We continue our research into website functionality. This time – due to the main theme of the issue – we have focused on randomly selected large, medium, and smaller transport and forwarding companies. The goal of this series is primarily to demonstrate to all interested parties that it is the functionality of a website (and not, for example, its color scheme or design) that is of decisive importance for acquiring new customers via the Internet and for good cooperation with existing partners, which translates into, among other things, tangible financial results.
The functionality of 21 transport company websites was examined. Combining large, medium, and small enterprises in one study is intentional. The level of a website’s functionality is determined neither by the size of the company nor by the amount of financial resources spent on building the site. Whether a website is functional or not is primarily determined by the awareness of the entrepreneurs and the requirements they set for designers.
The study was divided into 4 parts.
The first part examined whether the website provides the ability to establish contact through three basic communication channels: telephone, web form, and email. Here, all websites achieved comparable results. Only 6 websites (C. Hartwig, Dartom, LKW Walter, PEKAES Multi-Spedytor, Trans-Południe, and VOS Logistics Polska) received the maximum number of points. The second part, the most extensive, is a review of exemplary factors that influence whether a site is functional. In this part, the Dartom company website was rated the best, and the C. Hartwig company website slightly worse. The worst-performing sites were those of Trade Trans, as well as Euro Transport Polska, Krzysztof Polak, and Trans-Bieszczady. Only the Transmeble International website gives customers the ability to change the font size in browser settings. The lack of such an option makes reading difficult for people with vision problems. This site also – as the only one – allows users to distinguish between visited and unvisited hyperlinks. The lack of such a feature hinders user navigation. A person who has entered the site, browses it, and at some point begins to wonder whether they have already been to a given section or not. An unnecessary question then arises as to whether they should use the hyperlink or if it makes no sense because they have already used it before. The error related to the lack of a difference in the appearance of visited and unvisited hyperlinks is among the most common errors on websites. The LKW Walter company website – as the only one – has its own valuable error pages. Their absence negatively affects the level of site functionality. Such pages give the user the ability to understand why an error occurred. Instead of a complicated and incomprehensible error code, the website user receives a simple message and instructions for further action. On the LKW Walter website, there is additionally the possibility of using an internal search engine, making it easier to find the desired page. It is worth helping customers solve a problem if one occurs. The customer will appreciate not being left alone in a problematic situation. This significantly reduces the risk of a frustrated customer leaving the site. In the third part of the study, it was checked whether there are three selected obstacles on the sites that can most annoy users and influence their decision to leave the site. In this part, the websites of Krzysztof Polak and Trans-Bieszczady performed the worst, and the websites of Trans-Południe and VOS Logistics Polska performed only slightly better. The remaining websites do not introduce additional obstacles for users.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka”, No. 2/2006.