What Makes A Good Website, A Good Website?

Today, we will talk about what makes a good website, good! Is it the color of the website? Is it the overall tone? What is it?! Well, to dive deep into this topic and gain some knowledge on what a good website it is (and a what a good website isn't), we will review the three websites: NIVEA.com, Dove.com, and Olay.com. These are all good skin care brands that have made a difference in the lives of women of all ages. But who is the best and who can learn from who? 

The List of Tasks

I asked three family members to complete the following tasks on the websites listed above to help me determine if these websites are user-friendly for their audiences. The tasks my family members completed are as follows:

1. Are you able to find a link and/or verbiage that asks you if you would like to be added to the company's email mailing list? 

2. Are you able to navigate through the company's various products? Moreover, is there an option somewhere on the page that you can click on to take you to a list of products and/or categories of products? 

3. Is there search box? 

4.  Is there an option to view the company's social media accounts? 

5. Are you able to contact the company directly? Moreover, is there an option where you can click or view the company's customer service phone number and/or company phone number or address? 

Results:

1. NIVEA

2 out of the three participants easily completed the tasks on NIVEA's website. The two participants explained that the site provided user-friendly navigation to the search bar, contact information, and the categories of the various products. However, the two participants did not find locating the social media accounts to be simple and didn't like that one had to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the homepage to locate the invitation to be apart of the email list. The third participant did not enjoy

navigating the website at all. This participant complained that although the search bar and contact information can be found on the homepage, the search bar and contact button was "too small" and written in font that was "hard to read unless you squint." Similarly, to the other participants, the third participant did not like the placement of the social media accounts and called the website "basic". 

Overall, each participant explained that it took them approximately 5-10 minutes to find all of the items that were listed on the task list because they were scrolling up and down the page to find all of the items. After this review, I asked each participant to grade the user-friendliness of NIVEA's website, the grade NIVEA received was an unanimous C.

2. Dove 

All three participants agreed that the navigation on Dove.com was much better than on NIVEA's website. They all explained that Dove's website looked more "friendly" and "appealing to the eye" for the use of softer blues and whites. In addition, they all enjoyed the various stories/articles that can be found when they scrolled down the homepage and it made each of them learn a little more about Dove as a company. 

They all explained that although Dove's homepage only features a search bar, email list invitation, and navigation to their various products on the top of the page, they enjoyed the ease of scrolling through the site. One of the participants

mentioned that he would have preferred the social media accounts and contact information be on the top of the page, because it would catch his eye and prompt him to leave a nice review on one of their social media accounts or contact the company itself with a review. 

Overall, all participants explained that it took them approximately 2-5 minutes to locate all of the tasks on the site (after reading the many articles on the page, of course!) The final grade for Dove was a B+. 

3. Olay 

Last but certainly not least, Olay was the best rated website amongst the three participants. All three participants applauded Olay for its website's user-friendliness by having an advertisement for free shipping and a pop-up advertisement for a live chat with a skin adviser. Each participant liked the personalized feel of the website and complimented how the site categorizes skin care products in words (for readers) and in pictures (for visual-loving individuals). In addition, All three participants enjoyed how the social media accounts were easy to see at the

bottom of the page and how it only took them 1-3 minutes to find all of the tasks on the list. Overall, Olay received a grade of A+.   

Conclusion

After speaking with the three participants and reviewing the three websites on my own, I can agree that Olay had the best website of them all. Olay's website was very inviting and informative. The website yearned for its customers to buy and made the buying process easy and fun. 

Although Olay was the best site, I do have to say that Dove does a pretty good job at their website layout as well. Dove really wants to spread their message of love and acceptance to all on their homepage, which is very refreshing and nice to see. For me, that message alone makes me want to buy Dove products more! Finally, by reviewing Olay and Dove, NIVEA has a lot to learn about user-friendliness and ensuring that their website is welcoming and fun for their customers.