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January 09, 2008

For intranet inspiration, go shopping

When we’re helping a client revamp an intranet site, we often conduct a nifty little exercise that we call “Let’s go shopping,” where we ask planning participants to think of web sites they visit to buy online.

The results can be quite varied—in a recent session, sites included Red Envelope, Lands’ End and Home Shopping Network—but participants’ favorite is almost always Amazon. (More on Amazon in a moment.)

Why is this relevant? Quite simply, shopping sites offer tons of ideas for how to improve any web site. After all, these sites live and die on their ability to attract users, encourage them to put merchandise in their carts, and get them to commit to buy. So shopping sites are often great role models for navigation, graphics, and other key web elements.

And since an increasing number of people shop online—the 2007 holiday season racked up a 20% gain in such shopping, according to a comScore report—the shopping site interface is one they’re familiar with.

Of course, there’s a lot of variety from site to site, so there’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. The idea of the exercise is not to slavishly imitate, but to gain (free) inspiration to unlock your thought process about how to organize and design your site.

Regardless of which sites you refer to, one choice should always be Amazon. I’ve long extolled Amazon’s virtues for clarity, user-friendliness and organization, but I was surprised that what really got participants jazzed in our recent session is a different feature: the reviews.

“I sometimes go to Amazon even if I’m planning to buy a product elsewhere to see what the reviewers say,” commented one participant. “You can’t beat the objectivity of having regular shoppers rate books, movies or other products.”

Intriguing, because it certainly supports the growing social media trend, where participation is an integral part of the user experience. Something to think about when you’re revamping your intranet site? Visit amazon.com for more inspiration.

(By the way, New York Times writer Joe Nocera just composed a valentine to Amazon that pays tribute to another reason people love the site: customer service. Read the piece.

Posted by Alison Davis at January 9, 2008 05:18 PM