Importance of Aesthetics and Usability in E-commerce Websites

This literature is a report to the manager of the Spare box e-commerce website, showing the importance of aesthetics and usability of a website. The report also analyses the shortcomings of the spare box company website while making recommendations as to how improvements can be made to promote sales.

Running head: PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION 1
Principles of Effective Communication
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PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION 2
Contents
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Method........................................................................................................................................................3
Discussion....................................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................4
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................4
References...................................................................................................................................................5
Executive summary
This literature is a report to the manager of the Spare box e-commerce website, showing the
importance of aesthetics and usability of a website. The report also analyses the shortcomings of
the spare box company website while making recommendations as to how improvements can be
made to promote sales.

PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION 3
Introduction
The spare box e-commerce website is a company which deals with spare parts found at
https://www.sparesbox.com.au/, and most sales are made online. The company website has been
in place for years, and it is not effective when usability and aesthetics are put into consideration.
The interface of the website is a bit complicated, and when one uses the website, it feels like
many icons are not properly arranged, and confusion can set in. Accessibility is also an issue,
and the colors or images on the website are not very attractive. The aesthetics are not very
appealing, and there is no ease in the usability of the website. Even with an aesthetic
masterpiece, customers can leave the website if they experience a layout which is not intuitive,
too much scrolling, or when it is hard to navigate the pages as seen in the spare box e-commerce
website.
Aesthetics are the guiding principles of an artist, which determine the color, graphics, layout and
the contrast in a website. The perception and credibility of a brand can be influenced by the
aesthetics. There is a link between the credibility of a site and the design. Also how a design is
made affects the experience one has when they visit the website. The smart and pleasant design
gives the user a positive experience. In the case of the spare box e-commerce website, the
website combination of colors and the visual image is not very appealing (Lawrence & Tavakol,
2006).
When a website is visually appealing, users become more tolerant, and usability issues become
less. Usability-test moderators have seen familiar frustrations when using suboptimal UI where
they encounter many obstacles (Norman, 2014). The aesthetic-usability effect is when users find
a website visually attractive and at the same time finds it easy to use. Psychologically people
have a tendency of thinking that when a website looks better, it becomes easy to use. Therefore,

PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION 4
there can be a positive response when the website has a good visual design which makes them
more tolerant (B rook, 2009).
Method
This research was based on a desktop study and analysis of the research carried out in Kaori
Kirishima in Hitachi Design Centre to make its finding. The findings were reached after
analyzing a website and studying the behavior of visitors who accessed different websites and
their responses. This report is based on analysis of different peer-reviewed articles on aesthetics
and how websites should be designed.
Discussion
In 1995, a study in Kaori Kirishima in Hitachi Design Centre showed a correlation between
perceived ease of use and participants ratings, compared to the actual ease of using the ratings of
aesthetic appeal. Despite these advantages, there are limits as to the extent to which users may
not or not the discrepancies. Users can forgive small problems but not those larger problems.
Like in e-commerce, when a user wants to buy a product but cannot find it, they are not going to
buy it. If there is poor findability in a website, no matter how good a brand or a product is, how
are the customers going to buy such products without buying them? Therefore, poor usability
will lead to loss of revenues. There is the need for the form to meet the function. When there are
severe usability issues, the customers will lose patience and usability will be sacrificed for
aesthetics. Once people lose patience, they are usually very quick to leave the webpage.
When evaluating the interface of the company's website, understanding aesthetic-usability is key
so as to determine product allocation. When it is good- aesthetic usability in an interface, it
means that the UI has been created to connect with the audience targeted. During the research of
a used one can get the aesthetic usability effect making one not realize the usability issues.

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Usability allows visitors to understand the website and products at the glimpse of the website.
Users do not expect websites which are difficult to navigate or slow. Therefore, a website can
either make or break an e-commerce business. Creating superb website goes down to attention
and engagement.
Conclusion
When it comes to the website, a website that is appealing to the eye will leave a lasting and
positive impression. People make decisions whether to go or stay within the first second they
visit the website. It is always tempting to make websites look cool, but usability should always
be kept in mind when creating a website. A great looking website will boost how the product or
service being sold will be converted to customers who are actually purchasing.
Recommendations
Functionality and UX design go hand in hand. Aesthetics ought to be treated differently from the
functionality of the website. The aesthetics entail desired appeal and design. Before displaying
the website to the public, there should be further testing and modification (Sutcliffe, 2009).
The website design should be logical and natural where all elements are made to correlate, the
layout should have a natural feel to it and the layout ought to make sense. The spare box website
makes sense; however, the combination of colors and images does not give it the natural feel of a
spare store.
The design of the website should also ensure that the interest of the targeted customers is
captured in the first instance. Many websites are available for public use, and when a client visits
a website and wonders what the website is about, they may leave immediately (Marcus, 2016).
Therefore, for visitors to turn into customers, the website can change the images and replace
them with high-resolution images which relate to the main products a website is selling.

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Secondly, the website can use text which is legible, organized and clearly sized. The website
icons can be placed in a way that when u click the icons, one can view the images of spares sold.
Each icon clicked should present clear visuals regarding products or services. Unlike how the
website looks, where all images and services and products are kept together, making it a bit
confusing. Making a short-lead capture can also lead customers to the website (Secker, 2015).

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References
Bruck, P. A. (Ed.). (2009). Multimedia and e-content trends: Implications for academia.
Springer
Science & Business Media.
Lawrence, D., & Tavakol, S. (2006). Balanced website design: optimising aesthetics, usability
and
purpose. Springer Science & Business Media.
Marcus, A., Abromowitz, S., & Abulkhair, M. F. (2011). Design, User Experience, and
Usability.
In Theory, Methods, Tools and Practice: First International Conference, DUXU.
Norman, D. A. (2014). Emotional design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things. Basic Civitas
Books.
Seckler, M. (2015). Web Design in Human-computer Interaction: Effects of Website
Characteristics on Users' Perception of Aesthetics, Usability and Trust (Doctoral
dissertation, Verlag nicht ermittelbar).
Sutcliffe, A. (2009). Designing for user engagement: Aesthetic and attractive user
interfaces. Synthesis lectures on human-centered informatics, 2(1), 1-55.