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Beyond.com: Usability Review

Beyond.com tries to help to shoppers who don't know what they want, but the shopping guides are an odd mix of topics and don't cover many of the most important product categories. This may be as well, since users are more likely to trust advice from sites that don't sell anything. Most people would probably rather go to ZDNet, Cnet, or other editorial sites for a shopping guide.

More credible shopping advice is provided in the form of detailed screen shots of many products, but it is disappointing that the site does not have screen shots of all the products. Specifications and descriptions are never the same as actually seeing what you will get.

Beyond is good if you do know what you want. Search results are a paragon of usability compared with most other sites: The most important products are listed first, with secondary hits listed second. And to help users even more, the search hits include prices, inventory status, platform (PC vs. Mac), and a quality rating. All this is presented in a clean table that is easy to scan and prevents users from clicking through to irrelevant hits. For example, if you need a present for a birthday party in a week, then there is no need to look at products that will ship in 14 days-or to waste clicks on products that are beyond your budget.

Too many sites operate a bait and switch design where users are lured into clicking on too many hits in the hope that they will buy something they didn't intend to buy. Of course, there is a sucker born every minute, but most users will get tired of patronizing a site that wastes their time.

I applaud Beyond for including the shipping charges right on the shopping cart page. By doing so, they avoid sticker shock and abandoned carts. Honest disclosure also builds up trust, which is one of the most important brand values on the Web. I recommend removing the link to "free software" from the shopping cart: once the customer has indicated an interest in buying something, your only job is to separate them from their money as quickly as possible. Leave other offers to the "thank you" confirmation page.

Search results list on Beyond.com