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Information Architecture
A site’s Information Architecture delivers the functional blueprints of the site through wireframes, sitemaps and site taxonomy. Information architecture is the tangible deliverable of optimized user interface design; it also helps both clients and developers agree on exactly how the new site will function.
Information Architecture (IA)
IA provides the nuts-and-bolts of each page’s layout in order to deliver an optimal and usable experience. The information architect produces wireframes or schematics that illustrate the page’s layout from a functional perspective. The wireframes define navigation, page-level interaction behavior, content placement priorities, and illustrate all functional behavior and requirements.
Good information architecture documents, along with functional specifications, provide everything the developers, content creators and visual designers need to create a new website.
Website Sitemaps and Organization
The backbone of a usable site is its architecture and content organization. Products must be grouped in intuitive arrangements for customers to find what they need and maximize sales. The site structure must be carefully considered and tested, particularly for ecommerce sites with thousands or even millions of products.
The goal is to have a site that is neither too “broad” (too many categories) nor too “deep” (too many navigational clicks to find what you want). The sitemap is the final deliverable that shows the entire site’s content architecture in an overview, much like the Table of Contents of a book.
Website Navigation and Taxonomy
Not only is the site’s structure essential for driving revenue, but the naming of each of the product or taxonomy groupings is also very important. User testing of proposed naming and site organization is undertaken to ensure that users will be able find what they need. A site’s taxonomy often expands and becomes confusing as a business’s product line grows.
An expanded product line demands a careful rethinking of how products are grouped and presented. The goal is to ensure that key revenue-drivers are easy to find and prominently displayed, that similar products are arranged together, that the product hierarchy is clear and intuitive, that there are multiple entry, exit and navigation points between related products and content, and that the chosen category names are commonly recognized by both the target audience and search engines.
User Interface Design, Optimization & Testing
The Information Architecture provides page-level functional consideration and optimization of the broader user experience and user interface design, with particular focus on enhancing the site landing page, shopping cart and fulfillment pages. The layout must promote business goals in terms of hierarchy, positioning and prominence of key revenue-drivers, and the navigation must be clear, intuitive and consistent to minimize abandonment and maximize engagement.
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As experts in site function and usability, ECommerce Partners knows the critical elements a site requires from its information architecture to satisfy each client's needs and to deliver the final site on-time through a smooth-running development process. Our consultants are Internet veterans who have developed design principles from practice, not theory, based on site performance and profitability.
Let us help you turbo-charge your site today by enhancing every aspect of your ecommerce experience! Request a quote below and let us demonstrate how we can help you succeed online.
Contact us at info[@]ecommercepartners.net / 866-431-6669