A web site can only be successful if it contains the right
information, in the right place, in words that are easy to
understand. Research shows that on two sites out of three, people
have trouble finding what they're looking for.
The problem
There are several reasons why people don't find what they're looking
for on a web site. We'll sum up the most important ones.
1. Sites that aren't goal oriented
A lot of sites forget that people don't visit a site just for fun,
they're there to do something:
- Looking for information in general: "Does this site have
product x?" or "What does this company have to
offer?"
- Looking for specific information: "What does product x do
exactly?" or "How much does service y cost
here?"
- Performing a specific action: "I want to order product
x." or "I want to transfer money from my checking
account to my savings account."
When designing a web site, always keep in mind that people will
use it to achieve certain goals. Your site has to be efficient,
effective, easy to use and easy to understand.
Example: Siemens
The site of Siemens Netherlands (www.siemens.nl)
shows a list of the different
products per product category.
A good idea,
but the way the information is presented leaves a lot to be desired.
The product names (EF 715501, EF 725501...) and extra information (vlaklijst-design,
facet-design, ...) are gibberish to most Dutch speakers. A good picture and
a product description in plain language, containing essential
information (like size, number of cooking zones and of course price)
would be a lot more informative.
2.
Product-driven sites
Some corporate web sites seem to be aimed only at employees and
long-time customers who the company's products and services inside
out. A site that is built around a company's product offering from
an insider's perspective is often unintelligible for people who
aren't familiar with the company. They don't know what the often
opaque product names stand for and struggle to find what they're
looking for.
Example: Mobistar
The Belgian site of Mobistar (www.mobistar.be)
has a navigation that's full of meaningless words like 'Tempo',
'Optimum' and 'Friends'. An overview of the different subscriptions
is nowhere to be found. When that's really what people are looking
for: a page called 'Subscriptions' with a schematic overview of the
different subscriptions.
3. Sites that reflect a company's organisational structure
This variation on product-driven sites is particularly common for
government agencies and non-profit organisations. They often
structure their site the way their organisation is structured,
without realising that structure isn't necessarily the most logical
and certainly not the most transparent.
4. Egocentric corporate web sites
Some companies are so self-obsessed they seem to forget all about
the people who visit their web site and what they might like or
need. Egocentric corporate sites are easily recognizable by an
improbably extensive 'Company history' section, a large picture of
the company premises and a lengthy speech by the CEO. In the
navigation, 'About us' is usually above 'Our products' or 'Our
services'.
5. Sites with content-free content
The information on many sites is incomplete, vaguely worded and
laced with meaningless marketing lingo. That's not what people visit
a web site for. Most people use the internet to get quick access to
practical information. They want answers, not a sales pitch.
The reasons
The examples above clearly show that a lot of sites don't succeed in
showing users the way to the information they're looking for. Don't
companies care about giving their visitors what they want? Of course
they do, the problem is that a lot of companies simply don't know
what that is.
An additional problem is that most companies have very little
knowledge of the internet and of the way people surf the Internet.
That's a pity because a communication medium as direct as the
internet doesn't allow a lot of room for mistakes. If you don't know
what your visitors want or how to give it to them, chances of
turning those visitors into customers are very slim. Someone who
doesn't find what he's looking for on your site is not very likely
to become a customer. Especially when your competitor is just one
click away.
The solution
The only way to turn a web site into an efficient means of
communication and effective business tool is to make sure the
content and the way it is structured is what users want.
How do you go about that? Talk to your customers. Observe them.
Listen to the questions they ask. Write down the words they use to
describe things. If you want to be completely sure you're not
getting caught in existing company structures or protocol, get an
independent information architect involved.
| AGConsult has already helped various companies
and government agencies with the information architecture of
their web site. Read more about our 'Information
architecture' service. |
Els Aerts & Karl Gilis
|
