PRWD

Our latest newsletter features conversion insights from some of the worlds biggest retailers. Full details and links are below.

This month there are links 2 articles which should be of interest if you are wanting to make your site experience more persuasive to improve conversions, or if you want to know how some of the biggest retailers are removing common barriers for new customers checking out for the 1st time.

Booking.com – Persuasive Design Best Practice

A few weeks ago I published my latest article on Econsultancy, looking at how Booking.com deliver some superb examples of persuasive design to improve their conversion rate.

I highly recommend you read some of the extensive comments and debate as these provide further insights into the art of persuasion – and perhaps sometimes what converts better might not be the most usable of designs!

ASOS, Lakeland & Speedo – Essential Checkout Techniques You Should Consider

I also wrote my latest article for Smart Insights, looking at how ASOS, Lakeland and Speedo deliver their checkout experience to resolve one of THE biggest issues make e-commerce sites have – forcing new customers to register or create an account.

Conversion Conference – London 2011

This is just quick reminder of the upcoming Conversion Conference London, where I will be jointly delivering 2 of the sessions:

• E-commerce Best Practices
• Rapid Fire: Live Landing Page Critiques

It’s shaping up to be a superb event, including a keynote talk from Brian Eisenburg, Professional Speaker, Best Selling Author and Consultant.

Popular Usability & Conversion Optimisation Resources

By far the most popular page on our blog is this up-to-date list of usability & conversion optimisation resources.

What you’ll find here is:

• Usability & conversion optimisation articles for lead generation
• Usability & conversion optimisation articles for e-commerce
• Tools that you can use to monitor & improve your website
• Conversion rate optimisation case studies
• Links to presentations & slides from events & conferences

Web usability agency PRWD have been appointed by Speedo, the world’s leading swimwear brand, to help improve the performance of their UK e-commerce website.

PRWD were engaged by Speedo to provide an expert usability evaluation of their current e-commerce website with the aim of identifying key opportunities to improve the customer experience and subsequently help improve on-site conversion rates.

Following the evaluation PRWD were also asked to provide a series of new page designs based on the recommendations provided, with a particular focus on the checkout process. Speedo are now in the process of making incremental changes to their website based on PRWD’s recommended customer experience improvements.

The new business for PRWD represents another major brand name who have used their usability services. MD Paul Rouke commented, “We were delighted to be approached by Speedo to help improve their e-commerce conversion rate. We have been able to provide a substantial amount of recommended improvements and we are looking forward to seeing the impact these have on encouraging more visitors to order online from Speedo.”

Paul McDermott, Head of E-Commerce at Speedo International, commented:

“We care passionately about trying to give our consumers the best possible online swimwear experience. We realised that it’s too easy to see things only from our own perspective and needed some qualified help to understand what matters most to our consumers.”

“Working with PRWD has been invaluable. Paul is very logical and detailed in his approach and communicated his findings very clearly to help us see things differently. We’re looking forward to seeing the results of his recommendations.”

More Information

For more information, or to speak to the team, contact:
Paul Rouke at PRWD Tel: 0161 228 0585 Email: paulrouke@prwd.co.uk

Details of PRWD’s expert usability evaluation service.

Notes to editors

PRWD was established in 2006 and they specialise in web usability. Clients include Speedo, The Hyde Group, The Scout Association, Isabella Oliver and Speedy Hire.

Website: http://www.prwd.co.uk

Speedo, part of Pentland Brands plc, was founded in 1928 and is the world’s leading swimwear brand.

Speedo has over 80 years of heritage and expertise in swimwear and swim equipment, and its products are distributed in over 170 countries around the world.

Website: http://store.speedo.co.uk

This month there are a few developments to speak about as well as some information on our clients Drapers and Speedo. Oh and we are still looking for a creative UX designer if anyone knows anyone that might be interested!

• Developments at PRWD
• Our Clients Drapers & Speedo
• UX Designer Job

New developments at PRWD

Over the last month there have been a few developments at PRWD. Firstly, Rob decided it was time for him to move on, and he finished at the end of May to go Drupal contracting down in London. Rob is working on one of Europe’s largest Drupal developments, and there is more on Rob’s departure on our blog.

After what can only be described as a fruitless search for a suitable replacement for Rob, I was delighted to meet Lewis Marshall for the first time on the 3rd June.

Although Lewis isn’t (as yet) as commercially experienced as some of the other developers I met with, once I met him I was 100% assured that his natural talents and abilities will be of even more benefit to me and PRWD than if he would have had years and years of experience.

Lewis was also the only candidate out of the 8 that I saw during the recruitment process who actually referenced the job description and the position on offer in his CV – this initial bit of genuine interest in the role that Lewis provided proved to be a valuable marker in me establishing his suitability to work alongside me at PRWD.

View more on Lewis, including a lovely photo which he forced me to include in the post (or was that me trying to add more personality into the post, I’m not sure!).

Drapers and Speedo Come Calling

Over the past few weeks I’ve been delighted to have both Drapers and our existing client Speedo come to us requesting services and insights.

Keely Stocker, Online Editor at Drapers, asked whether I would mind contributing to an article she was writing entitled ‘Lead Them Into Temptation’. I duly obliged and you can read details of the printed article online.

Speedo came to us to request an expert e-commerce usability evaluation of their brand store, and this project is currently underway. I’m really looking forward to seeing my recommendations implemented in order to test and optimise their conversion rates.

User Experience Designer – Still Waiting For Mr/Mrs Right

We are still recruiting the a User Experience Designer, although based on the last 2 months search we could well still be looking for the right person in another 3 months. Full job details are here in case you know anyone that may be looking.

Until next month, enjoy the football and lets hope we get some decent BBQ weather!

PRWD