RATING: 5/10
Corporate Software Australia has an established Web presence that is constantly re-developed--according to our conversations with the organisation. Our testers liked the descriptions and photos of products in the software section of the site, however, the hardware section does not currently contain this level of detail. Currently, the whole site is being updated with full descriptions and photos. During the ordering process there is inadequate customer feedback regarding fulfilment and availability.
Hits
- The product descriptions and photographs in the software area are particularly detailed.
- There is a human touch to the site. Customers are offered phone, fax, or mail service if they are uncomfortable using credit cards, ordering over the Internet, or would like to customise their software licensing agreements.
Misses
- When browsing, the menu only shows the current page level--no path history is displayed.
- No specials are available in the hardware area and although the software section has a specials section, no actual dollar saving is shown.
Purchasing Process
- The product list format and text made it difficult to distinguish a Palm handheld from Palm accessories.
- There is no feedback given to users about delivery time and availability during the purchase, except that "indicative shipping times are two business days from order processing".
- Software orders were immediately confirmed on screen but this did not occur in the hardware section.
Member/Other benefits
- There is no personalisation option for regular customers.
Search facility
- The homepage search is quick and easy to use. However, it required specific terms and testers struggled to find products. There was an offer to e-mail CSA and they would personally search their store of 50,000 products.
- This is better than searches coming back empty; but it defeats the purpose of self-service on the site and adds extra delay. Money spent on this kind of account management would be better spent improving the site.
- Unfortunately you can't search hardware from the software section, you have to go to the hardware section.
General Usability
- Every time our testers went to the site they experienced a system error that redirects them to the homepage.
- You can't easily switch between the hardware and software sections.
- Some parts of the screen are very cluttered, particularly the homepage. The other information on the software pages is clear; but the hardware descriptions were unformatted, and the text was very small and difficult to read.
- There are some improvements that could be made to the shopping basket.
- The site does not comply with W3C accessibility guidelines.
10%
8%
