Never mind the colour, feel the quality

Potential customers who are not satisfied with their online experience know that an alternative is just a click, or a walk away.

You cannot simply build an online business and expect customers to come. That idea died in 1999 and was buried a year later with the dot-com collapse. The same consideration remains true today and takes on an even bigger significance in the Middle East region.

Internet penetration in the Middle East and North Africa remains at a very low level with only about 17 million people online. Only in the United Arab Emirates is there a significant percentage of regular Internet users in the population, approaching 30%. Any potential regional online business needs to understand the relatively small audience for their products, one that is widely distributed geographically, a factor that has implications for anyone where home delivery of a product is a core feature of their online venture.

Aside from regional factors such as geography, demographics and language (most users in the region are concentrated in non-Arabic speaking Turkey and Iran), there are challenges that are the same for any potential e-entrepreneur, be they in Beirut or Bangkok. Many of the challenges revolve around the user - fulfilling their needs in a manner that is satisfying for them. An e-business that fails to take the full user-context into account, runs the risk of becoming a poor service, a useless service, or in the worst-case scenario, a frustrating experience that turns users away from online business in general.

A good example of an online process that takes users into consideration is available at the website of Dubai Police. It permits drivers to search for traffic fines using multiple user interfaces. Dubai Police can also push the information to drivers by fax or SMA. This is a thriving, well-used application, the killer-app of the police website! However, there are plenty of examples where user requirements are not taken as seriously as they should:

- The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) allows users to pay their bills online. However, they also charge users' credit cards with a hefty processing charge. Given that users can use the online banking facilities of most major UAE banks to pay the same bill with no added charge, the effectiveness of DEWA's own system must be brought into question.

- On the website of Royal Jordanian Airlines, a would-be flyer to Europe can choose Shannon as a valid destination for their journey from Amman. No actual flights are found - the route was cancelled in 2003. But this does not stop their reservations engine suggesting a fight to Vienna, New York or Chicago instead, destinations thousands of kilometers away from the preferred destination.

There are a multitude of areas that can be improved to enhance the user experience and to diminish user frustration. These areas cut across cultures and are very relevant in this part of the world where user-centered design usually takes a back seat to bright lights - a case of style over substance. Here are some areas that can improve the online experience for potential customers.

Don't be blinded by the light. High-tech bells and whistles make an interesting statement about the technical and artistic skills of the design team. However, they may detract from the user-experience. Overuse of animation, flash elements, scrollers, and DHTML are classical signs or designer-centered websites. They add to download times, distract potential customers and may make page loading next to impossible for users with browsers incapable of interpreting these extra elements. If the user does not gain anything in return, these elements need to be minimized or eliminated. This is not to say that websites should be drab and cheerless. There is much to be to be gained by employing a Beautiful User Interface (BUI). This can usually be achieved with creativity and careful optimization within any major photo/graphic design application.

Users are not all the same. The website visitor in 2005 is most likely to be accessing the net using Internet Explorer version 6 on a PC running Windows XP and a screen size of 1024x768 pixels. However, a substantial if decreasing minority of users have screens with lower resolutions. Increasing numbers of users are also migrating to other browsers while important parts of a target audience may use a MAC not a PC. It is wise to analyse log files and code sites so that the optimal number of users can be reached without a drop in design quality.

Content is not usually king. Amazon is successful because it sells an enormous range of books and ensures quick and efficient delivery to customers. Google rose to prominence because it searched better than anyone else. Maktoob's headway in becoming a leading regional portal can be traced to its pioneering provision of Arabic-English email. Unless a website is able to draw on top-notch and available reporting, like the BBC or Al Jazeera, quality creative writers such as Salon or Atlantic Monthly or fill a market niche such as Webshots or AMEinfo, then providing a successful profit-making site that relies on textual or audiovisual content can be an arduous task. A corollary of this is not cluttering a homepage with corporate information or news that does not appeal to the main target audience and does not enhance the central core of the online business. The focus needs to stay on the product or the service that makes the business stand out.

Clicks, bricks and mortar. Selling a service or product on the Net needs to be backed up with up-to-date and accurate information on the website and by top-grade logistics behind the scenes. Also, the online business needs to have originality and cost-effectiveness. After all, if an Arab webuser can buy a product quickly and cheaply by walking down the street, why would they want to visit an Internet café to make the same purchase online?

The Mid-Eastern-based e-entrepreneur needs to plan well before embarking on an online venture. Global online truisms about usable design, user-focus, real-world needs and availability all play a role in determining the potential success of the business. In addition, regional factors of language, geography and Internet usage add to the challenges for the nascent e-entrepreneur. With challenges come risks. With risks come opportunities. If the Arab world has yet to take to e-commerce, then the possibilities abound.