Red route usability: how to define the cores

Make a decision to buy is difficult.

Red routes could and should achieve:

• Improve speed and effectiveness.
• Describe both frequent and critical activities.
  e.g. search: frequent; editing personal details: infrequent but critical.
• Reflect key business objectives.
• Reflect key customer objectives.
  Visitors to your site will have their own goals that your site needs to support.

Five characteristics of red routes:

• Be complete activities, not simple tasks.
• Imply a success look and an obvious measure of accomplishment.
• Must be "portable" to competitor web sites.
• Focus on goals not procedural steps.
• Be accurate and realistic.

How to define red routes:

• Carry out some research with customers.
• Have a look at a month's worth of search queries.
• Speak to the people who deal with customers.
• Listen into customer calls. Survey and classify the calls.
• Look at what your competitors are doing.

(Source: Red route usability: The key user journeys with your web site by David Travis)