Three Ways to Improve Your Usability and Improve Your Bottom Line

When you cast your business into cyberspace, it was with the goal of marketing your product to the world. You've heard of search engine optimization (SEO) and made sure your content is optimized. In fact, you many even be ranking well on the engines. With all the traffic you are getting, however, you have this feeling in your gut that you should be seeing better results. But how? Fortunately for you, it can be easier for you to improve your usability than you think.

The "Straight Line" Theory to Improve Your Usability
Where most sites fail is in the basic usability that gets costumers from the point when they arrive at their site to customers handing over money. Think of these things as two points distinct points. As you learned in basic geometry, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Improve your usability by creating the straightest line possible between the page your customer has landed on (no matter which page she landed on) and the sale. In this article, we are go to focus on one of the most important places to improve your usability: checkout.

Improve Your Usability by Removing Account Registration
Okay, you have a customer who just showed up at your site. Within 10 minutes, she found just the thing she needs. She wants to buy it. She tosses the item into her shopping cart and proceeds to checkout. She can practically see the item in her hands. But wait; what's this? You are asking her to create an account before she can purchase the item? Why?

If it is not absolutely critical to the sale, skip the account registration. It adds one more step between her arrival and your sale. Also, it can make her skittish. After all, why does she need an account? What's in it for her? She just wants her item. If there is a real benefit to her having an account, invite her to create one in the follow up e-mail you send after the sale. Provide a link even. For heaven's sake, though, improve your usability now by eliminating that step.