User interface (UI) is the interaction between a user and software running on a web site. The user interface allows the user to communicate with the operating system by navigating on the websites.

Every designer wants to build high-quality interfaces by providing quality features such as usability and usefulness. These goals are achieved by considerate planning, sensitivity to user needs, devotion to requirements analysis and diligent testing.

Usability Measures;

1. Time to Learn: How long does it take users to learn how to use the actions relevant to a set of tasks.
2. Speed of Performance: How long does it take to complete the tasks?
3. Rate of Errors by Users:  How many and what kind of errors do people make in carrying out the tasks?
4. Retention Over Time: How well do users maintain their knowledge after an hour, a day or week?
5. Subjective Satisfaction: How much did users like using varies aspect of the interface?

Source: (Shneiderman et al., 2014)

These measures help designers to consider errors in earlier stages because there may be errors in every step. To make the user interface as efficient as possible the errors need to be revaluated and retested to get the best possible outcomes.

The desktop applications that once served the needs of professionals are now enabling broad communities of users to prepare user-generated content that can be shared with millions of World Wide Web users. Now, the web-based social networking and social media applications that were once available only to desktop users are accessible through billions of cell phones and other devices. These dramatic shifts are possible because researchers and user-interface designers have harnessed the advancing technologies to serve human needs (Shneiderman et al., 2014).

Relation between User Interface & E-commerce

Electronic commerce/E-commerce, is the ”buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet. Other than buying and selling, many people use Internet as a source of information” according to Khan (2016). When customers go into a web retailer the first impression they get is of the website interface and how it is presented on the screen.

Below is an example of Asos’s homepage, it shows and tells about the new season collections as well as gives a promotional code offer, which instantly highlights the key features on what the main page is communicating to the user.

Usability measures can be linked in this process. Firstly, users need to know how to navigate throughout the site to be able to find the product they are searching for. Secondly, how long will it take them to find or complete the specific task. Thirdly, what kind of errors are being made when completing the task which is monitored. Fourthly, when users re-use the site again it is also being monitored on how well they can use the site this time around and 1-4 steps are repeated and finally, getting customer feedback on the website interface by conducting primary and/or secondary interviewing processes.

Source: (ASOS, 2018)

How does TRUST impact upon UI & E-commerce?

Trust is important and is a major factor for online retailers as they have to maintain that relationship by putting solid encryptions security in place when there is a transaction. A consumer also needs to trust the site before making a purchase this is done by;

1. Propensity: Characterises an individual’s general predisposition and desire to be trusting in relationships with others. Propensity depends mainly on past experience, personality and culture (Hofstede, 2011).
2. Ability: Refers to the competencies and characteristics of the seller) organization that permits it to have a certain influence and authority in a specific area.
3. Benevolence: Is related to the willingness to establish mutually satisfying exchanges rather than to simply seek profit maximization.
4. Integrity: Depends on the principles applied by the organisation such as maintaining confidentiality of information.

Source: (Christine Roy, Dewit and Aubert, 2001)

Trust is also a dynamic concept, as it evolves through time. Individuals will form initial perceptions of the seller and change their perceptions with further information or experience. Website interface is the initial trust which is critical in E-commmerce. If trust is established and the transaction is conducted successfully, trust then is reinforced, and future transactions will be conducted with a higher level of trust (Christine Roy, Dewit and Aubert, 2001).

To Know More Watch This Short Clip.

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‘’E-mail Marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses E-mail as a means of communicating commercial messages to an audience’’ according to Fariborzi and Zahedifard (2012). The focus of this blog, is to be able to identify key drivers that will drive customer engagement via E-mails and discuss the associated risk factors with E-mail Marketing. Past research shows E-mail Marketing has the highest return on investment than other marketing methods (Fariborzi, E. and Zahedifard, M. 2012).

Moreover, customer engagement is a business communication method between customers and an organisation through various channels (Verhoef, Reinartz and Krafft, 2010). Customer engagement enhances customers’ service brand evaluation, brand trust and brand loyalty. The result of this outcome shows that brand loyalty can be strengthened not only through the service consumption experience but also through customer engagement beyond service encounter according to So et al (2014) for instant in this case via E-mail Marketing.

Building Personalised Relationship via E-mail Marketing

Tailored services, which makes customers feel that employees are polite, friendly and exhibit personal warmth, and that customers are unique and valued, these are crucial in building good customer relationship according to Huang, J. and Shyu, S. (2009). Tailoring a service enables to create personalised content for each individual customer which will create brand loyalty. This is more expressive as you can customise messages for different customers and provide content and promotions that are consistent with their profile.

Guide to Drive Customers via E-mail

The template is the formation of the basics of creating an effective E-mail campaign to attract readers. The subject line in the E-mail is the first point of contact and acts as a trigger to encourage the message recipient to open the E-mail. There are two main components in the subject line. E-mail Sender can be identified as; company name (only) as this is a form of creating brand recognition and the Subject Matter is a topic which you are trying to achieve that can be categorised into incentives, discounts or savings to get readers attention on the main focus of the E-mail.

To be able to drive customer engagement the following is key to consider when writing an E-mail campaign;

1. Know your goals and what you are trying to achieve from your E-mail for example, welcome new subscribers by telling them about your business and values so you can start building a relationship with them, re-engaging existing customer with offers, target E-mail marketing campaigns by segmenting your subscribers.
2. Understand E-mail types; promotional E-mails with latest offers, rational E-mails which are made up of weekly newsletters & free gifts and transactional E-mail leading to a purchase on the company website.
3. Build an E-mail list by promoting it via other form of social media so customers can subscribe, share and like.
4. Plan E-mails ahead and follow ups.
5. Focus on the content and the design of the E-mail
6. Track your E-mails using marketing matrix such as delivery rates, open rates and click though rates.

Source: (Hall, 2018)

Risk Factors

According to Fariborzi, E. and Zahedifard, M. (2012) the risk of E-mail marketing is becoming problematic nowadays because;

• Undelivered E-mails this can happen when users set their setting that redirect all unknown sources of emails to their junk emails who aren’t on their contact list.
• Renderability – some graphics, links and other media within the E-mail may not support all browsers. So, if a recipient tries to open a high content email on their phone it may not support the device/browser.
• E-mail overload, some recipient gets so much email, they may disregard the mail if it’s not their priority.
• Competitors
• E-mail can be time consuming if a recipient ignores the E-mail.

Overall, to drive customer engagement it is important to take into consideration the basic tools to create excellent content and catch audience attention to be able to build an awareness of you company. To avoid risk it is also important to stay aware what your competitors are doing and stay ahead of the game by thinking creatively and efficiently to attract customer first in your market.

To learn more on how to drive customer engagement please click here to watch a small clip.

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Source: Services, S. (2018)

The Development of Blogs

‘’During the mid-1990’s, people began writing online diaries or journals. Most of those online journals were developed in manual hypertext mark-up language (HTML), the scripting language used by web designers to build pages. These types of websites became known as weblog, eventually shortened to blog’’ according to Cass, 2007. Over time, developers built content management tools for managing and publishing content dynamically without having master HTML. Blogs are websites that appear in journal format. Blog authors can write a series of entries, each post appears in sequential order, post ranging one to numerous can appear on the home page, and all entries can be archived and accessed through navigation on the home page.

Blog authors use a content management system to write a post and publish quickly. Blogs allow others to easily interact and converse in a public setting. They allow internet users to communicate more easily than most websites trough tools such as comments, trackbacks, RSS, and social network bookmarking. Interaction is the key to building a successful blog. Technologies such as RSS, trackbacks, and commenting enable more personal blogs, conversations are facilitated between bloggers and readers. The most common method of communication between bloggers and their readers is through comments. Blog readers can comment on a blog post by entering a comment within a blog post comment.  Blog  authors can choose to answer a comment with their own comment in the same post or by writing another post.

• Trackbacks are another tool for communicating between blogs. Trackbacks allow you to notify other bloggers automatically that you have written a blog article referencing their article.
• Providing an RSS feed on a blog is a good way to update blog readers of content on a blog.
• Social Networking is a website that enables its members to contribute content, such as images or text lists, and then search through all of the submission by members; thereby, members can find other people with similar interests.

What Is Corporate Blogging?

Corporate blogs written in an accessible or informal style borrow from the personal and subjective character of personal blogs, which makes them available to a readership that does not necessarily consist of experts. A subjective perspective transforms corporate blog posts from a collection of formal, distant press release to a set of informal and more emotional experiences.

Corporate blogs are generally created with the objective of furthering organisational goals. However,since a variety of goals exist and many individuals from different departments and branches can potentially be involved, the corporate blog is far from being a single, clearly delineated genre. Instead, it branches out into different sub types that address different communicative needs, are aimed at different reader communities, and are written by different departments inside an organisation.

Click to view some of the Top Blogging Companies

Key Benefits of Blogging:

• Internal Communication blogs act as an active medium to communicate with the employees and other internal audience regularly. Changes, policies that are updated at regular intervals can easily be communicated through company blogs.
• External Communication blogs make it easier to connect with the employer’s, customers, investors across the world. News, views and anything else that a company wants to share with the world can easily be made accessible through blogs. So, blogs can help companies in positive communication.
• Marketing Medium can be used as an effective tool. You can advertise and give information about your products through blogs, Moreover; you can also provide links to your websites to increase your internet traffic.
• Feedback Tool can be also used on blogs to capture target audiences feedback about company culture, products, feelings and thoughts.

Watch this short YouTube clip for more benefits on Corporate Blogging.

Blogging Traffic Statistics

• Over its lifetime, one compounding blog post creates as much traffic as six decaying posts. (HubSpot, 2016)
• 53% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority. (HubSpot, 2017)
• Companies that published 16+ blog posts per month got almost 3.5X more traffic than companies that published 0-4 monthly posts. (HubSpot, 2015).

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