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An international team of five usability experts led by Jakob Nielsen conducted usability tests of 20 business-to-consumer e-commerce sites. A total of 64 users participated: 39 from the United States and 25 from Denmark, giving us data about both domestic users (19 of 20 sites were American) and overseas users. Users ranged in age from their twenties to their fifties. All users had previously shopped online and most had made purchases. However, we screened out participants who had technical knowledge of the web.
The typical user tested three of our 20 selected sites in a test session lasting 2 hours. Each site was tested by a minimum of six US users and three Danish ones. We chose sites in seven different industries (such as clothing and toys) so that within each industry we had two or three sites for comparison.
Each user spent about 40 minutes on each site. We supplied the tasks, which were modeled on common goals of users during online shopping. Most tasks either asked the user to find a specific item that we knew existed on the site, or were more open-ended, allowing users freedom to shop according to their own preferences. In most cases, we stopped the users before they entered a credit number, so they did not actually complete the purchase. We also had a short task for each site where we asked users to find customer service information, such as how to cancel an order or return an item.
A highly experienced facilitator sat in the same room with the user, providing instructions to the user and taking notes. We asked users to think aloud as they worked.
The Methodology report provides greater detail about how we conducted this study, including copies of all the tasks.
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Sites We Tested
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The goal was not to redesign these specific sites but to collect data about user behavior across a sufficiently wide range of sites to allow us to generalize design recommendations that will apply to many other types of e-commerce sites.
Clothing
- Boo: Fashion and sportswear for men and women.
- Jcrew: Clothing for men and women.
- NorwaySweaters: Sweaters in traditional Norwegian patterns.
Department Stores
- Nordstrom: Apparel, shoes and accessories for men, women and children.
- Sears: Tools, appliances, and home services.
- Wal-Mart: Discount department store.
Flowers
- 1800flowers: Flowers, gourmet foods, candies and gift baskets.
- Iflorist: Flowers and plants.
Food
- BasketHaus: Custom gift baskets that include foods and novelties.
- Gevalia: Specialty coffee, tea, brewing equipment, desserts and glassware.
- Peet's: Freshly roasted whole bean specialty coffee
Furniture
- Furniture.com: Furniture and accessories for the home.
- HermanMiller: Office, healthcare, and residential furniture.
- Living.com: Furniture and accessories for the home.
Music
- CustomDisc: Custom music CDs containing songs chosen by the user.
- Reel: Videos and DVDs.
- TowerRecords: Music CDs, videos and DVDs.
Toys
- Disney: Clothing, toys, collectibles, etc. featuring Walt Disney characters.
- eToys: Toys, books, software, videos and games for children
- SmarterKids: Educational toys, books, software, videos and games for children
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