Ecommerce User Experience Vol. 10: International Purchasers

Our research found that customers struggled with language, dates, addresses, pricing, availability and delivery options when shopping on websites outside their country. Companies could stop losing overseas business by implementing some quick solutions to many of these usability issues. Of course, there are cultural issues at play, but getting the basics right is a great start.

This 119-page report contains 57 design recommendations based on our usability research. Discussions and 87 screenshot illustrations supplement the findings.

Topics

• Cultural differences among global online customers
• International versus localized websites
• Strategies for selling to international customers
• Language and location issues
  • Country and currency selection
  • Handling multiple sites
  • Localization considerations
  • Translating customer-generated content
• Shipping considerations
  • How to feature international shipping options
  • Information about international shipping
• Prices and currency
  • Displaying prices and currency for international audiences
  • Disclosing additional costs
• Product information for a worldwide audience
  • Writing product descriptions for international customers
  • Supporting location searches
• Checkout process for international customers
  • Forms that facilitate checkout
  • Payment options
• Customer support in a 24-7 world
  • Providing local contact information
  • Supporting multiple languages
  • Using social media and chat
• How to conduct user research with audiences in multiple regions

Research Method

The information in this report is based on 3 rounds of ecommerce studies, including:

• One-on-one usability testing
• Diary-based longitudinal study
• Eye tracking

In total, over 100 people tested more than 200 ecommerce websites. The studies took place with users in Chile, China (and Hong Kong), Denmark, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.