Peer Response to discussion post
It is important to become comfortable receiving and giving feedback to peers because this is an important component in professional growth and development and a core competency for leaders. Students will be expected to read the initial posting of at least TWO peers, and then provide thoughtful comments.
Point out what you perceived to be the strengths of the initial posting along with supporting rationale showing you understand the course material/ discussion topic.
If you identify any opportunities for improvement you should provide supporting rationale for your stated position, as well as concrete suggestions and guidance intended to strengthen the effectiveness of the content.
For these responses, should outside sources be used to support the content within the postings, proper in-text citations and correctly formatted references should be prepared consistent with the APA. The list of references should be physically positioned at the end of the postings. Each response should be one or two paragraphs (1/2 page each)
INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO PEER FROM INSTRUCTOR:
Identify a website you are interested in evaluating. Respond to the following questions related to the components of UX.
Provide link to the homepage of the website you are evaluating. Use the following UX elements as headers to:
Instrumental – Usability: Evaluate the overall instrumental – usability of the website.
Non-Instrumental – Aesthetics and Pleasure: Describe specific non-instrumental aesthetics and/or pleasure components. Include links if not found on homepage.
Affect and Emotions: Describe specific non-instrumental aesthetics and/or pleasure components. Include links if not found on homepage.
Overall Strengths and Weaknesses: Describe the overall strengths and weakness of the website given your evaluation.
PEER 1 SUBMISSION (Corie):
Ulta Beauty Website
- Instrumental – Usability: The website for Ulta Beauty has an average usability rating. The website provides a wide range of beauty product categories and pricing points, so it should be simple to locate products from drugstores to premium labels. Nonetheless, there are a number of functional issues with the website. Customers may have trouble finishing their purchases throughout the checkout procedure. Although they are available, the search and filtering features don’t always offer the most user friendly purchasing experience, occasionally making it more difficult than it needs to be to find products.
- Non-Instrumental – Aesthetics and Pleasure: The website’s aesthetic design complements its brand identity, with a clean, primarily white background that makes product photographs stand out. The color scheme, which mostly consists of black, pink, and purple accents, gives their target demographic a unified, feminine look. A captivating visual experience is produced by the homepage’s dynamic banners showcasing new arrivals and ongoing discounts, as well as its excellent product photography.
- Affect and Emotions: Through personalized features like the Ultamate Rewards program integration and tailored product recommendations, the website seeks to inspire an emotional response. Positive feelings related to self-care and personal attractiveness are intended to be created by the aspirational content and beauty focused visuals. The welcoming emotional experience the company seeks to generate may be lessened, though, if users become frustrated due to sporadic technical problems and navigational difficulties.
- Overall Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths:
• Effective visual presentation with high-quality product pictures
• A wide choice of products in all beauty categories
• A well-designed loyalty program
• Design that adapts to mobile devices
Weaknesses
• Unreliable website functionality and technical issues
• The checkout process can occasionally be difficult
• There is room for more natural navigation
• Improved search functionality is needed for better product discovery
Although the website is successful in producing a visually appealing appearance, technical enhancements would improve the user experience overall and allow it to better serve its clientele.
References:
Beauty, U. (2025). Ulta Beauty | Makeup, skin care, fragrance, hair care & beauty products. Ulta Beauty. https://www.ulta.com
PEER 2 SUBMISSION (Maurice):
Instrumental – Usability
Amazon’s website is highly usable and designed with a user-centric approach. Key features include naviagtion, responsiveness, checkout process, and accessibility. Navigation: The navigation bar is logically structured, with dropdown menus that provide access to all product categories. The search bar is prominently placed at the top, allowing users to find products quickly. Responsiveness: The website is optimized for different devices, ensuring a seamless experience on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Checkout Process: The checkout process is streamlined, with clear instructions, multiple payment options, and the ability to save shipping addresses and payment methods. Accessibility: Amazon adheres to web accessibility standards, offering features like screen reader compatibility and keyboard navigation support.
Non-Instrumental – Aesthetics and Pleasure
Amazon’s website aesthetics are clean and functional, focusing on simplicity and efficiency rather than elaborate design. Specific non-instrumental components include visual hierachy, color scheme, and product images. For visual hierarchy, the homepage uses a clear visual hierarchy, with larger images and bold text for featured products and promotions. This guides the user’s attention effectively. With color scheme, Amazon’s color scheme is minimalistic, using mostly white, grey, and blue. This avoids visual clutter and makes the site easy on the eyes. Lastly, product images gives high-quality product images and videos provide a pleasant browsing experience, helping users make informed decisions.
Affect and Emotions
Amazon’s website includes several elements designed to evoke positive emotions and build trust such as, customer reviews, personalization, promotions and discounts, and trusts seals and secruity. With customer reviews, user-generated reviews and ratings provide social proof, helping users feel confident in their purchasing decisions. As far as personalization, the homepage and product recommendations are personalized based on user behavior, making the shopping experience more enjoyable and relevant. For promotions and discounts, displaying current deals, discounts, and limited-time offers can generate excitement and encourage impulse purchases. Lastly, trust seals and security, which display trust seals, secure payment icons, and return policy information reassures users of the site’s credibility.
Overall Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths we have user experience, which Amazon excels in providing a user-friendly experience with intuitive navigation and a streamlined checkout process, personalization due to customized recommendations enhance user engagement and satisfaction, trust and credibility, thanks to customer reviews, security features, and trust seals build consumer confidence, and responsiveness, which is happens as the website performs well across various devices, ensuring a consistent user experience.
Weaknesses we have aesthetics, while the site’s design is functional, it lacks the visual appeal and creativity found on some competitors’ sites, clutter, like the homepage can appear cluttered with numerous promotions and recommendations, potentially overwhelming users, and limited emotional engagement, which as a business-to-business site, Amazon’s focus on functionality may result in limited affective and emotional content compared to more visually engaging e-commerce platforms.
www.Amazon.com
Hanlon, A. (2021). Digital Marketing (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications, Ltd. (UK). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781529786422
Hofacker, C.F. (2001) Internet Marketing, 3rd edn. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Do you need help with this assignment or any other? We got you! Place your order and leave the rest to our experts.