Laddawn.com : Initial conversations

DRAFT

Overview

"My Account" is where the user goes to manage his account settings (password, contact information, etc.) and user preferences (user-defined preferences for shipping, notifications, etc.) on the Laddawn.com site. It is also where the user can see some settings that are "read only" - settings they cannot change online, but which they may need as a reference (e.g. credit limit). In the future, it may also be where users can reference their company's status as a Laddawn customer (e.g., access to free samples, tracking buying level against benchmark - i.e., member/partner etc.).

Entry is via the "My Account"  link in the top right corner of every Laddawn.com page:

User Roles

For now we have decided that there will be one role for all users under a distributorship, i.e., we will not have master/power users with special privileges (e.g., ability to change BrandIt logo), and regular users with limited privileges. The onus will be on the distributorship to manage its own users' behavior; this is aided by all of the actions users can take having clear fingerprints.

• However, we DO want users within a distributorship, to have the ability to order/ship on behalf of other users at satellite branches (Unisource for example).
• Internal Laddawn users will have special privileges (to be scoped out as part of this effort and the Internal Users effort.)

Information Architecture & Organization

(Top level categories and subcategories; intuitive labeling.)

Below is unstructured list:

• Contact information - name, address, phone, email, fax, company, job title, location, etc.
• Password management
• Company information - read only, editable?
  
  • Other users in my organization
  • Intracompany permissions - i.e., ability for one user in one geo. location to order on behalf of others in other geo. locations (hubs and satellites)
• Narrative thread preferences - who from my company and Laddawn to include in narrative thread filters
• Management of BrandIt logo
• Payment information?
• Avatar
• Notification and email preferences
  
  • Desire to be copied or not on Shared items/carts.
• Shipping preferences - distributor level only?
  
  • Default ship-to zip to populate widget (and Cart if not overidden at widget stage).
  • Customer pickup
  • Third party shippers & freight included/not included on MOD
  • Shipping destination, residential v. commercial
• Packaging & handling preferences
  
  • Certain special packaging requirements for shipping (skids, pallets, etc. - not to be confused with choices in "Packaging" level 3 add menu in widget -cases, rolls, cradlepacked, polylined).
  • Preferred defaults for the level 3 add menu for "Packaging"?
  • Shipping destination - residential v. commercial
• My customers - shipping addresses, email accounts.  (and shipping preferences by customer?)

Design & Layout

My Account is likely to have an orange color scheme to differentiate it from the Shop widget and Checkout screens, and to require its own tabbed navigation (same corners, fonts, etc. as Shop widget; similar active/inactive handling (orange active, gray or light orange inactive). Below is an early rendition by Corey. Disregard top level categories for now; these are not based on any extensive analysis.

Note

All of the 'my account' pages need a means of returning to "order history" tab in the shop widget, because past orders are often associated with "my account" on many e-com sites.

Questions for discussion 9/18

Information architecture/scope

•  Does some of this stuff bleed into other areas in the site such as some of the widget tabs - for instance, order history and saved items? What do you think of when you think of "My account" on other sites? On some sites, like Amazon, "my account" includes my past orders and their status. We may need to brainstorm order history, to better understand whether there is crossover and how to manage it for a seamless experience.
  • Although not reflected in the Corey design above, is "my account" the right home for doing more "post-order" business online? (payments, returns, invoices, pack slips, etc.) Or does this belong within Past Orders? (Also logged under Past Orders.)

Amazon - Your Account	Talbots	Linked In	Facebook general
		image2012-9-18 13:24:0.png
WeightWatchers	My eBay	Google	Facebook Privacy
		image2012-9-18 13:50:35.png

• How will users handle "one-time" overrides for preferred defaults? (E.g. customer pickup v. one-time drop ship?) Something "in context" (like overriding the zip code), and more elegant than going into preferences, changing, then having to go back?