Web Design Priorities

Here is another great article on what leads to lost business value for an online business!

# An e-commerce site lost millions of dollars because overly aggressive homepage promotions made users distrust the price of any product that was not on sale. This is a classic example of the importance of trust-enhancing design in e-commerce.
# Rather than offering a unified intranet portal, one big company’s intranet had inconsistent design and used different systems to manage different areas. As employees moved around the intranet, the navigation options and structural appearance changed. Parts of the intranet looked outdated compared to newer sections, which made users doubt the accuracy of the older pages’ information. Again, this is a credibility problem — trust is not just an e-commerce issue.
# Potential customers couldn’t find a service company’s outlets because the store finder required users to know the company’s name for each location. People who used other names left the site, wrongly assuming the company didn’t serve their areas.
# A content site chased users away with intrusive advertising that included few relevant ads.
# A completely novel Internet offering was lost on most users, who didn’t understand the service, how it worked, or what it could offer them. Given their vague inklings about the payoff, users were unwilling to register with the site. Among other problems, users didn’t understand the site’s terminology.

What should you get right? Here are three things – Clear Communication, Relevant information, and Simple Consistent pade design:

# Communicating clearly so that users understand you. Users allocate minimal time to initial website visits, so you must quickly convince them that the site’s worthwhile.
# Providing information users want. Users must be able to easily determine whether your services meet their needs and why they should do business with you.
# Offering simple, consistent page design, clear navigation, and an information architecture that puts things where users expect to find them.