You’d think that big companies would have web site usability down to a science – and a lot of them do. However, there are some sites that seem to have slipped through the user-friendly cracks, as I just found out today when placing an order at Staples.ca

The login link was found easily enough, but once logged in, tracking down the link to edit account details was like finding a needle in a haystack. All the usual areas were searched – at the top of the page near the Logout and shopping cart buttons, on the right side, at the bottom of the page where site map links are located. No luck. Finally, I had to call someone else over to the screen and after another minute of both searching the screen, there sits the My Account button, all but invisible on the main navigation because it’s next to a bunch of other buttons listing main product categories on the site. Needless to say, you don’t expect to see an account-related button alongside a list of product categories.

Next up was trying to get the login to work for the rewards card number. For some reason, the account and rewards logins are two separate areas of the site, which, again, seems to make no usability sense whatsoever.

The final nail in the usability coffin on the Staples.ca site was trying to figure out how to use a Staples account to pay for the order, rather than paying with a credit card. In the end, customer service was called and I was told to select “Staples Enterprise Card” in the card type and was given information to plug into the expiration date and security code fields. I was left wondering why the option to use an account felt more like a workaround than an actual, legitimate payment option.

My experience with the Staples site today underscores the reasons that usability in web site design is so important. When the layout of a site leaves a visitor searching for common site links, it’s an unnecessary waste of time and, given another option, many will opt to leave your site and find another that’s easier – and quicker – to use.

Keep visitors on your site and complete sales by ensuring that your site’s layout is user-friendly, like content links are grouped – product categories, shopping cart/account logins, etc. – and that information is given clear hierarchy using colour, type size and weight to distinguish primary, secondary and tertiary levels of navigation and content.