The Customers of the Future program for 2000 was based on a series of empirical studies of young Australian students using the internet to purchase goods and services. The students from tertiary and secondary colleges in Sydney and Melbourne met several times a year to discuss issues and innovations relating to the Internet and the IT Industry. The meetings were designed as a series of purchasing observations and focus group sessions. The participating students came from both metropolitan and regional areas in New South Wales and Victoria.
The objectives for the 2000 program were defined as:
 |
|
|
 |
Gain an understanding of how Customers of the Future will use the Internet for electronic commerce; |
|
|
Gather information about online shopping experiences for Customers of the Future to feed into a longitudinal study of attitudes and expectations; |
|
|
Gain an understanding of fears and concerns that Customers of the Future associate with online experiences. |
|
Each session was designed to focus on an area of interest or challenge to the business community. A number of key findings were documented around the preferences of these young purchasers and their changing priorities as the longitudinal study observed them moving from being occasional purchasers to frequent shoppers. Although individual sessions were focused on a particular issue or set of issues, it was often found that other, sometimes unexpected issues came to light. The complete findings are documented in the report 2000 Oct Industry report - Customer of the Future in the Year 2000.pdf 
Detailed Description
Logistics
The Customers of the Future program ran from the period of late May to early October 2000. A Melbourne and Sydney group, comprising of approximately 10 students each, came together for focus group discussions every 5 - 6 weeks. The focus group discussions were held on Sunday mornings for a period of 3 hours in the Melbourne and Sydney offices of Cambridge Technology Partners. A total of 4 sessions for each group were held this year. Focus group discussions were facilitated by one of Cambridge's senior cognitive specialists. Two Cambridge employees were on hand to observe and to ensure that participants were supplied with all necessary materials, food and refreshments. A consultant external to Cambridge Technology Partners was present to tape all discussions and observe the group in order to write reports associated with the Customers of the Future 2000 program. Participants purchased products on the Internet during 3 of the 4 focus group sessions. Wherever possible, focus group participants were provided with individual PC's or laptops to perform their research and purchase activities. Discussions were carried out in a separate room to the laptops. Each participant was supplied with writing materials, tasks sheets and questionnaire sheets relevant to each session.
Design
Participants for Cambridge's 2000 Customers of the Future program were selected from both metropolitan and regional areas of Melbourne and Sydney. All participants were full time students attending secondary school, University and TAFE College. Focus group participants were selected based on their geographical location to ensure an appropriate mix of socio-economic backgrounds; and sex to ensure a relatively even mix of males and females. Participant's demographic details and Internet experience was collected via a background questionnaire. All participants were frequent Internet users, but very few had had any experience in purchasing over the Internet. To facilitate the exploratory nature of focus groups, a collaborative environment was created. Testing consisted of an informal discussion between the facilitators and participants. Each participant was encouraged to discuss all questions posed by facilitators for their personal input and feedback and to respect other participant's opinions, even if they disagreed with them. For each session, one of the following tasks was set:
|
|
|
|
Purchase a CD over the Internet; |
|
|
Purchase a book over the Internet; |
|
|
Purchase a gift over the Internet for a fellow participant; |
|
|
Discuss the visual design and layout of some of the sites that they had used as part of their previous purchasing experiences. |
|
Aspects of each task were discussed cumulatively over the series of focus groups. For example, the CD purchase experience from the first focus group and the book purchase experience from the second focus group were discussed in the second, third and last round of focus group testing. These discussions were designed to elicit information on the general purchasing experience, likes and dislikes in relation to each site used. The feedback was recorded on cards and brainstormed amongst the group. All focus groups were audio taped to facilitate detailed report writing.
Key Findings
The initial fears of the participants regarding security or trust and privacy of online purchases diminished over the 2000 program, through their experience with online purchases which included, purchasing a CD, book and a gift from a variety of Internet sites. Positive purchasing experiences reduced their reluctance to purchase goods and services online.
The initial fears of the participants regarding security or trust and privacy of online purchases diminished over the 2000 program, through their experience with online purchases which included, purchasing a CD, book and a gift from a variety of Internet sites. Positive purchasing experiences reduced their reluctance to purchase goods and services online. Interestingly, delivery issues rapidly replaced privacy and trust issues originally held by Customers of the Future at the beginning of the 2000 program. Delivery became the most contentious issue for many users and poor purchasing experiences were the most likely reason these individuals would not reuse a site. Delivery of items that take more than a few days was viewed as poor by Customers of the Future and likely to encourage alternative purchasing via retail outlets or sites that provide reliable delivery.
The purchasing experience for consumers is also likely to improve when sites provide meaningful and accurate communication with their customers, particularly regarding delivery. There were many documented cases throughout the Customers of the Future program of sites issuing order confirmations, when in fact either the users had not ordered their product successfully, or the product was out of stock and the order was subsequently cancelled by the site. Users would like to know at the time of ordering, whether the product is available and how long it will take to deliver.
Customer of the Future participants became annoyed and frustrated when sites cancelled orders or delayed delivery. The site user should be given the option to cancel the order and select a substitute if necessary, or alternatively accept the delay and wait for the product. Site contact when the order is likely to be delivered as expected is of lesser importance, but emailed confirmation of shipping and delivery is desirable in most cases. Some focus group participants have had poor purchasing experiences with specific sites and they will be unlikely to purchase from these sites in the future. Poor purchasing experiences include delayed delivery and unsuccessful ordering.
As the Customers of the Future program progressed throughout 2000, many participants seemed to prefer Australian sites for online purchasing purposes. This preference for Australian sites seems to be primarily driven by price, speed of delivery, previous poor purchasing experiences with US sites and the attitude that 'if something goes wrong it will be easier to rectify within Australia'.
Many sites send "Junk email" to stay in contact with their Internet users. In some cases they may be annoying the very Internet users they are trying to attract. Many Customers of the Future participants reported receiving several "junk" emails every day and resent the overuse of this type of email. These junk emails were unceremoniously deleted without being read.
Both novice and experienced focus group participants were found to require easy navigation. It was important to them to be able to know where they're going, know where they are and where they have been. They wanted site design to be obvious to improve speed and ease of use. Slabs of "boring" text were viewed as unnecessary and unlikely to be read. Site design should be visually interesting - good graphics (often the first thing noticed on any site) were viewed as advantageous, but also a balance of flash and 3D animation was considered necessary, as speed is an important consideration. Some users did not like repetitive, fast moving animations, particularly when used for advertising, as they found them distracting and annoying.
The poor usability of some sites did not encourage users to purchase. Multiple frames and clutter were not considered easy to use. Web pages that are cluttered, rely too heavily on text, require scrolling and have a lack of imagery were universally unpopular amongst Customers of the Future participants. Users preferred the search function to locate a known product but relied on browsing where the search goal had not been specifically defined. For example, a robust browsing function is an integral element for any gift site, given users are generally looking to the site to provide gift ideas. Lack of information on sites to aid purchasing decisions was perceived as a distinct disadvantage when purchasing online and comprehensive information ensures users make informed decisions, given that they cannot physically view the product. Information such as product dimensions and measurements for variable products are perceived as important. Reviews and feedback from other purchasers was also considered valuable, as was the opportunity to view and/or listen to the product where appropriate.
|
