I found this great atricle the other day on User Interface Engineering that emphesises the importance of good usability on a eCommerce website perfectly.

In a nutshell it was one small form that was causing the problem to a tune of $300 million a year. The form was simple. The fields were Email Address and Password. The buttons were Login and Register. The link was Forgot Password. It was the login form for the site. It’s a form users encounter all the time.

It wasn’t so much as the forms layout but where the form lived. Users would encounter it after they filled their shoppign cart and were required to fill it in before they could purchase their products.

The designers thought the form woudl save return visitors time and first time purchasers wouldn’t mind the extra effort of filling the form as it would save them time next time they purchased from the site

“I’m Not Here To Be In a Relationship”

Usability tests conducted with customers told a different story – they didnt want to register to make a purchase! All they wanted to do was choose and item and pay for it with the minimum amount of effort.

You can read the full article here:

The $300 Million Button

There couldnt be a better example of how a users journey affects their experience on your website. At the end of the day all a user want sto do on an eCommerce website is make a purchase with the minimum amount of effort. Removing as many hurdles for your customer as possible will undoubtedly increase sales, in case to the tune of $300 million.