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  Analysis  and  design 

  Analysis  of  system 

requirements and design 

for creation of a system.   

     Introduction 

  Activity  11.1 

The consequences of poor analysis and design 

  Purpose 

 To highlight the impact of poor analysis and design on customer satisfaction and busi-

ness  performance.  

  Activity 

 Form a focus group and discuss your own experiences of online purchasing. What 

have been your problems and frustrations? Refer to a particular example such as pur-

chasing a book – what are your expectations? Alternatively, visit  GetSatisfaction.com  

to see the types of complaints about different brands. 

  Answers to activities can be found at    www.pearsoned.co.uk/chaffey   

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Chapter 11  Analysis and design

 Real-world Digital Business

The Smart Insights interview

An interview with Matt Lawson of ao.com on how they develop their 

customer experience

Matt Lawson is Head of Conversion at ao.com. In this interview he describes how they 

have grown their business through keeping the web experience focussed on the customer 

through constant feedback, review and testing. Today ao.com (Figure 11.1) is the UK’s 

largest online kitchen retailer, with over 4,000 large appliances ready for Next Day Delivery.

Their About Us promise page is one of the best I’ve seen for showcasing the propo-

sition and integrating customer feedback and social networking. Taking such care with 

the About page may not be essential for established  high-  street retailers, but is impor-

tant for online pureplays and  start-  ups. We also like the way their masthead below the 

navigation showcases their proposition.

ao.com can no longer be called a start-up, with annual turnover of more than 

£50 million. In fact, it was formed as part of DRL Limited in 2000, as an online kitchen 

appliance retailer, by John Roberts, who remains CEO of the company today. Today 

DRL also provides white label kitchen appliance websites for its big brand clients like 

Boots, Marks and Spencer, Next, House of Fraser, Debenhams, Screw Fix, Empire 

Direct, Argos and B& Q, including supply, distribution and customer care.