I’ve been filling in a lot of online forms today, because I was submitting press releases, and the 10 or so press release sites I used were really hard to navigate, hard to use, and altogether not a nice experience., but that’s another story!!

So, here is my thoughts on using forms for submitting data, based on today’s experience.

1. Remember that people don’t like filling in forms, so you need to make them as simple as you can, and as quick to fill in as you can.
2. Why not make the first field in the form active immediately, so that I don’t have to click on it?
3. Why not tell me how many characters I can have in each field if there’s a limit?  Don’t wait until I have filled out the form, and submitted it to tell me.
4. If there is a limit to the number of characters, then why not have a character count? This would be really useful.
5. Remember that a lot of people will be using the tab key to move between fields, rather than the mouse.
6. So, make sure that the tab key moves to the next field, rather than the next link.  I don’t need help, or an explanation of what the field is.  And if i do, I’ll click on the relevant help clink.
7. In addition, if I’m using the tab key to move between cells, I want to work down the cells, especially when entering the address. If your form has cells on the left and right hand side, ensure that they tab down the left hand side of the list, and then the right hand side.
8. If you are a country specific site, then why not have your country as the default country on the list? Why do I have to scroll to find my country? Why can’t you help me out?
9. If your country doesn’t use zip codes, then why does your form ask for them? Use a little common sense, and ask for the relevant postal code.
10. The same goes for phone numbers too.  Make sure that your form is clear about whether the phone number needs to be with or without spaces.
11. Whilst having helpful advice in text fields can be useful, it’s also frustrating, as the existing text needs to be deleted before the actual form text can be entered.  Whilst not the end of the world, it can be annoying. Why not ensure that your field heading is self explanitary?
12. If you have different options for your free and paid services, such as for press releases, then why not hide the fields that are only available for the paid option? This makes filling in the form much easier.
13. Let me know which fields are required, and if I miss one out, then let me know.  Why not take me back to the incorrect field, and highlight it.
14. Remove optional fields,  so that I don’t get confused, or miss out anything important.
15. Don’t give me too much information and instructions.  I don’t want to get overwhelmed and leave.

These are not best practice ideas, just ideas and advice from a  frustrated web user!

I would imagine that I’ll rant about form design again, especially for ecommerce and help forms, but I’ll leave it for now…

If you have an ecommerce site, then you’ll want to make the most of it, and encourage visitors to become customers, and customers to buy more.

As well as making it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for, via your website navigation and search facility, you’ll also want to make sure that you cross sell and upsell

Cross selling promotes the additional extras that go with a product, such as batteries, or a carry case, or peripherals. If you were selling TVs, you might want to cross sell cables, DVD players, stands, home cinema systems, and games consoles.

Upselling involves promoting slightly higher priced, but "better" products. So going back to the TVs, you might promote a TV with a slighter larger screen, for another £50, or for £100, you could get a far better TV with a much better picture. Upselling will make visitors wonder if they are getting the best value for money, and encourage them to spend more with you.

Done well, using plenty of calls to action, and persuasive text, cross selling and upselling can prove to be very successful, and increase your revenue.

How can you introduce, or improve your cross selling and upselling? How can you promote your products with the biggest margins, or that customers will need? How could you help customers get the products they really want?

Whilst I’m not a designer, or a style guru of any sort, I understand the importantance of using the right sort of colours on websites.

• Depending on the type of website, who it’s aimed at, and what it’s promoting, the colours will need to be different.
• A social networking site for teenagers will need to use different colours than an ecommerce site with a target audience aimed at the over 60s.
• Some colours are calming, whilst some encourage anger, some colours are cold and others are warming.

What do the colours on your website say about your company, your products, or your target audience?

How can you use different colours, or different shades of colours to help your visitors navigate your site and find what they are looking for?

What other usability benefits can using the right colours have on your traffic or conversion rate?

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Websites are becoming increasingly more important, and whether you’re an individual posting family pictures on your blog, or a company selling your products online, you’ll want to make sure that your website is easy to use by your target audience.

Because technology and design are making websites potentially even more complex to navigate and use, it’s essential that the basics are not forgotten. You need your website to be easy to use, no matter how complicated and technical it is in the background.

• As a huge ecommerce site then you’ll need your search facility to work well, so that visitors can find what they are looking for.




• Your content needs to accurate, and compelling, and explain the features and benefits of your products




• You might want to have additional helps, such as buyers guides, or additional used for our products.




• Your visitors might benefit from an FAQ page so that they can buy from you with confidence, and that you can eliminate a lot of support calls and emails.




• A glossary can help your visitors understand the terminology used on your website. This is essential on websites where visitors might not know much about what they are buying




• Your calls to action need to be strong, so that your visitors know what to do next




• Your delivery details and costs need to beasy to find, so that customers know when to expect their purchases.




• Your checkout and payment procedure needs to be as simple as possible so that people actually make their purchases

These are just some of the factors that can help make a successful ecommerce site, but are not always apparent on many websites.

Image: Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It’s also important to design, develop and market your website for the right intended audience. There’s no point in making a social networking site aimed at teenagers look like a corporate website. A company website designed using primary colours and cartoons won’t look professional. A site aimed at the over 50s might need to take into account additional usability and disability requirements, such as text size and bigger buttons.

Perhaps now is the time for you to think more about some of the issues that your target audience and visitors might face when visiting your website.