E-commerce websites for developing countries – a usability evaluation framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodological usability evaluation approach for e-commerce websites in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-faceted usability evaluation of three Jordanian e-commerce websites was used, where three usability methods (user testing, heuristic evaluation and web analytics) were applied to the sites. Findings – A four-step approach was developed to facilitate the evaluation of e-commerce sites, mindful of the advantages and disadvantages of the methods used in identifying specific usability problems. Research limitations/implications – The approach was developed and tested using Jordanian users, experts and e-commerce sites. The study compared the ability of the methods to detect problems that were present, however, usability issues not present on any of the sites could not be considered when creating the approach. Practical implications – The approach helps e-commerce retailers evaluate the usability of their websites and understand which usability method(s) best matches their need. Originality/value – This research proposes a new approach for evaluating the usability of e-commerce sites. A novel aspect is the use of web analytics (Google Analytics software) as a component in the usability evaluation in conjunction with heuristics and user testing

Using Google Analytics to Evaluate the Usability of E-Commerce Sites

The success of an e-commerce site is, in part, related to how easy it is to use. This research investigated whether advanced web metrics, calculated using Google Analytics software, could be used to evaluate the overall usability of e-commerce sites, and also to identify potential usability problem areas. Web metric data are easy to collect but analysis and interpretation are time-consuming. E-commerce site managers therefore need to be sure that employing web analytics can effectively improve the usability of their websites. The research suggested specific web metrics that are useful for quickly indicating general usability problem areas and specific pages in an e-commerce site that have usability problems. However, what they cannot do is provide in-depth detail about specific problems that might be present on a page

Measuring the Online Impact of Your Information Project: A Primer for Practitioners and Funders

Evaluates fifteen Web sites funded by the Knight Foundation's Community Information Challenge, including data on visits, unique visitors, page views, and bounce rates. Outlines how to set goals, align metrics, and implement analytics

Multi-level website benchmarking: typological collation of recent approaches

Website benchmarking approaches can be classified by type and collated as a framework. A combined customer website perspective (satisfaction, loyalty, design, quality) and business website perspective(usability, effectiveness, strategy, performance) delivers a multi-level website benchmarking approach. This offers a broad-scale analysis pathway capable of delivering universal, detailed, at-level website benchmarking. A weighted sum-score approach builds an overall website benchmark score, enabling website competitor comparisons across multiple levels. This approach offers a detailed guide to business managers, web designers and web analytics interpreters seeking to implement competitive website changes

Website quality: An analysis of scientific production

A range of different methods and tools have been proposed by both academics and professionals in recent years for evaluating the quality of websites. Some are of general application and can be used to assess any type of website, while others have been adapted to the specialized characteristics of the websites employed in a given sector. This paper undertakes an analysis of existing scientific production in this field, with the aim of identifying its most relevant publications, its principal authors and the specific sectors served by the sites under evaluation. By triangulating review methods, 716 texts, published between 2000 and 2018, were identified in Scopus, Web of Science and other databases and examined. In addition to basic bibliographic information, the number of citations received by each text was recorded using Google Scholar. The area of knowledge in which each author works was also categorized based on his or her specific affiliations. The results point to a growing interest in website quality in a scientific community that has a presence in more than 70 countries. Its authors are drawn from various disciplines, although the highest number of publications is recorded in computer science, business and medical informatics. The most frequently cited texts are in fact seminal books in the associated disciplines of usability, information architecture and user experience. However, as of 2007, the number of texts describing evaluation tools for the websites of specific sectors – most notably, education (33%), health (27%) and commerce (21%) – increased their share. In conclusion, it is evident that website quality is a field of study undergoing constant growth and increasing specialization and one that offers ample opportunities for research

Transport and traffic analytics in smart cities

Vast generation of high resolution spatial and temporal data, particularly in urban settings, started revolution in mobility and human behavior related research. However, after initial wave of first data oriented insights their integration into ongoing, and traditionally used, planning and decision making processes seems to be hindered by still opened challenges. These challenges suggest need for stronger integration between data analytics and dedicated domain knowledge. Special session on Transport and Traffic Analytics in Smart Cities tackles these challenges from transport planners’ point of view. Collection of papers aims at identifying the existing gaps and bridging between related disciplines with aspiration to foster faster integration of data driven insights into smart cities’ dedicated planning

An Empirical Study of The Effect on Traffic of Large Online Promotion Activities

This study selects multiple indicators of Web Analytics to measure the volume and quality of traffic, and collects the time series data of a certain brand’s sales on JD.com from October 27, 2014 to June 30, 2015, using the Structural Time Series Model to analyze the effect of attracting traffic of five large-scale online promotion activities during this period. The results for the case study show that: large-scale online promotion activities have a significant positive effect on total page traffic, but the difference is showed on the quality effect of the page traffic; different activities affect the volume of unpaid traffic differently, while effects on traffic quality are not significant. This analysis may benefit e-commerce sites to develop a better strategy to carry out similar promotion activities

Sustainable user interface generation for digital devices: A case study

The internet has become an integral part of people’s lives. However, any digital activity results in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, which are the prime drivers of global warming and climate change. The environmental cost calls for the practice of sustainable web design or green human-computer interaction. While there is substantial research on ways to reduce the energy consumption of the back-end information systems, such as data centers, few studies focus on the front-end information systems, such as web design. This study aims to analyze the impact of web design on energy consumption by conducting a case study on an institutional website. A set of major web tracking and performance metrics tools will be adopted to collect data upon web hosting, performance optimization, web design, and user experience. Descriptive analysis of the data will help generate actionable insights into environmentally friendly user interface design strategies for digital devices

Search engine ranking factors analysis : Moz digital marketing company survey study

Project Work presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementThe use of the Internet increases every year in the world for multiple purposes and at significant rates. In the same way, access to electronic business and personal pages allowing commercial transactions follows these high evolution rates. Many studies on this subject have pointed that it is important for most businesses to have a web presence. The key to be found by the right product or service target audience, at the right moment, according to most of authors, lies with search engines (SE) advent. However, there had been frequently changes in search engines ranking website classification algorithms during the last years. To accomplish this model evolution, the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals must to frequently adopt to constant changes regarding ranking classification strategies from SE schemas of work. In this work the author explored a wide range of factors that may influence search engine result pages (SERP’s) and examined recent aspects of user experience over a website that are increasing importance regarding the optimization to be done over the web pages, internal and external page links, and its technical components. In addition, it seems that the user action and involvement over the website are key factors that Google will probably continue to adopt to determine websites rank in SERP’s. As an empirical study, all efforts to discover the SE website promotion ranking factors are based on trial and error activities and there is no official knowledge base regarding these protected secrets kept by the major players of this valuable market. Due to the lack of published academic research works in this area, the present work has discovered and documented SE ranking factors based on survey data by a large quantity of companies in digital marketing segment. At the end of the project the author intends to present the state-of-the-art in this field of study as well as some market perception evolution of this subject based heavily on practical experiments and most recent literature in this area. Moreover, it is growing the debate about the limits of digital marketing. Due the powerful influence of SE to market and people behavior, the presented study data and considerations raise an important forum of discussion now and in the future concerning ethics and socially acceptable limits and controls over personal information on the internet

A Graduate Management of Information Systems Technology Course Project: Web Analytics

It is often difficult to create thought-provoking projects that allow students the ability to apply their knowledge in a real-world setting. This is particularly challenging in a graduate level Management of Information Technology course that covers a vast array of topics throughout. In an effort to expand student knowledge of web analytics and to encourage professional development, a web analytics course project is assigned. The project presented within offers a proposed experiential learning opportunity for students enrolled in this (or similar) course. Project learning objectives and specifications are presented. Teaching Notes are also provided