We All Have Our Purpose
Hands down, one of my favorite articles in The Economist is “Crowned at Last” in April 2nd, 2005's issue. The article talks about how the consumer is gaining more and more power through research on the web prior to purchasing. They are walking into Ford dealerships with the exact car specs they want and know that the car is in stock because they checked it all online before hand. Of course, this trend affects the advertising world and Internet websites by changing how they are marketed and designed.
Just to further back up that point, in an earlier article in The Economist, “Buying the Future” March 31st 2005, they state that "A quarter of the people using search engines to get information about consumer electronics and computer products bought a product in the end—and 92% of those shopped offline, according to a joint study by Overture, a marketing company owned by Yahoo!, and comScore Networks, a firm that monitors consumer behavior”.
This change in online behavior just proves Flanders' point in “The Biggest Web Design Mistakes of 2004”. People, messages, and businesses need websites up and running if they want to be successful. And I do not mean just any old site, but one that users are actually able to find answers to their questions on. Flanders points out that “The only reason my website exists is to solve my customers' problems… Nobody cares about you or your site. Really. What visitors care about is getting their problems solved”.
It bothers me too no end when I happen upon useless sites… perhaps a candidate has no issue positions stated, or no way to contribute on their site or similarly that the Watergate Salon has no prices posted for their pedis and manis. If it weren't for an outside source, I would have no idea that their policy positions matched mine or that their prices are pretty remarkable.
My advice, make it easy on your user. We all have our purpose.
posted by Kathie Legg at 3:59 PM
2 Comments:
Why does my cereal need a web site?
Some products peopel frequently consume have a totally pointless online presence (from the user's perspective). From the manufacture, the web is just another marketing channel.
I'm thinking of popular food brands: Cheerios, Oreo, 7UP. These sites are just on big advertisement.
On the other hand, there's really nothing that I'd want to go to their web site for, so it's more like empty space they're filling with advertising.
I guess the user is going to the site to waste time, so having big flash animations and stupid content is consistent.
Yeah. But when you are 12, sitting at the table reading the back of the Cheerios box and you notice they have a site with games on it... you might just be bored enough to move your cereal bowl over to the computer and finish your breakfast there.
Yes, a small purpose... but a purpose nonetheless
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