Analysis of Interactive Media - Universitat Pompeu Fabra

The discount era.

Optimized shifting for the promotion seeker.

March 2013 By Julia Prez, Marta Prez, Iona Salvador, Csar Snchez and Polin Castell.

Introduction
! The current crisis is a big problem which worries lots of people nowadays. We have changed our shopping habits. It is not about going to the shop and buy everything we want anymore. The percentage of spontaneous and impulsive purchase has decreased, that means that we are planning our shopping, we plan what we need to buy and what we do not. But, because of the bad economic situation and in the new digital world, websites based on discounts have experienced a great increase in use and billing. Far from being only a way to save money in some activities for the users, it has become a way to promote any kind of SMEs trying to enter and obtain a foothold in the market. In this case, the users do not think too much whether they need the product or service or they do not: the offer is only posted a limited time and it usually has huge discounts.

Content Table
1. Introduction. 2. Ten sides of the basic decagon: the Website. 3. Five keys to success: the Website. 4. Ten sides of the basic decagon: the App. 5. Five keys to success: the App. 6. Contact

Ten sides of the basic decagon: the Website.

! Web discounts is a recent type of web that have been extended massively in the past years. Due to the economical and nancial crisis around the world or to the new technological facilities users are more used to buy through Internet. The rise of this websites use have evolved so fast that led to a massive competence which forces the sites to introduce very aggressive methods to collect consumers and increase their loyalty to the company. Some of these exambles would be pop-ups, requested registration to purchase, daily e-mails with recent offers... which are considered very annoying by the website user (and that makes it uneffective).

Browser
Importance of this tool because it facilitates the users navigation and improves its efciency.

Registration
Useful action that provides important information about the users proles. The company can know the users interests and create a personalized service and deal. Moreover, registration is a way to reach the client delization.

Price with the discount

The price that the service cost before the discount should be specied on the web, next to the new lower price that the company is offering at that moment. By this way, the user can compare the price before and after.

! Nonetheless there are other ways to stand out from the competence, such as improving the usability and creativity of the website, using new tools and networks and ultimately being different and efcient. Here we propose some basic standards that discount websites should include.

Presentation of the product or service

The product or service that the company is selling should be presented without any ambiguity but very clear and visible in an attractive photo.

Contract of the product or service

The purchasing conditions should be indicated next to the denition of the product/service that the user is buying. This information should be provided to the user easily in order to avoid future complaints and confusions. 2

Categories
These ones have to be well organized and dened, with consistent and simple names in order to facilitate the users navigation and search.

Networks
The webs should be connected to the social networks in order to make possible that the user could sign in with his prole.

Reduce number of steps

Payments have to be a quick and easy action. The webs should not do this process in more than two windows.

Safe payment
Webs should use a safe method of payment without the need of giving personal information about the credit card through. The best way is using PayPal.

Clear design
A minimalist and simple design facilitates the users navigation. Webs should avoid high amount of information that can saturate and confuse the user.

Five keys to success: ! ! the Website.

Product Subscriptions
The user is able to subscript to a product category to receive all the news (offers, discounts, sales...) about this specied category of products. By this way the user stays up to date in what he is more interested.

Experience with the product

Having an attractive image of the product is not enough: an interactive video that enables the user to see the product in all its possibilities should also be included.

Whishlist
To create a place associated with the users account where he can point his favourite products and offers making a list.

Preferences test
The option to create a test which positionates the consumer in a certain category. By this way, the website only will lter the offers that concords with his categories.

Virtual Assistaint
A 24h assistance in the web that enables the user to ask any question about the offers, products or purchase procedures. This would emulate a real-time conversation: it would be like a chat with an immediate response for the user. This would reduce a lot of questions for the users and would facilitate the purchase task. 4

Ten sides of the basic decagon: the App.

! Mobile applications of discounts are still far behind the development of the websites. They are presented just as a complement of the main web which the advantage is that the user can consult the offers at any place and buy the products or services without the need of using a computer. As Jakob Nielsen says in one of his articles, the lack of focus is an implicit characteristic of the mobile applications since the user will always use this one as a secondary activity and will not pay the same attention as if they were purchasing in a website. Precisely for that is why the applications must be easier to use than the websites, with more concise information and more visual objects. ! We have to take into account the reasons that encourages the user to download these applications: is he interested in searching and buying products or services, or is it only a matter of curiosity? If we are talking about the second choice, the application will be forgotten in the same day. To avoid it we must follow these basic points:!

Push notications
Notications that reminds the existence of the application and do not let this to be forgotten in the multitude of other applications that the users have. The notications could inform about new discounts and offers.

Browser
An essential and useful tool that let the users search for the wanted product only by typing a reference word and by this way, they avoid looking for the product in each category, which saves a lot of time.

Visual design
The necessity of having less information due to the reduced space of the Apps leads us to simplify the information including more graphic and visual information.

Registration account
This will allow the user to have a virtual place where he can keep all the information related to his purchases and offers in which he is interested in. It is a way to reach the users customization.

Secure payment
The users usually have the sensation of less security if they buy the product through an application. To reduce this feeling the app should guarantee safety and trust: for this, the best method of payment is PayPal.

Geolocalization
This new technology allows the application to know the exact point where the user is located.

Photo of the product / place

Visual support is an unavoidable tool to catch the users attention and, furthermore, it enables him to have a better idea of what is going to acquire (it is also a positive way to ensure the purchasing safety feeling received by the user).

Share with Social Networks

Social Networks are becoming one of the most important communication interfaces in the 2.0 era. The app must enable the user to share the content through that. That will make the brand to be noticed by more people and take advantage of the Internets emulation of the word of mouth.

Price / discount
This is one of the most important information that should be clear in the apps design. If the user is not able to see how much money does it cost (in case he wants to purchase something) or the percentage discount he is taking advantage of, the promotion wont be effective.

Recent updates
This will allow the user to be informed of the latest news on the app so as to be up to date according to his preferences.

Five keys to success: ! ! the App.

Personalized notications
The possibility to choose the preferences about offers and discounts depending on the interests of each user. That enables the user to receive only notications about the products or services that he is interested in, avoiding non desired ones.

Near me
A system which informs the user (either with an alarm, notication or what the user prefers) about which offers and discounts are around him. It can be activated or not depending on the user predeterminated preferences.

Public prole
Related to the register account the user can have a public prole to share with their friends. With that the information about what he usuallybuys, what he like or where he goes.

Wishlist / List of favourite places

If the user is able to point where his favouriteplaces are, he will be able to see rapidly if there are any offers on display nearby. That will increase the apps use.

Synchronization with friends

With the public prole of each consumer a net of friends can be created, and those who have the application can establish a connection to share allthe information desired between them.

Contact.
We are ve students of Advertising and Public Relations at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). For the subject Analysis of Interactive Media Messages, we have done a research about the usability of the web pages and mobile applications of three companies that offer discounts in specic products and services. Our group would like to offer our help if your company is interested in making a deep analysis of your webpage or mobile application in order to detect the weak and strong points, and to know the best way to improve the service. We facilitate the contact of each member of the group. For any further information, do not hesitate to write us:

Csar Snchez, cesarsanchezriera@gmail.com Jlia Prez, juliaperezcatala@gmail.com Marta Prez, mapemo23@gmail.com Polin Castell, polina.castello@gmail.com Iona Salvador, i.salvador92@gmail.com