Ecommerce Usability vs Airport Usability
Posted March 12, 2007 by Jason Billingsley /
After a “too close” connection in Montreal I sat on the plane wondering how poor airport usability actually is. Those thoughts quickly turned to ecommerce usability and how poor online stores often are as well. The following chart is surprisingly accurate on how both these environments stack up to the paces users put them through.
| Airports | Online Stores |
| you never know how much time you have | shoppers are often pressed for time or distracted away from the task at hand |
| you rarely know exactly where to go | shoppers get lost trying to find products because of poor navigation or ineffective search functionality |
| you rarely know what information is going to be requested (and why are they asking so many questions) | shoppers get asked to fill in information like fax number or company name when it is not relevant |
| the words used to direct you are very unintuitive | wording is never consistent across ecommerce sites |
| every sign is the same shape and color | each button is identical, none more important than the other |
| when you need help, it takes forever to locate a map or actual person | contact info is often buried deep with the site or no phone number is available |
| the balance between security and privacy is almost impossible | security is too tight for some and too loose for others |
| if too many people are traveling at the same time, it seems to take forever | websites tends to slow down during peak times or special promotions |
| every time you go to the same airport, it seems like it has changed | constant redesigns make it difficult to re-find items or tasks |
| the check-in process takes way too many steps | the check-out process takes way too many steps |
| you never know if and when your baggage is going to arrive | you never know when your order will arrive |
| it is especially frustrating if you are an international traveler | shopping from out of country can be very frustrating |
Do you have any other examples of how these two environments are similar?
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