[VIP] Nielsen Norman Group: Ecommerce User Experience

A superior ecommerce user experience is a competitive advantage. Today’s consumers are not impressed with sites and apps that simply allow them to shop -- they want retailers to anticipate and satisfy their every need. These reports outline detailed recommendations for improving the online shopping experience and remaining relevant in today’s ecommerce landscape.

This series includes 13 topical reports with 1073 design guidelines based on over 20 years of usability research. Discussions and more than 3100 screenshot illustrations supplement the findings.

Buy individual reports, or save 58% when you purchase all 13 volumes together.

Individual Reports

• Vol. 01: Ecommerce User Behavior and Executive Summary for the Series

  Get insights into people’s online shopping behavior. This 157-page report presents the key usability findings that all ecommerce organizations should know.

• Vol. 02: Homepages, Navigation, and Product Comparisons

  Gain customer interest and encourage them to browse your products by following these 62 design guidelines.

• Vol. 03: Product Pages

  Give ecommerce customers the product information they want, at the right time, and at the appropriate level of detail. Get 108 guidelines for producing engaging product pages.

• Vol. 04: Shopping Carts, Checkout and Registration

  Design a helpful shopping cart and a smooth checkout process by following these 137 design guidelines.

• Vol. 05: Search, Filters, and Routing Pages

  Give shoppers the tools they need to discover and explore your product selection. Get 139 tips for designing search, listing pages, category pages, and filters.

• Vol. 06: Customer Service

  Good ecommerce customer service leads to more loyal customers. Get 75 tips for designing websites that support customers when they need it.

• Vol. 07: Selling Strategies

  Users expect ecommerce retailers to anticipate and meet their needs throughout the entire shopping journey. Get 102 guidelines for improving your ecommerce marketing, merchandising, and selling techniques.

• Vol. 08: Wishlists, Gift Cards, and Gift Giving

  Help gift givers easily find and send the perfect gift. Get 87 tips for designing the ideal wishlist and gift-giving experience on your ecommerce site.

• Vol. 09: Trust and Credibility

  Trust is hard to build and easy to lose on ecommerce websites. Get 53 guidelines for helping visitors feel confident enough in your organization to take desirable actions.

• Vol. 10: International Purchasers

  International shoppers can differ from your domestic customers. Follow these 117 design guidelines to satisfy their needs and expand to global markets.

• Vol. 11: Store Finders and Locators

  Get people to your physical stores by making yourself easy to find. Get 50 tips for designing locators.

• Vol. 12: Transactional Email, Confirmation Messages, and Notifications

  Relevant and informative automated messages help users quickly identify their transaction status. Get 143 design guidelines to convey emails and notifications efficiently.

• Vol. 13: Ecommerce User Research Methodology

  Get inspiration for conducting your own studies. Learn how we collected the data so you can apply the suggestions appropriately.

What’s New in the Fifth Edition?

The fifth edition includes new and updated guidelines with fresh screenshot examples. For the fifth edition of this report series, we conducted one large-scale remote usability study. In addition to this large study, researchers also conducted some smaller, more targeted research studies to update and evolve some of the 11 topical ecommerce reports included in this series. 

New findings and discussions include: 

• Changes in customer behaviors and expectations
• Live chat and chatbot best practices
• Direction for utilizing augmented reality within the shopping experience
• How to utilize notifications throughout the customer journey
• Expectations for product pages and product information
• Livestream selling
• and much more

Research Method

The information in this report is based on five separate rounds of ecommerce studies for this and the previous four editions of this report. These studies included a mix of the following methodologies.

• One-on-one usability testing
• Diary-based longitudinal studies
• Eyetracking studies
• Expert reviews

Representative users tested 350+ ecommerce websites. The studies took place in the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, India, and China.