Evaluating the Usability of an Optimized Website for a Local Coffee Business

A survey by the Pew Research Center (2011) found 55% of American adults rely on the Internet as a primary source of information for restaurants and local businesses, with its ability to quickly sort and personalize data such as what cafés nearby might be widely praised and patronized by online peers. As the Internet becomes prevalent throughout the consumer’s purchasing journey, website usability is crucial for the survival of local businesses with online presence. The purpose of this usability study was to evaluate an optimized website for a local and independent coffee business known as The Curb (http://thecurbco.com). With the affordance of web analytics to capture customer information, three website design iterations were created for optimized landing pages. An open-source web tool known as SurveyMonkey was instrumental in creating and distributing anonymous pre- and post-surveys to six participants. They were asked to complete a series of task scenarios using the “thinking aloud” method while their computer screen and audio were recorded for quantitative and qualitative analysis. Usability metrics were defined by the ISO 9241-11 standard providing guidance on measuring the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. The results identified usability issues with the website’s navigational menu, suggesting further design iterations to optimize and improve The Curb’s website usability

Differential Impact Of Web And Mobile Interactivity On E-Retailers\u27 Performance

This study investigates the differential impact of machine and person interactivity in both Web and mobile e-commerce channels on e-retailers’ operational and financial performance. Based on the data on 463 large e-retailers in U.S. and Canada, interesting findings that Web machine interactivity and mobile person interactivity have significantly positive impact on e-retailers’ operational performance, while Web person interactivity and mobile machine interactivity do not. E-retailers’ operational performance was found to have significantly positive impact on e-retailers’ financial performance. Overall, this study provides in-depth insights into the differential role that machine and person interactivity in Web and mobile channels play in impacting e-retailers’ performance. Implications for research and practice as well as suggestions for future research are discussed

Analysis of Impact of Mobile Devices on Information Search through the Internet and e-Commerce

科学研究費助成事業(科学研究費補助金)研究成果報告書：基盤研究（Ｃ）2010-2012課題番号：2250008

Information Technology Applications in Hospitality and Tourism: A Review of Publications from 2005 to 2007

The tourism and hospitality industries have widely adopted information technology (IT) to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and most importantly to improve service quality and customer experience. This article offers a comprehensive review of articles that were published in 57 tourism and hospitality research journals from 2005 to 2007. Grouping the findings into the categories of consumers, technologies, and suppliers, the article sheds light on the evolution of IT applications in the tourism and hospitality industries. The article demonstrates that IT is increasingly becoming critical for the competitive operations of the tourism and hospitality organizations as well as for managing the distribution and marketing of organizations on a global scale

Proving Marketing ROI: A Digital Marketing Framework

The purpose of this study is to analyze emerging literature on the best practices in selecting marketing objectives, web analytics/KPI goals, and marketing mix channels by using digital marketing to provide executives with proof of marketing ROI. Evidence-based research was used to analyze emerging trends in digital marketing by combining literature on setting marketing objectives, web analytic and KPI goals, and selecting marketing mix channels. This study contributes a framework that can be used by both educators and practitioners to showcase the most common practices in digital marketing and how they can be applied to create an effective and efficient digital marketing campaign that can quantify and prove marketing ROI

Web Analytics: Best Practices for an Organization’s Successful Performance; A Preliminary Analysis

This research presents an exploratory study concerning organizations’ best practices of Web analytics for a successful performance and the factors influencing the companies’ successful adoption of Web analytics. A qualitative research methodology was used engaging a comprehension of Web analytics adoption using the Diffusion of Innovation theory (Rogers, 1995) and the theory building approach (Eisenhardt, 1989). Interviews with five companies from different industries were conducted. Findings suggest that for a successful performance, companies should consider: • Data for better decision making. • Web analytics barriers • Selecting the right KPIs and metrics based on the company’s goals. • Web analytics trends A mixed-method approach comprising other extensive methods of data collection should be conducted. Investigation of the use of specific metrics and KPIs within companies from different industries, as well as the strategies for working past the barriers that impede companies from adopting Web analytics should be considered

Self-Liquidating Sales Funnel For a Cloud Manufacturer

The objective of this project was to develop a self-liquidating sales funnel for a cloud manufacturing company. The rationale included the cost effectiveness to generate leads. Market research was performed, a funnel was developed and a pro-forma financial analysis was completed. The results of the project produced marketing personas, a funnel design and a NPV analysis for advertising spending. It was concluded that a self-liquidating sales funnel is viable for the sponsor

Predictive Analytics of E-Commerce Search Behavior for Conversion

This study explores online customer search behavior on a large e-commerce website—Walmart.com. In order to more accurately predict customer purchase conversion based on their search behavior, we adopt a modern machine-learning technique, random forest, as well as logistic regression to develop two computational models. We also integrate information retrieval literature to propose metrics to quantify online consumers’ search behavior. Results show that the random forest model performs better with a very high accuracy rate (76%) in predicting customers who will purchase the item they browsed. Among all the predictors, page and session dwell time, user type, click entropy, and click position are the strongest influential factors for the conversion behavior. The findings suggest that, with the enhanced metrics and modeling approaches, search behavior could offer strong cues about customers’ purchasing decision. Additionally, the findings also suggest operational implications about how to accommodate and induce the desired search behavior with the e-commerce website

Interpreting infrastructure: Defining user value for digital financial intermediaries.

The 3DaRoC project is exploring digital connectivity and peer-to-peer relationships in financial services. In the light of the near collapse of the UK and world financial sector, understanding and innovating new and more sustainable approaches to financial services is now a critical topic. At the same time, the increasing penetration and take-up of robust high-speed networks, dependable peerto- peer architectures and mobile multimedia technologies offer novel platforms for offering financial services over the Internet. These new forms of digital connectivity give rise to opportunities in doing financial transactions in different ways and with radically different business models that offer the possibility of transforming the marketplace. One area in the digital economy that has had such an effect is in the ways that users access and use digital banking and payment services. The impact of the new economic models presented by these digital financial services is yet to be fully determined, but they have huge potential as disruptive innovations, with a potentially transformative effect on the way that services are offered to users. Little is understood about how technical infrastructures impact on the ways that people make sense of the financial services that they use, or on how these might be designed more effectively. 3DaRoC is exploring this space working with our partners and end users to prototype and evaluate new online, mobile, ubiquitous and tangible technologies, exploring how these services might be extended.Executive Summary: Drawing from Studies of Use - the value, use and interpretation of infrastructure in digital intermediaries to their users. The UK economy has a huge dependence on financial services, and this is increasingly based on digital platforms. Innovating new economic models around consumer financial services through the use of digital technologies is seen as increasingly important in developed economies. There are a number of drivers for this, ranging from national economic factors to the prosaic nature of enabling cheap, speedy and timely interactions for users. The potential for these new digital solutions is that they will allay an over-reliance on the traditional banking sector, which has proved itself to be unstable and risky, and we have seen a number of national policy moves to encourage growth in this sector. Partly as a result of the 2008 banking crisis, there has been an explosion in peer-to-peer financial services for non-professional consumers. These organisations act as intermediaries between users looking to trade goods or credit. However, building self-sustaining or profitable financial services within this novel space is itself fraught with commercial, regulatory, technical and social problems. This document reports on the value, use and interpretation of infrastructure in digital intermediaries to their users, describing analysis of contextual field studies carried out in two retail digital financial intermediary organisations: Zopa Limited and the Bristol Pound. It forms the second milestone document in the 3DaRoC project, developing patterns of use that have arisen on the back of the technical infrastructures in the two organisations that form cases for examination. Its purpose is to examine how the two different technical infrastructures that underpin the transactions that they support–composed of the back-office hardware and software, data structures, the networking and communications technologies used, supported consumer devices, and the user interfaces and interaction design–have provided opportunities for users to realise their financial and other needs. While we orient towards the issues of service use (and its problems), we also examine the activities and expectations of their various users. Our research has involved teams from Lancaster University examining Zopa and Brunel University focusing on the Bristol Pound over approximately a one-year period from October 2013 to October 2014. Extensive interviews, document analysis, observation of user interactions, and other methods have been employed to develop the process analyses of the firms presented here. This report comprises of three key sections: descriptions of the user demographics for Zopa and the Bristol Pound, a discussion about the user experience and its role in community, and an examination of the role of usage data in the development of these a products. We conclude with final analytical section drawing preliminary conclusions from the research presented.The 3DaRoC project is funded by the RCUK Digital Economy ‘Research in the Wild’ theme (grant no. EP/K012304/1)