The value of comparative usability and UX evaluation for e-commerce organisations

The objective of this paper is to investigate the possible value of comparative user experience (UX) or usability evaluations for e-commerce organisations. Poor website usability has been identified as one of the main reasons why users abandon potential transactions. Appropriate evaluation of these sites is therefore essential. A problem with usability and UX evaluation is the lack of trust designers have in the evaluator’s recommendations due to the subjective nature thereof. This paper investigates the possible enhancement of the objectivity of such evaluations through cross-company comparative evaluations, so that designers can assess their design success against that of direct competitors in the market. We conducted an empirical, comparative evaluation of three similar organisations’ e-commerce websites using eye tracking as the primary data collection mechanism, and then demonstrated the potential value and usefulness of the outcomes.