Measuring the Usability of Shopping Mall Web Sites Using Verbal Protocol Analysis

Today many owners of Web sites are looking to user`s satisfaction survey as a key means of measuring the usability of a Web site. While it is preferred for it simplicity and ease of use, this survey method is not without potential risks. This paper focuses on showing that the existing practice of questionnaire-based usability measurement is subject to human recall errors, and that such flaws can be reduced when the questionnaire survey is followed by the users hands-on experience of the site. An empirical study was conducted, and the results indicate that the above speculation holds true. Even if respondents felt highly confident about their responses on a recall survey, a hands-on experience with a focal Web site increased the extent to which the respondents were satisfied with the shopping mall site. This indicates that a user`s perception of the quality of a Web site may be distorted or lost as time goes by. In addition, the findings have shown that the use of the verbal protocol analysis method can reveal critical information that can help track the root causes of Web site usability problems, thereby helping to develop site enhancement strategies. The paper concludes with directions for future research.