This article was heard on the radio program "The Computer Report," which is broadcast live on WCAP in Lowell, Mass., and is syndicated on WBNW in Boston and WPLM in Plymouth, Mass, and is also available as RealAudio at www.thereport.com
Please visit our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat
A home page often tells you from its basic design what kind of audience this company is trying to appeal to.
Take a look at CNET's Download.com. What you see on the first screen (before you scroll down) consists almost entirely of links, without a single sentence of explanation. The designers presume that people who come here know why they come and know what to do, are curious to try out neat new things, and have downloaded/installed dozens if not hundreds of other programs. They know what to expect and why. For them, the fewer the words the better. Just make everything "intuitive" and they'll figure it out.
Next look at Learnlots. Here the home page is dominated by explanatory text. And if you click on the links to check their free tutorials, once again you see sentences and paragraphs. In fact, they explain everything step-by-step in excruciating detail. Many of their tutorials deal with technical subjects. But they spell out every step, rather than presuming that the reader knows the basics or can easily guess what to do. In fact, how to use Download.com would make a good topic for a Learnlots tutorial.
Download.com caters to hobbyists, enthusiasts, and early adopters of new software. Learnlots caters to a general audience.
Hobbyists/early adopters would find the Learnlots style annoying. They don't want to have to read anything. Once they download a piece of new software, they don't want to have to read a manual either -- ideally, they should be able to figure out what to do just poking around, and by recognizing similarities to the user interface of other popular software.
General users may well be bright and curious, but they prefer to have the context explained, to be led through what needs to be done the first time around.
Hobbyists/early adopters are like do-it-yourself travelers, who are happy to be dropped in the middle of a foreign city, and can quickly orient themselves, who enjoy walking through the streets alone, figuring things out for themselves, and making their own discoveries.
General users tend to buy guidebooks and maps. They would prefer to go on a tour or have a native guide or at least have a friend-of-a-friend to contact.
Some businesses try to reach both kinds of audiences. For instance, Deja.com, which started as a search site for newsgroups, with a hobbyist/early adopter type audience, has tried to shift focus and become a shopping recommendation site, with a general audience. But today they have a patchwork home page that's confusing and annoying to both kinds of people.
Other businesses create separate home pages for different audiences, even when the underlying service is the same. For instance, AltaVista created Raging Search as a no-frills alternative to their general-user portal. Raging's home page closely resembles that of Google , with just a search box and a couple links, and no explanation whatsoever.
In many cases, new businesses start out appealing to early adopters, who can be reached with a minimum of marketing effort. You get some folks who are active in users groups, newsgroups, and email discussions to try out your new product or service; and they help spread the word -- enthusiastically telling their friends, and getting a charge out of being one of the first to discover this great new thing. These folks require relatively little support. They can figure out a lot on their own, with very few clues. They also like to play with their new toys, coming up with creative new applications, and providing valuable feedback about what works and what doesn't.
But often such a business needs to quickly reach a general audience, to raise the number of users to significant, impressive levels in order to attract venture capital. This is Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm in speeded-up Internet mode. The kind of Web site that worked great for the early adopters and got you 10,000 registered users in just a couple months is not likely to work for the general users you need in order to reach 100,000 or a million users.
The difference is not just a matter of technical vs. general vocabulary. In fact, the successful early adopter site might use no technical words at all.
The difference is that you cannot presume that general users have technical common sense. You cannot presume that anything is "intuitive." You need to clearly state what you are trying to do, why someone would want to use your product or service. You need to provide a context for understanding your business right away on the home page. And you need to make it easy for those who want clear, detailed explanations to get to them. Ebay does this extremely well. Their home page is set up to cater mainly to return users, who don't require explanations. But right near the top, they address the needs of newcomers. You see "Welcome new users", with choices: register, new to eBay?, how do I bid?, how do I sell? and why eBay is safe. When you click on any of those choices, you get page after page of text, all written for an audience that not only is new to eBay, but that has never bought or sold anything at any online auction.
Also, the hobbyists and early adopters catch the drift of what you mean quickly, even when you use hyperbole.
But general users tend to interpret what they see at Web sites literally. Broad claims that work great at catching the attention of early adopters can be misleading and confusing to general users. You can easily disappoint them or leve them feeling tricked or cheated if you are imprecise. Don't expect them to read between the lines or edit your claims based on their common sense knowledge. Simply say what you mean.
So when the time comes to appeal to general users, redesign your Web site. Provide a clear description of what you are about right on the home page, and make it easy for new users to get to voluminous detailed explanations. And at the same time, revisit your marketing messages, avoiding exaggeration. Try to crisply state exactly what you do and why general users should take notice. Your aim should not be to attract attention, but rather to set the right expectations.
Keep in mind, that while early adopters are easy to reach to begin with; they may also lose interest quickly, always looking for the next new thing.
Treat general users with respect, appeal to their intelligence, and give them all the details they might possibly want. And if your service meets their needs, they'll take the time to read and learn, and become loyal repeat customers. These are the folks you want to build your business on.
Other articles about Internet marketing
Other articles about Web page/site design
This site is Published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132. (617) 469-2269. seltzer@samizdat.com
Please visit our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat
Return to B&R Samizdat Express
Buy Richard's book Web Business Bootcamp (published by Wiley) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471164194/brsamizdatexpres
<
| Internet Business Showcase: | ||
|
|
|