Best Atari Hall Of Fame – Website Evaluation And Improvement

Different persona users created to provide feedback on website design and features

Best electronics specializes in sale of replacement parts and accessories for all consumer based Atari Game Systems and Atari computers. Their brand name is Best Atari Hall of fame. It was started 34 years ago and developed through sale of products, upgrade kits, advancement and spare parts. The business is proud of their high product review on e-bay even after purchase of the product, indicating higher preferences of their products and quality service above other products in a similar market segment.

The website evaluation will be a detailed study of different crucial parameters that will be assessed comprehensively, to determine the nature of the website in accomplishing the goals of the organization such as increasing sales significantly through an e-commerce platform, creating customer value and a better experience through the website (Kao and Matlen 2018, p.2018). The evaluation parameters that will be used are:

• Creation of personas for hypothetical users of the website and determination of their user experience in the website
• Determining the user experience priorities
• Assessing the usability specifications
• Determining an evaluation methodology of the website by checking the techniques and procedures followed in its set up.
• Actual website evaluation
• Setting up a critique method and making a conclusive report  

Different hypothetical persona users were created to create a virtual feedback regarding the performance of the website. There were two members in major group. The persona users that were applied. Characterization of the users was done to examine their requirements and specificity in making purchases from the website, and the most likely users of the website says Esmaeilli and Hashemi 2015, p. 25. The users that were created in this study include;

Elite users- They are the most frequent users of ecommerce website. Two elite user groups were used;

• IT related users- They have a better experience in the operations of a computer electronics website. The users have a greater knowledge of the features and contents of the website. For example, they are more likely to assess the quality of the spare parts, upgrade and replacement kits used (Ming-Hsuan et al., 2002, p.16). The users were used to in the evaluation process to ascertain that the services provided by the website were eligible and worth purchasing for any type of user.
• Frequent Online electronic product customers- These are users who have created a frequent and consistent trend in purchasing electronics online. They play the role of comparison of the website layout and services provided with other electronic websites (Martin 2002, p. 21). Their preferences, critiques and improvement suggestions were among the ranking parameters that played a role in evaluation. Expert economists in online shopping were a subgroup in this category to know the discount rates and fairness in pricing.

Standard users are moderate purchasers of electronics online. They rarely go with the recent trends and innovations in the electronics world. The sub category members under this group are;

• Standard brand users- These users are interested in online shopping of a specific brand. For example, customers who were satisfied by other Atari products are more likely to make purchases again.
• Repair or replacement standard members- Members in this category seek for repair and replacement of their electronic products from the website by checking whether the spare parts or upgrade kits are available according to the requirements or customization needs of their electronic products.

Nonstandard users barely make purchase or enquiry of services online. Most of them are brick and mortar electronic buyers (Wenyi et al.,2003, p.420). E-commerce is a new concept to them and they are willing to try online shopping. The sub members in this category include;

• New members- These members are willing to make their first purchase of an electronic equipment and they are slightly confused on whether to buy on a brick and mortar store or online as outlined by Tom & Morawiec 2010, p.557. Their opinion on Atari products online will be assessed to determine their probability in making a purchase from the website.
• Members upgrading from brick and mortar purchases to online buying- The members are in plan of transition to online shopping of electronics and they have to be convinced through the services and layout of the website in order to make an informed decision.

Disabled members – These members have a physical disability but they are willing to make a purchase from the website. The layout of the website will be assessed to determine whether it is favorable for them in their condition (Roger & Dee 2007, p. 162). The sub members in this category are;

• Fully blind- The website layout for example incorporation of speech recognition software will be looked at to determine if a fully blind customer can access the website and make a purchase.
• Partially blind- They use visual aids such as pictures and photographs to support their vision. The website setup will be critically evaluated to measure the extent in which it has been designed to benefit partially blind individuals. 

The aspects of the website design will be listed in order of the priority features that should be included to meet all the basic requirements of the website in creating an easier interface of the website for all users says Roger & Dee 2007, p. 162. The priorities will be listed according to the opinions of each user and the members in each category.

Priority features for a better website design and customer experience

Having a proper website store front- The website should have a better design of the store by use of themes and pictures of the store if the store has a physical location. The security of most online buyers is based on such simple parameters since they are guaranteed of the physical presence and access of the store in case of any future warranty of the product (Roger & Dee 2007, p. 162).

Offering free shipping of accessories and products – Free shipping of products in most e-commerce platforms is a common it is used as a competitive strategy by most online sites. To be in such a competitive world, e-commerce economists highly recommend free shipping of products.

Adding store blogs- Numerous store blogs should be incorporated to market the website in many channels and target many users such as new members and members upgrading from mortar and brick enterprises to online shopping and e-commerce.

Creating a mobile friendly site- The website should be friendly to mobile users since most customers access the website on their mobile phones according to Hannu et al., 2010, p.245. The development of a mobile application is a better strategy in the future to ease accessibility and presentation of features and services that the website provides.

Creating a customer review platform- The platform is a chance for many potential customers to check the feedback and comments from other website users regarding the quality of the services and products offered by the website (Goldman & Dierking, 2005, p. 343).  Positive reactions guarantee more users.

Incorporation of speech recognition software and better presentation of the visual images of the website- This is a measure done to meet the requirements of disabled individuals to benefit from the website since they can make orders or enquiry of the products easily the pictures should be clearer and enlarged for better vision.

Creating a range of communication actions-, many communication actions should be incorporated.  A range of accessible options should be available, such as telephone numbers and social media handles.

Providing offers-, most users go for commodities with a price offer or promotion due to preference over other expensive electronics from other websites.

Search engine optimization- It enables easier access to the website by the customers after searching on google. The website can easily be reached when SEO is introduced by the business owners.

Listing of products and services- The products and services provided by the website should be listed at the top page of Best electronics website. The first page should create a very clear impression of the website activities and a listing of the services provided through sub links that give detailed information (Wenyi et al.,2003, p.420). The products can be listed alphabetically, according to the preference of the customers or from new arrivals to older arrivals.

Product branding and how-to guides

Clear logo- The website should have a very clear logo that will act as an online business card, which differentiates the brand from other websites. Most users prefer buying items from an organization with a remarkable brand logo since it creates a sense of security and quality of the product.

Buying procedure on the website- A proper website should have a proper guiding step for the buying procedures of a product. The website may have a good display, good product specification and all the requirements of the customer but with an unclear buying process or method of payment says Marcus 2015, p.165. The website ends up losing potential buyers.

Latest news- The website should create a latest news section, which directs the customers about new events, offers, or upcoming projects by the organization. This is a very effective method of building a positive relationship with users and creating anticipation for better deals in the future.

Branding the electronic products- The electronic products should be branded with a good brand name on a sticker (Leung 2012, p. 123).  Creation of a brand name is important for new customers who might get interested in the product in order to create the impression of a product that has been in the market for a long period and of good quality.

Shopping cart, search box and login section- A login section should be included in the website to create further access to users with accounts or better discount offers for registered customers. A shopping cart is effective in directing the customer on the buying procedure and methods (Chen et al., 2005, p .44). Search boxes are an easier way of the customer to find a target electronic product of his/her interest, instead of scrolling along the website in search of the product.

Payment system icons- Icons directing the customer on the method of payments should be included in the website, for example PayPal icon, payza icon or the bank symbol which would serve the users of the website`s local country better (Craven 2008, p.77). The payment systems should be recognizable and well known by the customers.

Social media links- The website should have links of their social media accounts for access by the customers in case of enquiry, customer care and any other consultations.  The benefits of social media accounts for websites is the chance for self-promotion, identification of the most preferred products and customer trends (Blackburn et al., 2002, p.33). The accounts should therefore be active all through at to engage users.

How to guides- For electronic products a website, which gives guidelines to the users on the best specifications to look for in electronics, is highly recommended. The guidelines indicate the advantages and disadvantages of products (Goldman & Dierking,2005, p. 343). Customers will then make purchases according to their evaluation and assessment of their priorities.

Website speed- Most users prefer high speeds of the website when surfing on their mobile phones or computers. It is common for most internet users to lose patience while loading a website URL. Software such as Content delivery network (CDN) help in boosting internet speeds (Dunn 2013, p.14).

Product pages- Many internet users are not fond of scrolling through many pages to preview a product. In case of many products to be show cased, the website should make short videos that indicate the products with a brief description to entice the users or potential customer 

Evaluating the extent to which the website conforms to the web content accessibility guidelines. The main issue evaluated in a website are quality and usability. Usability study requires high consumer or user involvement and mostly the study needs to be conducted in an experimental environment (Blackburn et al., 2003, p.32).

First you start by developing a heuristic instrument. A website must be able to meet the study requirements. The study summarizes if the customer is able to find the website, is he able to conduct transaction activities, and does the website produce customer satisfaction (Carbonell &Siekmann 2001, p.79). You may evaluate using a two- step process; first three failure points are identified in the proposed satisfaction model. Secondly several criteria are presented according to the three failure points to provide a more detailed measurement on the extent of the satisfaction that buyers perceive when they reach failure point. This is because most heuristic evaluation methods uniquely identify more usability problems than usability testing Failure point is the when the buyers cannot access the website or not find the function of information they want.

	Ease of identification	Ease of use	Usefulness	Interactivity
Failure point 1	Yes	No	No	No
Failure point 2	No	Yes	No	No
Failure point 3	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Failure point measures points such as satisfaction, dissatisfaction and a point of satisfaction between dissatisfaction and satisfaction. This point represents those buyers whom the web function fulfills their needs however they are reluctant to use other functions (Chen et al., 2005, p. 42). Ease of identification measures to areas, connectivity (which is reliability to access web pages and whether they load at which rate and ability of identification. Ease of use refers how stress-free it is to execute the function to achieve the goal of buyer. Usefulness measures the ability of the website to realize the buyer’s intended purpose. Interactivity determines how the site interacts with the buyer and ease of the buyer to ask questions and get help. Both heuristic evaluation and usability methods were used to analyze the website.

Usability method scoring system. Scoring would be done according to satisfaction and dissatisfaction evaluation procedure explain above. This is based on degree of satisfaction as perceived by the buyer. A multiple-scale scoring system is used (Chen et al., 2005, p. 42).

Several customer interactive field test were conducted with each persona established to fill information according to his satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Interactive content obtained from the website’s chat room was also used (Colomo-Palacios et al., 2012, p. 34). It provided a forum conversation between the web provider and its buyer.

Criterion	Level scores	Level scores	Level scores	Level scores	Level scores
Ease of identification	Very easy right away (9-10.0)	Easy (7.5-8.5)	Normal (5.0)	Very difficult  (2.5)	Cannot find (0)
Ease of use	Very  useful (9.0-10.0)	Easy no help needed (7.5-8.50	Normal, can use but need help (5.0)	Very difficult, need much help (2.5)	Don’t know how to use or doesn’t work (0)
Usefulness of information	Very useful (9.0-10.0)	Useful (7.7-8.5)	Normal (5.0)	Not useful (2.5)	Cannot find (0)
Interactivity	Interactive content (9.0-10.0)	Dynamic content (2.0)	Static content (2.0)

Process followed to obtain the heuristic

	Author’s definition of their own recommendations	Recommendations about security	Resultant heuristic
	Functional requirements derived from the customers perspective	Trust on the web not to use personal information.	The website should show security logos during the checkout process including payment process securities.
The site is secure
The site is reliable	Level of security while using credit cards.
Feel safe when using the site
	Functional requirements that represent facets of customers service	Secure payment	Privacy policy for personal information required. Customer should be aware of his/her private information is being used.
Information to customers on payment security
Information to customers on privacy policy	Are safety certificates granted by external companies e.g. VeriSign.
	Factors that capture quality of an E-commerce website	Adaptation of proper security mechanisms.

A heuristic organization

1. Need recognition and problem awareness. The site didn’t serve the purpose of recognizing so purchasing was a difficult. This is due to lack of customer’s search and navigation tools necessary to search and satisfy their need.
2. Information search. Atari electronics website ability to offer customer search related or more information of the product their buying is very weak. This show a difficult ease of use to the customers of all personas (Dunn 2013, p. 12).

• Purchase decision making. This is when customers evaluate diverse products on the basis of varying products features to find the product that bids more benefit.

1. Transaction table. Being the last section in the buying decision process, should be clear and trustworthy to lure the customer into buying the product (Guido et al., 2016, p.116).
2. Post sale behavior. The website should have created a forum   which ensures post-purchase communication with the system enabling Atari follow customer’s order.
3. Website layout during the whole purchasing procedure. This are factors that ensure customer satisfactory during the whole purchasing process. They should show trustworthiness traits to make the customer believe he will be able to finish the whole transaction process. Atari website general layout is very weak and looks untrustworthy for customers to make purchases.

A heuristic presentation should be presented using a scoring card.

• Navigation throughout the section. The customer should be able to traffic easily through the different sections.
• Use of a clear user-logical hierarchy in products classification. Customer should find it easier to find and categorize products.
• Appropriate filters. This applies for a company such as Atari which sells a wide range of products. Where customer’s needs should be easier to undo.
• Search box to locate products and information. Atari lacks a search box which in most cases its present in the top right corner to assist the customer navigate to the need
• Advancement of search.  The search button should have advance features that give limitations to a great variety of search of criteria. After doing an advanced search the results can be refined by applying these mechanisms. Atari website lacked this features.
• Checkout process progress indicator. The progress bar should include steps so as to be able trace back missing steps not completed. Atari website checkout doesn’t have a clear outlook of checkout
• “Call to action buttons.” This include feature buttons such as “add to cart” or “buy now” should be easy to see and use.
• Elements that draw customer’s attention. The website should use banners, animations and sounds that would attract customer’s interest to buy. This is not the case in Atari website and sub-sites such as best.
• Most e-commerce website lure customers into buying by using products on offer to advertise using features such as “New” which lacks in the Atari website.
• The site lacks a shopping atmosphere that improves the customer’s sense of store popularity.
• Information about the products should be accurate and clear to the customer giving him a clear picture which isn’t the case in Best electronics website.
• The website content shows it isn’t regularly update thereby caring a lot of unnecessary information to the customer (Kushchu & Jack 2008, p. 34).
• Content cover. Most information in Atari website is based on the product description instead of customer’s needs.
• Information on product availability. The site lacks feature to explain the product availability, either being on stock or out of stock and when the product will be available again incase not available.
• Information related to the buyer. Atari product description are very weak.  Necessary information required to assist a customer make a decision should be available. This include customer’s reviews, shipment time, origin manufacturer and specification features
• Registration features. The process should be short as possible and simple. It should also only demand for essential information which the customer wouldn’t feel to falsify so as to speed up the process.
• Product rating system. The Atari website should have provided a customer’s rating system to win customer’s trustworthiness and loyalty by showing them commitment. Allowing customers comment in other customer’s reviews facilitates customer’s loyalty to the site.
• Interactive review forum system. The website should provide features such as “have you found that helpful” and answers such as “yes’ and “No”
• Media product review. The website should have provided reviews on products published by the media. And maybe also add links to those sites.
• Comparison tools. The website has not provided comparison tools and features of products. This would have assisted the customer make buying decisions.
• The website should have provided other recommended goods which would interest the buyer due to similarity to her needs. It should also provide products related to the selected product such as accessories which the buyer would also be interested to buy.
• Assistance forum. The site lacks a clear assistance forum which would help customers when necessary and also use such opportunities to promote products.
• Payment options. This site provides for only two payment options which sometimes may inconvenience customers accustomed to other payment means.
• The customer should provide utmost security for payment procedures making the customers feel safe to buy from the website. Which is not the case in Atari.
• The system doesn’t provide a status for keeping track of purchase order. This section enables keep track of their goods not delivery and new goods ordered.
• User interface. The user interface of Atari website is poor. It’s not exciting to the customers.
• Website image. Website should have a presentable image which is creative and innovative as customers may be attracted to other competitor’s website to make purchase (Jin-Hyuk et al., 2005, p.501).
• Shipping and exchange policy. Atari website should have a clear shipping and return policy which should be included in the FAQs or specified site in the site.
• Management of orders. Atari website should provide a clear policy that would enable return an item or cancel an order. This boosts loyalty and market policy. The system should also provide confirmation email for any order transaction made (Kurt et al., 2004, p. 67 

The website is appearance is very poor. This affects customer’s perception on security which despite being independent from graphic design is largely affected by the website appearance. The site is also very dull and lacks the features that would excite customers in the website. The design which should be creative and innovating is very poor. It gives competing website an upper hand. The website is also not categorized which would help customers navigate easily through different sections. The website also shows a lot of missing functions such as the search box, navigation menu, links, and orphan pages. The purchasing process is not well laid and clear. This gives the customer a sense of doubt. Design them evaluation showed poor quality images and missing alternative text.

The ecommerce evaluation study was successful since the website provided a wide range of parameters to assess and make a conclusive report. The obstacles involved were associated due to lack of standard methodology methods for evaluation of a website until the scoring and heuristic system was incorporated. My assignment was a success due to inclusion of opinion and suggestions from IT experts and website developers. The website developers suggested recommendations concerning user experience priorities, usability specification and critique of the website presented for use in the assignment. The IT developers recommended a website evaluation method, and guided me during the actual evaluation of the website. 

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