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Understanding user experience (UX) during e-commerce has been a relatively important research area especially in the last decade. The use of conventional methods in UX such as task-observation, in-depth interviews and questionnaires has already contributed for the measurement of the efficiency and effectiveness. This empirical study has aimed to make use of both conventional and neuroscientific methods simultaneously to provide a richer analysis framework for understanding the product search experience of the first-time buyers. The current work provides insights for the results from the combined use of conventional and neuroscientific-biometric methods in a UX study. Although this has been an exploratory study within a limited literature, the obtained results indicate a potential use of these methods for UX research, which may contribute to improve the relevant experience in various digital platforms.

Customer journey mapping is a continuous process that demands end-to-end innovation through qualitative and quantitative user research. It helps to identify key points where service or communication breakdown is most likely and where they are mostly valued. Buyer journey mapping study of Gittigidiyor (Ebay Turkey) revealed the fact that the frequency of the repeat purchase was significantly limited although a high traffic and average visit time were observed. This finding pointed to the need to improve the pre-purchase experience in the web site towards motivating the users to visit more and inspiring them to buy more items. Relying on solid quantitative and qualitative research, this paper presents the action set taken for the realization of this goal. In this context the main action of the process is to renew the category structure through a focus on compatibility, which subsequently enabled the integration of a set of effective improvements. Firstly, this approach led to the improvement of a new listing creation process for the sellers by implementing an innovative and error-free experience. It also enabled to improve the search usability by presenting more relevant results, which was supported with a new smart auto suggestion feature in the search engine box and with smart compatibility filters in search results. The new compatible structure between vertical and horizontal categories brought the implementation of some persuasive features. It provided the increase in count of payment (COP) per item and average selling price (ASP) through cross-selling and up-selling features. Finally, the pre-purchase experience was supported by the integration of product rating/review mechanisms and targeted e-mailing based on previous purchase history of the customers.

Social media has a significant impact in our daily social lives, which challenges the traditional face-to-face interaction and/or other conventional media. Most of the social media platforms provide unique and effective web sites that enable the users to connect and interact with one another yet they also update their sites with Web 2.0 improvements and innovative ways of interaction. Twitter and Facebook have launched their own applications that became really popular among users. However, there are also third-party applications, which enable the use of diverse social networking sites through one platform. These platforms are within the reach of everyone and can be accessed directly from desktop without any browser needed. This research focuses on the usability of these third-party management applications. In this context, it will explore whether the desktop versions (third-party software) of those platforms enhance the interaction capabilities and improve user experience. In this regard the focus will be on an application that enables the use of multiple social media sites simultaneously through a single graphical user interface, ‘Yoono’. The user interaction with multiple accounts and social media services at the same time presents the ability to show the information in one screen rather than having separate tabs like has been done in typical browser view. Also it might be possible to have an estimate about if the user prefers to have separate tabs or just one tab to show all of the information regarding the social media that he/she is using. In order to understand this, a qualitative usability test, based on multi-method approach, was carried out with a sample of 8 participants who were experienced mobile social network site (SNS) users. Tests were conducted on a desktop computer with Yoono. After a background questionnaire, the participants were observed during the task executions and additional data was collected through eye-tracking. After the session, participants were asked to fill out a post-test form while having a small debriefing interview to gain a detailed insight into their experience. Findings support the notion that the usability problems might shroud the new and innovative capabilities of Yoono and prevents it to become an application that users would chose to use instead of browser interaction and needs further development in order to be an alternative to browsing.

Mobile technology is a new frontier for accessibility. Although mobile developers need solid guidelines to provide accessible experiences, there is a limited number of empirical research on mobile accessibility of different mobile platforms that work through various assistive technologies. In this context, more information is needed to understand both usage patterns and hardware/software platforms to guide decisions to meet the needs of people with disabilities who use mobile devices. This study, which is a pilot study of a long-term research, evaluates the accessibility of selected built-in and third party iOS applications in the iPhone and iPad through an extensive accessibility test with two blind users who are novice users of touchscreen mobile devices. This qualitative study is based on a multi-method approach, which consists of a background questionnaire, task observation, and a structured debriefing interview. The study also employs observation methods of data collection in order to gain better insight in mobile accessibility. The participants are demanded to execute three different tasks on each platform by using VoiceOver, which is the built-in screen reader in iOS. The participants are observed during the task executions and the “think aloud” procedure and video recording of the participants collected additional data. A short debriefing interview was also made to gain a detailed insight into the user experience. The findings reveal significant accessibility problems caused specifically by design of the graphical user interface features of the applications and limitations of the screen reader. Finally, as part of future research directions, preliminary guidelines are proposed to improve accessibility for iOS applications in both platforms.

One of the major issues in banking is "consumer loan". Most of the banks allow customers to apply for a "personal" or "generic" loan online. This procedure requires filling out forms with some "familiar data" and calculating the rates and fees for the total cost. Although online banking is a supported feature of banking in general, every system offers a different path for the same experience. This pilot study, which is the first step of a long-term study, focuses on three different bank web sites in Turkey and investigates the "find and search" strategies that users employ in order to apply for a specific amount of loan. For this purpose a qualitative usability test, based on a multi-method approach, was carried out with a sample of 11 Turkish senior year university students who were experienced Internet users and potential new customers. The participants were observed during the task executions and additional data was collected by the "think aloud" procedure, eye-tracking and video recording of the participants. Complementary data on user experience was collected by a final debriefing interview. The findings revealed significant usability problems caused specifically by the user interface features and information architecture of each system and enable to propose guidelines to improve user experience in form design and/or check-out process.

There's a growing interest towards mobile commerce in recent years. This pilot study, which is the first step of an extensive long-term research, investigated mobile usability in mobile "private shopping" applications. Focusing on three different private shopping applications / mobile sites in Turkey, a qualitative mobile usability test, based on a multi-method approach, was carried out with a sample of 11 Turkish senior year university students, who were experienced mobile Internet users and potential customers of private shopping platforms. The participants were observed during the task executions and additional data was collected by the "think aloud" procedure, eye-tracking and video recording of the participants. A short debriefing interview was also made to gain a detailed insight into the user experience. The findings revealed significant mobile usability problems and enabled to propose guidelines to improve user experience in mobile private shopping.

The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of interactions that develops around social networks through two major device categories: PC and smartphones. This study specifically aims to focus on the reasons for the preference of PC and smartphones distinctively and tries to reveal the significant patterns of usage for social networking through both platforms. This quantitative research employs a survey conducted with a sample of 203 Turkish people who are using PCs and smartphones for accessing social networking sites regularly.

This study evaluated the hypothesis that design aspects of the user interface of the applications and the capabilities and constraints of different mobile devices could affect mobile user experience in social network sites (SNS). For this purpose a qualitative mobile usability test, based on a multi-method approach, was carried out with a sample of 25 Turkish university students who were experienced mobile SNS users. The tests were conducted with two different smartphones: Iphone and Blackberry. The participants were observed during the task executions and additional data was collected by the "think aloud" procedure, eye-tracking and video recording of the participants. A short debriefing interview was also made to gain a detailed insight into the user experience. The findings revealed significant mobile usability problems caused specifically by the user interface features of the applications and limitations of each device and enable to propose guidelines to improve user experience in mobile SNS.

Research on the cross-cultural understanding of different interface aspects is an area of growing interest in human-computer interaction discipline. This paper mainly investigates the influence of culture on understanding metaphors in graphical user interfaces. Considering the dual coded structure of compound metaphorical icons which is composed of two major units: image and label, this study evaluates the main hypothesis that understanding of graphical and textual elements of the metaphors differs due to the real world and language experiences of the users. An empirical study on a French e-learning site -based on a spatial "Campus" metaphor- was conducted with 68 Turkish and French students. The study applied a multi-method approach including data collection instruments like questionnaires for understanding of metaphorical icons and interview. Findings do suggest differences in understanding across the two cultural groups and provide an in-depth analysis on the process of cross-cultural understanding of metaphors by focusing on the metaphorical inconsistencies.