This is why it is essential that the type of site and target purpose for a new web presence be part of the early design discussions and be included in the creative brief. Without it, the site has a large probability of loosing the visitor.
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This is why it is essential that the type of site and target purpose for a new web presence be part of the early design discussions and be included in the creative brief. Without it, the site has a large probability of loosing the visitor.
As part of the analysis phase, the purpose of the website must be understood. Websites can be categorized into three general classes:
- Personal/Vanity – websites focused on the author or information producer, not the information consumer – Facebook, Myspace, Google+ share this classification
- Informational – websites constructed to convey information, such as Wikipedia, Huffington Post, and Google
- Action – websites designed to stimulate a "call to action" from the end user.
Action sites have 15 seconds to capture a visitor's attention and motivate action
Many sites on the web fall into the Action category, whether it is to send a letter to your Congressman, watch a video, join a mailing list, make a contribution, or purchase a product. Helping a client to fairly and accurately assess the intended purpose for their new web presence can be challenging. One client I worked with recently was certain that their site was to help educate people on the advantages of craniosacral therapy. When I asked what the business hoped to gain from a redesign of the website, I was told it was to increase subscription to their mailing list and increase attendance at their workshops.These responses showed the desired outcome was motivating visitors to take action - join the mailing list and/or attend a workshop which in turn made it clear to the client this was an Action site. Distilling desired outcomes down to the top two or three becomes part of the synthesis phase and can be equally challenging.
Another client I consulted was unhappy with the results their website was generating. Analytics showed it had reasonable traffic but had an exceptionally low conversion rate and lost over 80% of all first time visitors within 15 seconds. Looking at the home page revealed 14 calls to action including:
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Taking these factors into account early in the analysis and synthesis phases can greatly improve the outcome of the overall design project.
It’s an interesting point; websites being classified among Personal/Vanity, Informational or Action. These different categories bring to mind the common statement that the average page visit lasts less than a minute. This would seem understandable; a visitor seeking an information page might not linger on a personal/vanity page. If the topic interests us, we’ll spend hours reading a book, playing a game or in conversation. Even if the format or presentation is awkward, if the topic is interesting to us, we’ll struggle through. However, no amount of polished design will convert an intrinsically uninteresting topic suddenly into a captivating one. If the metrics tracking website visit time don’t discriminate between content of interest and mode of presentation, then this rule-of-thumb about visit time isn’t truly valid. The mode of presentation (the webpage design) mightn’t be the factor; it’s the lack of relevant content. People don’t linger in stores whose merchandise don’t have any appeal to them. No matter how well the merchandise (information) is displayed. –Gwen Lubey
ReplyDeleteHi Gwen,
DeleteVery valid points. The only question I would pose is what drew visitors to the site in the first place if the content was intrinsically uninteresting?
-Tim Foley