How to Estimate an eCommerce Website
Jun 27, 2012, by admin
Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, websites display and sell products over the Internet. There is a ample range of e-commerce sites, selling everything from food to clothes to websites themselves. Whether you want to estimate your own website or that of a competitor, it is important to get a complete view of a website to decide its value. In order to estimate a website, you must review its content, functionality, attractiveness, advertisement and more. It is a good idea to develop a rating system and encourage others to estimate along with you. This article will tell you how to estimate an e-commerce website.
Steps
1.Ask somebody to estimate the same website based on the same criteria. Two or more estimations will help you account for what is subjective and come up with an average score.
2.Choose upon the criteria for estimating a website and create a spreadsheet on a computer program or piece of paper. Ask your fellow estimators to rate the website on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 to 10 or simply by checking a box if the website has that feature.
3.Bring up the website on your computer. Navigate the website for 5 to 10 minutes before completing the estimation.
4.Review and mark scores for the e-commerce website’s content. Answer whether the website presents the following content:
Choose whether the website presents all the related information for each product on the website, including prices. This should comprise technical specifications that are easy to understand. Review whether the website clarifies and explains technical features of the products themselves.
Decide whether the website offers anything that other websites don’t offer. This can comprise exclusive products, free shipping, bundle offers, specials or anything else that is unique to this site.
Decide whether the website sufficiently explains its payment and shipping options.
Decide if the website posts reviews or gives sufficient feedback from users about its products.
5.Review the website’s utility. This is the ease of navigating and purchasing from the website, as well as finding help if it is needed. The following are good criteria for judging website utility:
Review or rate the ease of navigating the website. Any e-commerce website should allow you to move from homepage to product pages to shopping carts.
Review whether the e-commerce site encourages customers and users to get involved. This is the simplicity of reviewing purchases, posting comments on articles or asking questions to support staff.
See whether the customer can perform 1-click shopping. This means that the customer can click on an “add to shopping cart” button and be capable to check out immediately. This is an important feature of any website.
Decide whether the website presents relevant links to other products, reviews or websites. The site should encourage interaction with its customers.
Estimate the customer service provided by the website. Are there simple methods to access staff by phone, email and even instant messaging? The more options and hours per day they offer customer service, the better the experience will be if there is a problem.
6.Review the legitimacy or influence of the website. E-commerce sites are sometimes built in order to scam customers, so it is important that the website feels safe and genuine. The following are ways to judge whether the website is genuine:
Find whether the website presents a secure checkout and options to PayPal or Google Checkout, so that the consumer can choose how to pay and what details to give to the site. Look for a written assurance that the personal information of all consumers is kept private.
Review whether the site answers Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) which explain the company and its legitimacy. They may also clarify this in an “About us” section. Look for methods that the company is involved in the community or news links to services it presents.
Decide whether the site has a number of interfaces and ratings between its customers. This can help to show how long the site has been in business. Although it is not vital, it is a preference over newer sites that have not yet proved their legitimacy.
7.Rate the attractiveness of the site. Although this is a highly subjective portion of the evaluation, it may measure the willingness of a customer to come back in the future or visit the site often to check for specials. The following are good methods to rate the attractiveness of the site:
Choose whether the site has an attractive brand or image that is reliable through each page and checkout. This may also comprise emails or newsletters that a customer receives after making a purchase.
Review whether the website is “fun.” An pleasant site often features videos, music, entertaining articles or links to social media sites.
Rate the experience of using the site as either positive or negative. If the experience was positive, it is likely to be an attractive, user-friendly site.
Ask yourself or fellow reviewers whether they feel inclined to come back to the site or recommend it to another person. A recommendation is 1 of the highest compliments a site can get.
8.Estimate the marketing for the site. Choose whether it is simple to find on a search engine or through advertisement placement. Try to find them using 3 of 4 of the main search engines to see how the site performs.
9.Gather the estimations and determine an average score. Encourage people to write down their impressions at the bottom.
