable to do anything on a
site, yet somehow resolute it was worthy of
a 9/10!
6. Successful Design

“For me being online is everything. It’s

my hi-fi, it’s my source of income, it’s my
supermarket, it’s my telephone. It’s my way
in.” - Lynn Holdsworth, screen reader user,
Web Developer and Programmer. (source:
RNIB ).

According to Effective Web Design (July

2007) user-centred design (UCD) is an
established, proven approach to design or
range of products. It has been embraced
by web design and usability agencies as
a sound approach to delivering customer-
centric websites that deliver value for
a business. It should be a key business
requirement to appoint an agency which
has a sound UCD process and the right skill
set and experience to execute it.

Key topics needed for an effective web

design:

-Accessibility
-User-centred design and usability
-Internet marketing planning and
-improvement process
-Information architecture and findability
-Search engine optimisation (SEO)
-Web standards
-Persuasion to deliver business results
-Web analytics
-Legal requirements
There are the different types of site,
from blogs to complex transactional
e-commerce sites and campaign sites
from simple landing pages to rich, Flash-
based brand experiences. But all sites
share certain features if they are to
be successful. They must engage their
audiences with relevant content and
interactive experiences. Must be easy to
use, accessible through different devices
and to users with visual impairment or other
disabilities including motor control, learning
difficulties and deaf users;

They must ultimately deliver returns on the

time and money their owners have invested
in them. In a nutshell, they must deliver a
compelling experience for their visitors.
It is the challenge of balancing all of these
factors which are constantly evolving due
to changes in technologies, creative design
styles and competition. ( Effective Web
Design July 2007 )
How does usability come into this?

Research has found that usability has a

strong effect on people’s judgements after
using the object. But during the early stages
of communication with an object or system,
aesthetics is clearly the key persuade.
Moreover, this “halo effect” doesn’t hold
for long, if you wait 15 minutes to be served
in a plush restaurant your opinion of the
restaurant goes down, no matter how good
the service afterwards.

Usability becomes an important factor

after a limited interaction with a product.
A study found pleasure (closely related
to aesthetics) and ergonomics (closely
related to usability) both had a strong
influence on the appeal of a product, but
at incompatible levels at differing times.
Appeal was strongly influenced by just
aesthetics before use. But after use, both
usability and aesthetics had an almost
equal influence.

[ source : http://atomiq.org ]
How aesthetics influences us ? “It is important to recognise that every
information system, be it a book or an
Firstly, there’s been a lot of research intranet, has an information architecture. `Well
indicating that aesthetics affects developed’ is the key here, as most sites don’t
have a planned information architecture at all.
perceptions of a product and its usability.
They are analogous to buildings that weren’t
When asked to judge the usability and
architected in advance. Design decisions
aesthetics scores of a series of ATM screens, reflect the personal biases of designers, the
1 study found peoples’ supposed usability space doesn’t scale over time, technologies
scores were more strongly related to the drive the design and not the other way
seeming aesthetics scores than the screens’ around.” ( Rosenfeld and Morville 2002 )
actual usability. Supplementary studies
were able to reproduce these results across
cultures.
The results involve people aren’t able to
distinguish usable and less usable objects,
believing the aesthetically pleasing ones to
be most usable.
But why does this interference occur? It’s
believed the main reason for this effect on
peoples’ judgements is what’s known as
a “halo effect”. Additionally, this is where
the aesthetic aspect of the design frankly
influences the awareness of other aspects.
For example the perception that a well fit
suit or stylish dress makes the wearer seem
smarter.
7. Supporting Technologies

What Website Technologies Does the

Website Need?

According to Accrete Web Solutions (2005)

once the target audience is determined
next step is to develop assess the website
technologies available and which are
suitable for it.

The type of website and the targeted

audience chosen will determine the
website technologies required.

E-commerce websites have to consider

website technologies such as shopping
carts, secure servers, customer payments
and shipping issues.

Website Communication Technologies

It includes auto responders, email, email

forwarding, mailing lists, guestbooks, forums,
bulletin boards, chatrooms and/or blogs.
Advanced Website Technologies

Advanced website technologies may be at

an additional cost. The type of database,
web programming type and whether Front
Page extensions are used can all affect the
cost of website hosting.
Website Graphics

If the website is going to use a lot of images

then a large amount of webspace will be
required. Images use a lot of bandwidth so
having the technology to reduce/optimize
images does come into play.
If using Flash or some other media requiring
special software the question is the target
audience going to already have the
software installed on their machine? Will
there be different versions of the media for
the different types of software? These extra
website technologies require more website
hosting space and bandwidth.
8. Survey

‘The effectiveness of website design in

consumer decision making’ survey was
designed to analyse what exactly people
think about online purchases and which
aspects of the website appeal to them the
most.

23 people took their time to fill the survey

out ( 10 female and 13 men ). They had to
answer 10 pretty straight forward questions.
Most of them were between 17 and 25
years old.

More than 95% have ever used internet

to do online shopping. The most popular
purchases were : clothes, electronics,
shoes, books/dvds and cosmetics.
Participants are visiting online stores on a
regular basis and they find shopping online
easier than conventional shopping.
The most visited websites are Amazon, eBay
and Boots.

Easy access and clear and easy navigation

are the most appealing aspects when
shopping online. Just after is design/layout
and reputation of the particular store. They
are also interested in the shopping basket
and store locator.

The majority of customers that were

surveyed spend less than 30 pounds per
month on online shopping.
9. Cosmetic Website Competion

‘’ I just want The Body Shop to be the

best, most breathlessly exciting company
– and one that changes the way business
is carried out. That is my vision.” (Anita
Roddick. Human Rights Activist. Founder of
The Body Shop.)
E-commerce and home shopping
The company operates a transactional
website carrying its full range, and the site
also features general beauty advice and
details of its social awareness campaigns.
Delivery is free on all orders valued at over
£15. As noted earlier e-commerce sales are
not published.
The Body Shop promotes aggressively
online. For example, its key Christmas
promotion for 2009 was a free £12.20 gift
when £25 or more is spent in a single online
transaction.
The group’s popular party plan operation,
Body Shop at Home, offers home-based
consultants 25% commission on all goods
sold to party attendees. New consultants
have to invest £40 in a starter kit and host
four parties over a four-week period.
Number of active consultants and sales
generated are no longer provided by the
company. (Mintel 2010)
Online retail sales were around £17.8 billion
in the UK in 2009, 6.6% of all retail sales. The
market has grown by 150% since 2005, 25%
per annum. (Mintel, February 2010)
Consumer satisfaction with the service
provided by online retailers is very high.
Online Shopping
As well as being the most visited Health and
Beauty retail website in the UK in 2007*, May
2008 saw Boots.com voted the ‘Best Beauty
Website’ by the Sunday Times.
We are progressing well with developing
our multichannel strategy, to ensure our
customers can access the fantastic Boots
range that we are famous for in the most
convenient way for them.
We have strengthened our cust
omer offering through the launch of our
exclusive online Beauty Boutique, featuring
our customers’ favourite cult beauty
brands, such as Bliss, Caudalie, This Works,
MOP and Burt’s Bees. Visit the Boots Beauty
Boutique (This link will open in a new
window).
* www.boots.com (This link will open in a
new window) achieved the No.1 ranking
in the hitwise online performance awards
‘shopping and classifieds - health and
beauty’ category, as visited by UK internet
users in 2007.
Online presence/services
Boots’ transactional website, Boots.com,
offers products from Boots UK Limited.UK
standard delivery (within four working days)
is £2.90 (free for orders above £45), next-
day delivery is £4.50 and returns free within
28 days.Boots also offers customers the free
option of ordering online and collecting from
a store selected by the customer within five
working days.Boots.com has a wide range of
brands from own-label and mass market to
premium brands. Mintel’s consumer research
indicates that Boots’ appeal is biased to
more affluent socio-economic groups
across all ages. Beauty shoppers tend to be
younger and toiletries shoppers are older. Its
online visitors are slightly older than average.
e-commerce and home shopping
Its transitional website, Boots.com, offers a
wide range of health and beauty products
including premium beauty brands such as
Estée Lauder, Clinique, Chanel and Clarins.
Delivery is free on orders over £45. No
details of sales generated from its website
are published.
The site underwent a major upgrade
in 2008/09 in order to effect closer
integration of online and stores through the
introduction of an “order online and collect
in-store” service. This was launched in 1,300
stores in 2008/09 and was extended to
nearly 2,000 stores in the first half of 2009/10.
The service is proving especially useful to
customers of small Boots stores who can
now access a wider range yet have it
delivered where it is most convenient, either
home or to store.
Boots, in October 2010, launched Boots.
com/treatstreet, an online portal to
open up the Advantage Card to other
retailers, including ASOS, eBay, Dixons,
HMV, Halfords, Lakeland, Mothercare,
New Look, and Pets at Home. Through this
card, customers can collect loyalty points,
which can be spent only at Boots. This
followed the company’s strategy to form
partnerships with other retailers to increase
its brand reach.
In October 2009, the company
strengthened its online presence with the
launch of BootsWebMD, a health and
information portal operated in association
with WebMD, the leading US provider
of online healthcare services. The portal
provides users with comprehensive and
objective health information.
The website was relaunched in 2008
to more closely integrate online and
stores, with the introduction of an “order
online and collect in-store” service. This
was extended to nearly 2,000 stores by
September 2009.
According to Mintel , Zuneta launched
in 2008, is an online beauty boutique
offering finest goods and personalised,
expert advice. It has also developed an
interactive clinic providing tailor-made
beauty guidance to locate the products
best suited for a customer’s skin and hair
type. Moreover, the Zuneta website also
enables blogging, invention reviews by
customers, and has an online publication to
cover more trends and new launches.
Online presence/services
Zuneta offers advice and suggestions
at Zuneta Clinic, where a customer can
create a ‘Skintype Profile’. This can be
saved so the details can be used any time
the customer visits the site to find products
suitable for their hair/skin type.
The UK standard delivery charge (within
four working days) is £3.95 and is free for
orders above £50. Next-day delivery is
charged £5.00. Returns are free within 20
days. [source: Mintel 2010].
10. E-commerce

Strenghts and weaknesses of E-commerce :


Online has to sell itself on convenience,
though it has been able to add price
competitiveness to that as well. But a high
quality of service is essential for an online
business to succeed and that underpins the
appeal of companies such as Amazon and
Ocado.

Online has a big advantage over mail

order in immediacy. A catalogue is printed
months before it goes current, but online its
offer can be changed and updated in real
time.

Online is still much more difficult to browse

than a catalogue, but the two work very
well together and that is the route that
most mail order companies are trying to
go. The ability online to say that a product
is in stock and when it can be delivered is a
huge advantage.

With a high street store. Customers can

research online or in-store and they can
then order in either as well. So in some
respects online should be seen as a service
to customers – a way of making it as easy
as possible to buy the brand.
 [ Source: Mintel 2010 ]

Online has also led on price and this is a key

aspect of the proposition for many, but not
all, online retailers. Amazon has proved that
it is possible to be price competitive and
highly profitable, but it has the advantage
of being first in the field and to some extent
almost the generic online retailer. The
problem for all e-commerce is that there
is no passing trade. Any online retailer will
require large marketing expenditure to
persuade people to visit its site. It remains
to be seen to what extent that marketing
spend will offset the operational savings on
stores and staff of a high street retailer.
11. Conclusions

In the 21st century technology improves

very fast. Online customers are looking for
easy and quick access to the website. It
is important to find the best way to meet
their needs as soon as possible. People
are willing to use the internet to make their
life easier and even more comfortable.
Website design plays a very important role
in the consumer decision making seeing as
most of the potential customers pay a lot
of attention to how the particular website
looks like and works. According to research
easy navigated and clear websites are
more likely to be visited by potential
customers which means more profits for the
company. Nowadays digital marketing
sector grows very fast. Online shops are
improving their services and designs which
is the key to big success.
Bibliography

http://www.elancm.co.uk/articles-
from-elan-cm/marketing-a-marketing-
implementation/navigating-the-digital-
and-online-marketing-landscape.html
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.
html

http://marilynfenndesign.com/faqs/
technical-aspects-of-web-design/
Report by Sandra Frankowska(20823428) and Natalia Wisniewska(20924604)