I am striving to get my bachelors degree in Business Finance and so far it has been a good ride. I thought Jakob Nielsen made a great move to write an article that was out of the usability range to important web upgrades in order to increase business profits. Ingenious! Not to talk down other articles and the general direction Nielsen goes in Alertbox; I think all business driven web sites and their actual businesses need to have increased dosages of the basic and most important concept first before they delve into upgrades. It’s a matter of priority. Here are the top 10 tactics that have a high return on investment:

  1. Email Newsletters: Nielsen said that this is probably the "single-highest ROI action you can take to improve your Internet presence." It keeps customers informed and in touch with the company and where it is going. They are also cheap, don’t need much time creating one, doesn’t have to be an everyday thing, and – an interesting benefit – is liberation from the dependence on search engines. It keeps the customer coming back to the site instead of the search engine that may find the site or another site.
  2. Informative Product Pages: Being able to improve on product pages so that they are user-friendly is so very important. Nielsen did a statistic that said 8% of usability problems came from poor product information and 10% of users of giving up the site were from poor product information. If the site’s purpose is to sell and to increase sells, the product pages have to eliminate frustration, questions, wait time, and any other annoying thing. It has to cater to each individual that graces the site. Don’t use terminology that the general public wouldn’t know. You can only increase sales by making the user feel like they have made the best choice.
  3. High-Quality Photography: This is a simpler way to improve a product page and some tips were to have tons of different angles to build of the main picture at hand so that the customer get a feel of the quality without touching it. One should even use huge enlargements to do that because users expect to be compensated in one way or another if they are to purchase from the web, and people will wait if their purpose is to see an enlargement.
  4. Product Differentiation and Comparisons: This is a step that is so important so that the customer knows that he is buying what he is seeing on his computer. Because customer can handle physically the product at hand, it takes a little faith to rely on the picture to tell you everything. By being able to describe the differences between similar products, customers will comfortably follow through to the checkout stage. If the product information is too general or not comparable, customers may find the site unreliable and unauthentic.
  5. Support for Reordering: With the newsletter in hand and an easy way to reorder similar products over again, there is a better chance that the customer will return and spend more money because of the simplicity, the reliability, and convenience of making the company as the best option.
    "Reordering is a matter of total user experience, beyond the website's user interface… to make people spend more money, make it easy to reorder." -Nielsen
  6. Simplified Text: Interestingly, Nielsen says that simplified text is the single most important improvement anyone can make to their site but it is never a one-time fix; it is a constant development. Hiring good writers and good editors may cost a bit but the return is all the greater.
  7. Catering to Seniors: This is the target market for just about anyone in the business world. The baby boomers are the fastest growing segment of internet users and web tend to move to the younger audience. It’s time to step back and realize that more profit can be made by seniors because most will spend their time on the internet doing just about everything. They are rich, retired, and loyal, what more can a business ask for?
  8. Gift-Giving Support: The economy thrives during the holiday season. Having wishlists, certificate, gift-cards, and other supports that are accessible on the website will generate more mula!
  9. Search: This was a harder one to put on the list because the costs, time, and headache that is shared with a search. However, it still creates an edge to profitability. An example is that a concise, descriptive search will improve reliability of external search engines to get people to your site. After all, search engines are one of the highest rates on investment internet marketing tactics.
  10. User Testing: And of course, user testing. It’s funny to say it that way because the reason he didn’t make this number 1 was because this is the one theme that he harps on the most and that users, such as I, will then tend to scrape on by without putting much effort into it.
  11. Bonus Tactic: Loyalty Program: Having a good loyalty program will incentivize the customer to use your site and only yours. One can do this by rewarding returning customers; give discount offers and free-shipping.

To wrap up, the whole idea to this article was to bring to mind ways to add value to any web site and receive further gains by enhancing the site’s value to customers.

"Interface design is about making money for the company. Execution and workmanship are what you need, not fashion and advanced features. Do the basics, and do them well."

These are pointers that I will definitely put to practice because of the gains that are associated with sound product information. With a Business major soon to be realized, this information has only improved the way I can use the knowledge that I have already acquired. This is the perfect edge to e-commerce.