October 2009 posts

Royal Mail will suffer from lack of innovation, not strikes

By Alexander Baxevanis on 29 October 2009

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Demo of DPD Interactive SMS delivery confirmationThe message in the recent weeks is clear: after repeated strikes more and more businesses, especially online retailers, are prepared to desert Royal Mail for alternative suppliers. However, I think it’s not just the strikes that will drive businesses away from Royal Mail. It’s also that Royal Mail has failed to come up with innovative services that match the needs of ecommerce businesses and their customers.

At Ecommerce Expo last week, I saw a number of delivery companies trying to attract retailers. But what they were advertising wasn’t their lack of strikes - it was services that make life a bit easier for both retailers and customers.

DPD, a parcel delivery company, was advertising their “Interactive SMS delivery notification” system. When a retailer provides them with the parcel recipient’s mobile phone number, they send a text message to the recipient to confirm the delivery day. If recipients aren’t available to sign for the package on that day, they can reply by text message to arrange an alternative date. For customers, this means greater transparency and less of the disappointment of receiving the usual Royal Mail “Sorry, you were out” card.

Home Delivery Network, another parcel courier, have partnered with PayPoint to create Collect+, a network of neighbourhood convenience stores that can accept parcel deliveries. As many of these shops are open until late in the evening, customers can collect their parcels when they come home after work, and avoid a trip to the local Royal Mail delivery office. Some major online retailers, such as Littlewoods and Woolworths have already signed up to offer this delivery method to their customers. Royal Mail could have found a way to use their Post Office network in a similar way, instead of closing down Post Office branches.

With delivery often being one of the biggest customer concerns in an ecommerce transaction, retailers are likely to be looking for advanced delivery services that will differentiate them from their competition. If Royal Mail can’t keep up, retailers may not return to use its services even after the strikes are over.

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New SEO and PPC training courses

By Trenton Moss on 29 October 2009

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Over the past few years our training courses in usability, accessibility, writing for the web, CSS and IA have proved very popular. So, we’ve decided to extend our training further into the realms of digital marketing with our new SEO training and PPC training courses. Both are run in partnership with specialist search marketing agency, Barracuda Digital and will begin in February next year.

The courses last a full day and are designed to give you a deep understanding of both disciplines. In the case of SEO, you’ll learn how to manage and prioritise a successful search engine optimisation strategy with optimal ROI. The PPC course will teach you how to deliver a highly effective PPC campaign, gaining outstanding results at minimum cost.

Check out our Internet marketing training pages to find out more about these and all our training courses.

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Guest blog - Opening a bank account

By Rhodri Buttrick on 28 October 2009

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Previously I have spent a lot of time in my posts talking about the endless hassle caused by paperwork, particularly online forms. Recently I had to go and open a student bank account. Trudging to the bank I fully expected there to be a dumper truck waiting for me creaking under the weight of a skyscraper of forms.

Due to my dyspraxia, I am unable to handwrite legibly and was quite worried that I would have to fill in forms by hand or ask someone to do it for me, which I sometimes find slightly awkward. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. I sat down with a member of the bank staff and she asked me a few questions and filled in everything on her computer. All I had to do was sign a couple of pages and that was it! In total it only took about half an hour. It was much easier than signing up for an online banking account in the comfort of my own home.

I was also impressed that there was a field for disability and we selected the boxes for dyslexic and impaired dexterity. In theory, this means that next time I have to go to a bank, even if it is a different branch, they will know that I cannot write and will fill the forms for me without me having to go into detailed explanations.

It made such a change to actually be able to talk to a human being rather than filling in details on a website controlled by merciless, antipathetic robots. I know the banks aren’t anyone’s favourite people now but the counter staff made it easy for me to open an account! As this human contact can make life so much easier for me, I have chosen a bank that has a real branch near the university and not just a ‘hole in the wall’. I don’t want to waste my time arguing with a cash point machine!

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Shortlisted for prize, yet remarkably unusable

By Frankie Pagnacco on 23 October 2009

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I noticed recently that Kentish Town Health Centre, which is my local health centre, was shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize 2009, and I have to confess to a secret satisfaction that it didn’t win.

Various articles on the awards shortlist describe it as “uplifting for both staff and patients” and ask the question “why can’t all health centres be like this?” Well the answer is, because it’s not that easy for people to use.

The entrance is an airy foyer rising the full three floors of the building and centres on a ‘street metaphor’ that runs right through the building creating, well, two entrances. So there’s a problem already. I’ve seen people look around disorientated about which way they came in.

And the ‘street metaphor’ itself. If I’m ill why do I want to wait in a reception area that is a street? Wouldn’t I prefer cosy, enclosed, safety?

The double entrance theme repeats in the two staircases up to the consulting rooms. Signposting is in the form of giant ‘G’, ‘1’ and ‘2’ painted on the doors so large that you don’t actually notice them. I have found myself completely lost in another part of the building without realising. And I’m good with maps.

Talking of twos, there are two waiting areas, one upstairs and one ground floor but it’s not clear when you should wait upstairs and when downstairs and I’ve seen doctors come all the way to the ground floor to pick up patients, which is surely a time waster.

One of the main features of the ground floor waiting area is a cafe which has mercifully not been open since its inception. A cafe? Around sick people? Whose bright idea was that?

Essentially the question I’m asking is, how can a building designed for human use (mostly when people are ill) be put up for a prize without actually finding out how people find using it?

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Ecommerce Expo and ecommerce usability

By Ismail Ismail on 22 October 2009

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Ecommerce ExpoFor the past couple of days a few of us have been over at Earls Court manning the Webcredible stand at Ecommerce Expo. Trenton ran a presentation on improving online conversions and we got plenty of interesting people to the stand. So, all-in-all it was pretty successful, you can check-out some photos from the show on our Flickr photostream.

To coincide with the show, on Tuesday we also launched our 4th annual Ecommerce Usability report, looking at the usability of 20 of the top UK high street retailers. Marks & Spencer’s new website (launched last week) shot to the top of the rankings alongside last year’s winner WHSmith with 83 per cent.  John Lewis, Woolworths and Boots also boosted their scores to make up the top five, all gaining scores of 80 per cent or more.

It’s clear that many of the top retailers are now really focusing on the user experience of their websites, but there are still one or two basic usability guidelines where many are still coming up short. However, with the average scores increasing substantially every year (73.3 per cent this year), we may have to look into adding some more advanced usability guidelines in the future, as ecommerce sites look to continue developing their user experiences.

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