Abstract: Web-based E-Learning Systems (WELSs) have emerged as new means of skill training and knowledge acquisition, encouraging both academia and industry to invest resources in the adoption of these systems. Traditionally, most pre- and post-adoption tasks related to evaluation are carried out from the viewpoints of technology. Since users have been widely recognized as being a key group of stakeholders in influencing the adoption of information systems, their attitudes about these systems are considered as pivotal. Therefore, based on the theory of multi-criteria decision making and the research results concerning user satisfaction in the fields of human-computer interaction and information systems, a heuristic multi-criteria methodology using the learner satisfaction perspective to support evaluation-based activities occurring at the pre and post-adoption phases of the WELS life cycle is proposed. In addition, using the methodology, we empirically investigate learners` perceptions of the relative importance of decision criteria as beneficial tools for evaluation in management.