Strut Your Credentials, Particularly Where They Matter - Page 2
January 31, 2002
In some cases (for instance, the purchase of commodity items such
as books or branded shampoos), many consumers will be unfamiliar
with a particular dot-com. For this reason, it is critical for
users to have a sense that the prices and rates are fair and the
site is legitimate. The web can be a scary place for the faint-
of-heart, and users need to know they are not being taken to the
cleaners by one of the many fly-by-night operations that prey on
Internet newbies and the generally unwary.
When the web sites in question pertain to industries such as
healthcare, education, or financial services, the importance of
credentials increases exponentially. In fact, strong credentials
are often the make-or-break point for consumers considering
whether to use such weighty services or purchase products from
these sites. It is critical to getting users to put their faith
and their dollars in you. This holds true whether you're speaking
of consumers making "high ticket" purchases (such as cars,
furniture, and antiques) or of the many businesses for whom the
"cost of doing business" entails the purchase of costly goods and
services from other businesses.
Consider the following examples. When Fleet, a major bank in New
England, was about to launch web banking, testing showed that
consumers clearly wanted the site to look just like the bank
branch. They rejected a new logo in favor of the one already
employed on signage, letterhead, and so on. Moreover, most of
those tested wanted their account information to look just like
their statements and expected the site to be a visually obvious
extension of the bank: In every sense, its online shadow and not,
as one consumer put it, "something a twelve-year-old in Wisconsin
had created in his basement." The bank took these recommendations
seriously, and consequently, at launch, the site was a mirror
image of the bank and was as easy to use as the bank's ATM.
Thereafter, usage far exceeded projections.
As with its famous bricks and mortar counterpart, the homepage of
McDonald's greets visitors with the familiar yellow arches and
striking red background—in other words, exactly what they
expect to see. Likewise, Pier 1's site mirrors the look and feel
of their stores.
In another case, the first version of a homepage for a site that
sold children's educational books and software made no mention of
who or what was behind the site. Users thought anybody could be
behind it, and consequently they simply viewed the site as a
specialized e-commerce site. This was a missed opportunity
insofar as the company in question (unlike competitors) carefully
selected and sold products based on strong ratings given them by
both top-notch educators and parents. For the second version of
the homepage, the proud trumpeting of these credentials front-
and-center on the homepage was extremely comforting and appealing
to parents, who thought these credentials added much value to the
site.
Finally, when we tested a prototype of a site for trading metal,
we found that the first thing target users wanted to know was
"who was behind the site." When they learned that the site was
developed by significant people in the industry, their interest
in using the site increased substantially. As a result, the
company placed "About Us" as the first item on the homepage.
As these examples make plain, in cases where users need to really
trust a site in order to enter the "front door," companies need
to make the most of their credentials by making them prominent
features of their homepages.
Your Homepage Is a 30-Second Window of Opportunity: Don't Be Shy
Back to the User: Creating User-Focused Web Sites
Don't Have Credentials? Beg and Borrow (But Don't Steal) 'Em! - Page 3
|
