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Thomas thought a particular function was good: he could adjust the layout of the homepage as he wanted. However, Thomas only stayed on the homepage for a few minutes because nothing attracted him. Instead, Thomas began to search for a mouse by using the search bar. During the process, Thomas found that some of the search results had nothing to do with mouse devices. Thomas was annoyed because he had to filter the products by himself, and did not find the process as easy as he had done before when he was using his personal computer or laptop.
Thomas also found out that the “categories” of the website could not help him to filter products. For example, although he might select the category “Computers,”
the mouse was not included in this category. After looking for it carefully, he finally found that the mouse was located at the bottom of the category page. Thomas then clicked one of the products and noticed that the pictures there were clearer than those on the homepage. Thomas could slide the pictures with his fingers.
However, when Thomas tried to browse the detailed information on the item, he found that the information was not detailed at all. Thomas felt that that was fine because he already had enough knowledge about the mouse. In the end, Thomas decided to buy the item and clicked the “buy now” button to make the payment.
Unfortunately, Thomas had forgotten his ID and password for the website, so he decided to click the “FB” or “Google +” button to log into the website using his Facebook or Google account. Thomas was very upset because these accounts did not work. He therefore turned off the smartphone quickly and closed his eyes to sleep on the bus.
3.Emily surfed around a mobile version of website
Emily was tired after shopping all afternoon, so she went into a café to rest.
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She remembered that website C provided a 40% online discount everyday and she usually loved to browse instant product news. She took out her mobile phone and tried to browse some interesting books on the website, but was a little disappointed by today’s discount merchandise. She went back to the previous page and continued to browse the website. Emily found that that there was a button called “International Exhibition” in the categories. Emily was curious and clicked the button to enter the next page. However, she was not convinced by what she saw on this page, because the page showed “discount” items rather than international products. She went back to the homepage and clicked another button, “Discount.” However, Emily found it odd to see the popup window, “Download our APP,” and said to herself: “I just want to browse the website casually. Why do I need to download the app?”
Emily remembered seeing some great guidebooks about Tokyo when she was passing a bookstore. Emily had tried to buy some of them, and wanted to know the places recommended by these books. Emily began to search for the books on the homepage by entering the keywords “Tokyo tourism.” However, as the search results were not sorted by price, Emily had to compare the prices by herself. Not knowing which book was better, Emily chose several books with attractive titles and cheaper prices. After browsing for a while, Emily still could not make up her mind to buy any particular book. The lack of a preview function may have been the critical factor because the information was not sufficient.
Emily then decided to take a look at the recommendations posted by other readers. Emily was upset as there were only a few recommendations. To her surprise, there was a recommendation for a Japanese comic. Emily laughed wryly and went back to the previous page to continue her search. After browsing for a long time, Emily finally decided to buy a book with a discount. Emily felt lucky.
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Remembering her ID and password, Emily did not need to register again. At the checkout page, Emily hesitated while entering address and phone number, because she had to take out her credit card in public and then enter the number. This made her feel unsafe. Emily decided to make the payment at home using her personal computer.
In the evening, Emily powered up her computer and was ready to make her payment by credit card. However, she had to repeat the same search again, just as she had in the afternoon, because her browsing records seemed not to be stored. It took a while for Emily to repeat the steps. The results shocked Emily, because the price was much higher than she had seen on her mobile phone. Emily was disappointed and decided to give up on buying the book. She closed the browser and turned off the computer.
Besides, claim analysis was also constructed in the meantime while writing the problem scenarios. In table 4.6, claim analysis included two parts. The first part is the features that were tackled from the problem scenarios, whereas the second part is the pros and cons of the features. That is to say, by using claim analysis the possible good or bad effects of the current situation were demonstrated. Furthermore, when launching the design process, including activity design, information design, and interaction design, claim analysis can help designers to increase the positive influence and decrease negative influence.
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Table 4.6 Claim analysis
Features Pros and Cons
Classic version website - Lots of pictures and text crowd the webpage.
- Have to manually zoom in and out.
- Hyperlinks in the text may be difficult to use with a touchscreen.
- Need to go to “previous” and “next” pages frequently.
Advanced filter + Search results should be more precise and accurate.
The stock status displayed on the detailed product page
- On mobile phones, users have to go back to the previous page, find the specific product again, and click the right link. The process therefore takes more time. information is not recorded
- Users have to key in the data again on the small screen.
Payment by credit card - It is uncomfortable for users to take out their credit card and enter their details and password in public places.
- Users are concerned about the safety of paying by credit card through mobile devices.
Pictures can slide left and right
+ The webpage will not be too long.
+ Users do not need to scroll down to see the content.
Login with FB or Google ID
+ Users do not need to register again.
- Invalid links to FB and Google would be annoying for users.
Provide discount information
+ Instant information on discounted products is attractive for people using mobile devices.
Downloading app + Apps can provide more interactive functions than websites.
- Users would use up a lot of storage space
downloading and installing the app and may prefer to browse the website freely.
Unavailability of advanced sorting
- Users have to compare the price by themselves.
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+ It is annoying if too many inappropriate products are recommended.
Providing additional discount to shoppers using mobile devices
+ Increasing the attraction of buying from the mobile website.
Consequently, in the second round of focus group, all the participants were asked to read the three problem scenarios and claims in advance, and then to think about how to enhance the good features and improve bad features. Also, we pleased to invite participants to talk about what functions that should be included in a future website.
In addition, according to the verbatim, we explored relative metaphors and information technologies which can help us to understand clearly about the detail description of the design ideas. Hence, metaphors, ITs, and their implications for our new website are showed in table 4.7 and 4.8.
Table 4.7 Metaphors and relative interface activities M-commerce interface
activity
Metaphors Implications for interface activity
Uwant wall Fashion magazines Providing up-to-date information recommended by celebrities
Demonstrating an item by Dummies in a store Providing a real model for