A perception study of a new set of usability heuristics for transactional web sites

The heuristic evaluation is one of the most recognized and used methods to measure the usability degree of software products. However, given the current emergence of new categories of software, the traditional heuristics are no longer appropriate. This fact has led the authors to develop a new set of fifteen heuristics that can be used to measure in a more accurate and effective way the usability level of transactional websites. In this study, we present a perception study to demonstrate that our proposal is perceived as easier to use and more useful than the traditional approach. For this purpose, ten undergraduate students who were divided into two teams were requested to perform a heuristic evaluation to an E-Commerce website employing a specific set of usability heuristics. After the activity, the students completed a survey in which three perception variables of the Method Adoption Model were measured. The statistical analysis of the results allows the authors to conclude that the new proposal is better perceived.