Dropshipping Sitemap
Creating a site to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge needed to start and launch a successful dropshipping business
Information to help dropshippers start a successful business is...
Unorganized
There is no chronological, simple sequence of information to help entrepreneurs create a plan of action for starting and managing their business.
Overwhelming
As a new entrepreneur, being bombarded with lots of information from many sources can be very overwhelming.
Problem
User Research & Analysis
Overall, the sitemap and wireframe provide insights into how dropshipping information for new entrepreneurs can be organized to enable easy information access and allow for scalability.
Purpose
The purpose of this resource is to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge needed to start and launch a successful dropshipping business. These users will need to know what market research needs to be done, how to set up their dropshipping business, and how to successfully grow their business.
Keywords
Metadata and controlled vocabulary will continually be evolving as more information items are added and as more searches are made.
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Frequent keyword searches will be added as labels.
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When new items are added to the system there will be pre-existing tags in place from which to choose. This will allow materials to be easily clustered and organized as the number of information objects grows.
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Scope
The scope of the collection encompasses the major steps of starting a dropshipping business. This includes everything from defining dropshipping to maintaining and marketing a store. While there are many resources available to answer these questions, they are not all in one convenient location. This facet structure will help new entrepreneurs quickly find answers to their questions about a dropshipping business all in one location.
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Open Card Sort
Purpose
Conducted to influence the design of the sitemap and wireframe and ensure that the information structure would be comprehensive and intuitive to users.
Findings
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No noticeable difference in sorting between these different levels of knowledge
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Common labels that people used to represent the information were: Suppliers, customer service, and basic information
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No participant organized their categories by chronological development phases
Wireframes
[1] Global Navigation System
A logo that links to the homepage, a link to the “About Dropshipping” page, a link to the “Start Your Business” page, and a search function.
[2] Secondary Global Navigation System
Lets users not only access the main pages of the website but also the subsections within these pages. This functionality allows quick access to all information.
[3] Contextual Links
Provide a little bit more information about what users will see on those pages to aid with decision-making.
[5] Keyword Search
The keywords that the user inputs will index the subsections, components, and items in the “About Dropshipping” and “Start Your Own Business” pages.
Purpose
Conducted to influence the design of the sitemap and wireframe and further evaluate the information structure to check if users were able to easily find items within the structure.
Task 1
The first task instructed participants to determine if a certain product would be a good choice to sell if they are starting a dropshipping business.
Results
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3/7 participants got this task correct
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1/2 of the people who made it to the right final section chose the wrong answer. This may have been attributed to not reading the task clearly, the task not being worded well, or not enough differentiation between the two final choices.
Recommendations
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Faceted search: Many participants answered this task incorrectly but most were in the correct realm of the answer. A faceted search would enable them to see all possible items and select all facets that may apply to their needs.
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Guide: It would be very helpful to have a guide to navigate through the needed information in the correct order to build a successful business.
Task 2
Instructed participants to find the information needed to handle a situation where a customer of their dropshipping business claims their product never arrived.
Results
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6/7 participants got this task correct.
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The understanding of the correct final destination seemed to be simple once individuals found it, however half of the participants had to search around the information structure in order to find the answer.
Recommendations
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Search functionality: Users seemed to know what the final answer should be. It would, therefore, be easy for them to search for information about returns and be presented that information right away.
2 —
Tree Test
Sitemap
A well-thought-out and designed website is critical to be able to present information in an organized way that will allow users to easily find what they are looking for, especially when the collection of items continues to grow.
Next, I created a sitemap to visualize the information architecture of the website and how different sections are linked together to inform the design of the wireframes.
[4] Anchors
Contextual links could be incorporated in the form of anchors which lead to sections further down on the page and keep users from having to scroll to find what information is on the page.
[6] Search Page
Searching a keyword will take them to a search page which will allow them to filter and order by relevance (how many times their keyword is referenced in the information item), or publication date. Due to the fast-paced nature of e-commerce, newer material is more relevant.
