It’s very subtle but if you really think about it and actually pay attention to this kind of thing you will notice that Macys.com is very easy to use. While looking for a gift for my wife I couldn’t help but notice it. It’s simple and white. It makes me feel like I’m taking a walk in one of their super mall stores, with the smell of fragrances throughout. Looking at the sweater I can almost feel the cashmere. They must have put a lot of research and development hours into this masterpiece. I know, some might say, this site is boring but you have to remember, the purpose of this site is not to be exciting but to make the user want to, or not even think about the choice of not buy something. It is designed to make you want to buy something before you even know what it is you were doing on this site.

The background is simply white. Makes it transparent, non-existent, don’t-even-think-about-it perfect. Topped at the head of the site is the header and navigation. Very simple, no complicated graphics, bare minimum necessary information.

Main categories or departments are set as the navigation at the top. No hover effects to keep the users attention on buying instead of exploring the effects. Then you have the site search. It is one of the most important features an e-commerce can have. Don’t make the customer that knows what he wants browse, give him exactly what he wants, let him buy and be on his way. The faster this process is completed, the better the customer will feel about the transaction and will most likely come back again and again.

Looking for some towels, pillows, a mattress maybe in your future? The category menu on the left lets you quickly find where to click to get to what you want. They went with a small size font with higher line spacing to be able to list as many category options as possible to keep the clicking to a minimum for the customer. The menu is very clean and easy to look at and use. I think this can be the rule-of-thumb menu for ecommerce sites.

Right in the top center of the main body is where most visitors will look first. If you have something to say, this is the place to say it. But say it quick, short and sweet, in a sentence or two. Yes, that’s all you have to grab their attention. In this example they divided the main area of the page into three mini-areas. The top message area then the large main graphic ad and the featured categories box on the right. This works great, the message box at the top tells the visitor what’s new, up or a’crackin’. “There’s still time!”, this one says and goes on into the details, all in one to two sentences.

Feature a product in the main ad area, this should be a nice, crisp photo or a graphic, it should attract, invite, make the visitor crave what’s in the picture. This is where you focus the user’s attention and go for the sale. The whole idea is to focus the entire page to do one thing, sell a product. If you notice I said “a” product. Focusing the page to sell one specific product, all the strength of the page pointed at it. This is how you make the sale. If the page is not focused but just randomly spread all over the page, the user will not know what the purpose if the page is. If you tell them why this page is here, what is offered and why they need it and can’t live without, they will realize it and will become a customer.

Quietly bringing in other offers like they did here with the Featured Categories can help to steer the ones that decided that the emphasized product is not for them. Featured categories can be any of the related products. I would recommend including the more profitable first, then easiest to get, and so on. Think though every element on the page. Optimize it, make sure that there is a reason for each image, or product you include on a page and no other would be able to replace it. I know this is crazy but we’re trying to design the perfect page and this requires hard work.

Looking at websites like Macy’s.com and other established companies will give you the insight into the research and development of the user behavior and psychology behind the design. I heard that Amazon.com has invested large amounts of dollars into testing and optimizing their website for better conversions. We will have to take a look at Amazon.com next time. For now there is plenty of things that we have learned from Macys.com.

Let me know in the comments if I missed anything or if you have a different view on any subject we covered here. All feedback is appreciated.