Usability tool to support the development process of e-commerce website

Abstract

Inappropriate usability features in virtual stores can be verified by the high dropout rate of the shopping cart, the increase in maintenance costs and the low conversion rate on the site [1, 2]. Some factors and characteristics, such as inadequate site navigation, the difficulty of finding the shopping cart, the lack of detailed information about the product, a long and confusing checkout process, and few or only image of the product indicates usability problems in e-commerce website [3, 4]. The quality of this type of site can be considerably improved when usability is integrated into the development process of e-commerce site. This work aims to propose a tool to assist and support the development process of e-commerce site focused on usability. This research is characterized, as regards its nature, as a qualitative-quantitative research and, in terms of its objectives, as an “exploratory” research, since it provides greater knowledge of the problem in order to make it more explicit. The creation of the tool will help development teams to create efficient, effective and satisfactory e-commerce sites from the specification of usability requirements, usability metrics and usability evaluation methods.