Download Beyond the Brochure: Honing Your Web Strategy

Beyond the Brochure:
Honing Your Web
Strategy
Donica Mensing
Reynolds School of Journalism
University of Nevada, Reno
Talk given to the American Marketing Association
July 2004, Reno, Nevada
Why wouldn’t you put your
company brochure on
television?
Boring
Can’t read much on the screen
Pictures are static; no sound
Then why would you put your
brochure online?
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It seems easy
It seems fast
It is cheap
You’ll do more later…
But online media can do
much more…
• It’s a marketing, sales and service tool all in
one
• Facilitates communication between you and
your customers
• Provides timely updates
• Makes customer service more efficient
• Enables personalized service and information
• Engages new and repeat customers over time
Example 1: The online
brochure
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Static
Hard to read
Not Web friendly
Written in marketese
Examples 2 & 3:
Interactive Web Sites
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Focused on the purpose of the company
Specific services are easy to find
Updated frequently
Navigation easy to find and follow
Balanced, colorful layout
Good Web design is
focused and purposeful
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The Web has infinite space
People do not have infinite time
Be clear and concise
Know what your customer wants and deliver
it quickly
Examples 4 & 5:
Two large organizations
• Cluttered, redundant, verbose
• Simple, focused, well-organized
Criteria for successful
Web design
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Clearly organized sections
Consistent layout and navigation
Concise, well-written text
Appealing, relevant graphics
Useful, well-described links
Interactive
Quick loading
Know your customer
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Broadband or dial-up
Home or work
Technically saavy or novice
Frequent or infrequent
Examples: Reno Rodeo and
m-productions
How do you know if your
site is well designed?
• Test it!
If your visitors can’t find the
information they want, the
product they want,
the page they want
-- quickly -they will leave. Period.
The Good News
• User testing is
effective, even if you
only test with five
randomly selected
customers
For more
information see
Jakob Nielsen:
http://www.useit.com
Components of usability
testing
• Learnability: How easy is it for users to
accomplish basic tasks the first time they
encounter the design?
• Efficiency : Once users have learned the
design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
• Memorability : When users return to the
design after a period of not using it, how
easily can they reestablish proficiency?
• Errors: How many errors do users make,
how severe are these errors, and how easily
can they recover from the errors?
• Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the
design?
• Utility: Does it do what users need?
From Jakob Nielsen 's Alertbox, August 25, 2003
Usability 101
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html
Users can help create your
information architecture
• Try card sorting as a way to develop your
organizational scheme and name sections of
your site
• Jakob Nielsen:
http://www.useit.com/papers/sun/cardsort.html
Finally…
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Start simply
Pay attention to your user logs
Focus on functionality for your users
Use databases and dynamic architecture
where possible
• Keep refining!
Questions?
Donica Mensing
[email protected]
More examples…
Reno Gazette-Journal
Reno-Sparks Chamber of
Commerce
Nevada Museum of Art