There are a few things one must contemplate when designing   ones website . Think about whether your web site  is working for you and if you are getting realistic  conversion rates. If not, there are a number of  points  worth  thinking through   , one  being the ‘3 click rule’.

This rule has been around for sometime now, and different web designers  have argued for and against it. It’s a bit  like the nature nurture question  but although  the  jury’s still out, it’s one thing  I always try to adhere  to.

Here’s what it says ‘The three click rule says  that any part of a website or application must be accessible in 3 clicks, if not users will become fed up  and leave your site .’

I’ve decided to put it to the test using the three 3 most successful  websites  on the internet .

Amazon – Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an American-based multinational electronic commerce company. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, it is America’s largest online retailer, with nearly three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up, Staples Inc. as of January 2010. Source Wikipedia

Results

I visited www.amazon.co.uk in search of a specific cookbook  for my daughter , ‘Gordon Ramsey – Great Escape’.       

Click 1. From the left hand navigation, I clicked  ‘Books’.

Click 2. From the newly formed left hand navigation I now clicked  ‘Food and Drink’

Click 3. Centre of the page there it is pictures of the cookbooks in that section and ‘Gordon Ramsey – Great Escape’ was one of them.

www.amazon.co.uk – Passed !

Play.com – Play Ltd. trading as Play.com is a Jersey-based online retailer of DVDs, CDs, books, gadgets, video games, DRM-free mp3 downloads, and other electronic products, as well as clothes and accessories. Founded in 1998, Play.com was one of the first online retailers targeting the UK. It is the second biggest online retailer in the UK market according to traffic monitor Hitwise, and it is in the top 50 globally. Play.com was ranked second on the November 2006 UK “Hot Shops List” compiled by IMRG and Hitwise. Play.com has 7,000,000 registered customers, a catalogue of over 8,000,000 products, and it employs some 500 staff. Source Wikipedia

The Results

I visited www.play.com in search of a PS3 game for my wife , ‘Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits’.

Click 1. From the top navigation I chose  ‘Games – Sony PS3’

Click 2. From the newly formed left hand navigation I now clicked  ‘Rhythm and Music’

Click 3. I had to scroll a little  but there it was ‘Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits’ and the final click took me to it .

www.play.com – Passed !

Asda – Asda is a British supermarket chain which retails  food, clothing, toys and general merchandise .

Asda became a subsidiary of the American retail giant Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, in 1999, and is the second largest chain in the UK after Tesco, having overtaken Sainsbury’s in 2003

The Conclusions

I visited www.asda.co.uk in search of a tin of ‘Heinz Baked beans’.

Click 1. From the top navigation I chose  ‘Groceries’

Click 2. From the newly formed top hand navigation I now chose  ‘Tins, jars and packets.’

Click 3. From the top sub-navigation I now chose  ‘Tinned Veg, Beans and Pulses’ and then on the page that loaded were the  ‘Heinz Baked beans’

Some would now argue I have to take a further click to get to the details of that  product, but would the user  leave the site   because they have not found their product? I personally don’t think they would.

www.asda.co.uk – Just OK !

So to conclude the findings of the above , www.asda.co.uk was clearly 1 click more than the other 2, I think some of you may even think that the other 2 did it in 2 clicks, and maybe you’re right. But one thing that does stand out from all this research is that whether we web designers  think ‘The 3 Click Rule’ is ‘fact or myth’ it is clear the top websites are  sticking   to it!