Just what the heck is a user experience anyway?
Video isn't the only thing shaking up the Internet status quo these days. The new buzz in town is that in order to succeed we need to "engage" our visitors in a positive "experience."
It's true we've been trying to "engage" visitors in our website content from the very beginning. We used to call it attracting eyeballs, and talked about building communities around sticky websites.
All goo aside, we've also known for a long time that we only had 15 seconds to convince a new visitor to give our site (and company) a closer look. Our visitors have always been in charge this way.
But you shouldn't be too quick to dismiss the "new buzz" as just different words for the same old buzz.
In this case, the change of words captures the change in attitude and direction quite well. We are evolving from web 1.0 to web 2.0 on many levels at once.
We're no longer quite so adversarial in our approach. We aren't out to capture eyeballs of random surfers, or "stick" anyone anywhere. We are engaging, enticing, inviting visitors who have already raised their hand and said they are interested in our subject to get to know us better.
Just because they're usually used on web pages that have some sort of multimedia component associated, doesn't necessarily mean that we need to use more than one media in any one place or time to make that invitiation, well, more engaging. We have a new freedom to use any of our growing list of delivery options. It might help to deliver it through sound or motion, but plain text could just as easily, and effectively be the vehicle of choice.
Today, the most important variable is not the means by which the message is delivered, it's how it's delivered.
The new rules of engagement
The rules of engagement are much clearer now. Today's smart web businessman
knows he isn't the only game in town. Instead of trying to outshout
everyone else and get the attention of every member the Internet marketplace,
the smart web bsuinessman knows that he should seek out a given subset
of that market to speak to directly and quietly.
Instead of trying to create a captive audience, he tries to lead his visitors one small step at a time to the conclusion he wants them to make. Getting your visitor to take the next step, to navigate to the next page, to fill in one blank line on a form is much easier than presenting him with a single big buy button, or a twenty question registration form before he can download your free report.
Of course, you'll never get your visitor to take that first step until he's convinced there is something there that fills his wants and needs in the first place. Give to get is still very much the golden rule of the web. What we know now is that content, solid information, delivered quickly and clearly is the most valuable gift you can give any visitor. Respect for their time even trumps respect for their wallet in many modern buying decisions.
So how do you know exactly what content he wants?
Ask him. Give him
ways to interact with you and your business online and he'll tell you.
We use surveys and polls quite regularly. While we've found some drop
off in participation if we run them too close together, if we're asking
questions that strike a nerve or a need, our visitors are neither shy
nor unwilling to pass links to our surveys and polls on to their colleagues.
But we know that just asking isn't going to give us all the information we need, or even the most accurate information. After all, if you ask, you’ll find out that everyone in America goes to the gym everyday, and eats "like a bird" at every meal. We suggest you pay attention to your visitor logs too. Where do your visitors go when they get to your site, what do they search for, where to they stop searching for information and start searching for an exit? Your logs will tell you.
And what should you do when you see the two are in conflict?
We recommend
going with what your visitors have told you they want. If you can, you
should resist the temptation all together to tell him how many calories
there are in that rich desert he just ordered. It's not about you and
what you want him to know. Iif you're not promoting what your visitor
wants, or providing the information he is looking for,
he'll go next door.
Everything about you makes up your experience
The most important thing you can do to engage your visitor is also the
most important thing you can do to ensure that he has a positive experience
with your web site, your email and every encounter he has with your
company.
Be yourself. Talk like one human being to another. Get excited and let him know why. But please don't shout, or take excitement to an extreme. Even if you really are that "edgy" in real life, it will come across as insincere hype. The effect will be the same as that boring, impersonal tone of the corporate mission-speak we're finally starting to see fade from the web.
Have you ever followed a semi truck on the highway with one of those “how’s my driving” stickers on the back?. Have you ever wanted to pick up your cell phone and call that number and tell them, really tell them, what you think of this guy’s drving despite the sky high roaming charges you’d have to pay?
Understand that that is exactly what your web visitor is doing online everyday and you'll be miles ahead of your competition already. Your vistors know your business and have formed a "good/bad" opinion of your business based on the same sorts of factors that caused you to curse the company that hired that driver.
The essense of web 2.0 is that what goes around, comes around. You are a consumer. You are a customer. You are also your company. What you like as a consumer is what you should be offering as a company. No more, no less.
How you do it is also flexible...perhaps too flexible. For more on that, check out your rich media delivery options here.
