Web Worker Payoff: Information Architect

As web workers most of us already grasp the idea that we should be able to control our Web experience – to generate content, view content in a manner we prefer and the rest of it. But companies that sell online – especially those for which online is simply another channel, along with retail outlets and catalogs – are still struggling with the concept of Web 2.0. How do they preserve their brands when the users are in control?

It’s left to people such as Dayna Bateman, senior strategic analyst at e-commerce company Fry Inc., to show merchants how to engage the customer online without locking down the experience. Fry clients include Eddie Bauer, Godiva Chocolatier, Crate and Barrel, The Home Depot, Spiegel and Whirlpool.

Professional Mashup

With the right education (a master’s degree isn’t uncommon) and experience (in tactical and strategic information architecture, heuristic evaluation, usability testing, content generation and management, database design, IT integration, project management – you name it…), you may want to mull over a similar career. More commonly referred to by titles such as information architect, interaction or user experience designer or usability engineer, the job had average pay in 2006 of $82,400, according to a survey by The Information Architecture Institute. Of the work, Bateman says, “It’s in demand. There’s work that needs to be done. And folks are willing to pay for it.”

What interests Bateman most about her job is the “mashup of the whole thing,” she said. “I get to do really technical things, highly creative things. I get to work with people… Some weeks I’m in front of a computer 60 hours, 80 hours. Other times, it’s split down the middle. I’ll be on the road talking to folks. Doesn’t mean I’m not connected.”

When she’s evaluating a site for a new client, she said, “First, I want to know who they are and what they’re selling online… On an e-commerce site, you’re really looking for flow and product discovery. You want to make sure you’re revealing merchandise and making it findable for the customer. So I’ll frequently go looking for something I expect the customer to have because of their catalog or retail store. Can I find it where I expect it to be? Can I find it easily?”

The Stress of Customers Talking

What challenges the clients she advises, said Bateman, is the intensification of the “voice of the customer in e-commerce – and it’s causing some anxiety on the merchant side.” Whereas merchants are accustomed to controlling their brands, Web 2.0 has introduced user-generated content, including product reviews, images of customers using the merchandise and even the wacky notion of customers controlling their data displays, such as how products are prioritized for display.

“This whole crazy variable of user-generated content, it’s a little slippery, but it’s actually been shown to improve conversion rates in sales,” she said. She cites a recent Forrester study on 4,000 reviews that appeared in Amazon’s Electronics and Home & Garden categories. “They found that 80% were positive. The 20% that weren’t actually contributed to the credibility of the reviews themselves.”

Although Bateman is pursuing a master of science degree in human-computer interaction at Chicago’s DePaul University (to “formalize what I had learned in the trade”), she also stays current through conferences. Among the best for this field is the Internet Retailer conference held in June. She also attends niche events, all of which are “talking about the user experience.”

Plus, she surfs and shops to stay on top of trends. She foresees the day when e-commerce will break away from the workstation. “Right now when we think about e-commerce, we go to our computers and we place an order,” she said. “Mobile is going to be big. You’ll be able to enter a code into your mobile phone and make a purchase that way. Transactions will become increasingly simplified as those models become more prominent in the marketplace.”

Do you have a job that other web workers would want to know about? Share the details!

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