01.01 People Go Online to Consume - Page 3

• A researcher is writing a report for work and needs to gather information.
• An accountant just met a big deadline and wants to "get mindless" playing a game for a while.
• A teenager wants to customize his own tennis shoes or find a really "cool" new skateboard.
• That same teenager wants to find a great place to wear those tennis shoes or ride that skateboard (http://www.3rdlair.com).
• A couple wants to find a more progressive pediatrician.
• That same couple wants to find a reliable financial advisor that can help them plan for their children’s education.

We don’t always think about it this way, but these examples all relate to various forms of consumption. When we think about what we can "get out of" the Web, these are the types of things that typically come to mind. We’re consumers of information, entertainment, products, and services. It seems really simple–cut-and-dried and very practical. But how cut-and-dried is it really? Is the role of an effective online resource to provide the most expedient, most practical way to get people from point A to point B? If you listen to some usability consultants, you get that distinct impression. They represent the group of experts who try to understand what people want while ignoring why people want.

01.01.01 The fact is, expediency and practicality are not sufficient to meet our consumptive needs in either the physical world or the mediated world of the Web.

The success or failure of any organization in the physical world hinges not only on how well it meets tangible needs but also on how well it anticipates and meets the more subjective and intangible aspects of the need. Retail businesses invest heavily in the look and feel of their stores because people are affected emotionally by the tone and tambour of the environments where they shop. This affects their purchasing decisions. Good restaurants pay careful attention to the flavor of their food, the ambiance of their dining rooms, and the personality of their wait-staff. These factors affect where people choose to dine.

Those who design Web experiences must understand that considerations such as these are equally important on the Web. Understanding how people most enjoy their consumption ("Would you like that medium or rare?") is an important key in designing effective Web experiences ("Well done, actually; but frankly, I’d rather be waited on by someone who doesn’t smell funny.").

01.01.02 We consume information to build knowledge and attain understanding.

How does this process happen? If we don’t understand how people learn, how can we have a positive impact on the quality of the information that we’re publishing online? How will we know how to best combine words, photos, illustrations, audio, video, simulation, animation, and/or interactivity to best get an idea across? Some feel that these considerations are only relevant to online learning and training resources. This is certainly not the case. Almost everything we consume on the Web has a learning curve associated with it whereby we gather, reinforce, or restructure our knowledge in order to make decisions related to our further consumption. This can happen before, during, or after the consumption itself.

• We learn about the car before we buy it.
• We learn how to be good at the game while playing it.
• We realize the value of a product or service after we’ve tested it.

Conveying ideas and making them memorable to people through an online resource is an art. There’s a lot to take into account in order to do a good job. Not only are there different types of learning, but there are different stages of learning. There are also many principles of human perception, motivation, and cognition to consider as well. These topics will be covered in detail in Chapters Two through Six.

01.01.03 We consume diversions such as entertainment to give our minds a break from the burnout that comes from thinking too much about one thing day in and day out.

This "one thing" tends to be our primary occupation. Diversion takes us away from worry and responsibility and lets us think freely without much concern as to consequence. We generally don’t have much at stake when we seek diversion. But who wants to spend time in boring, dulled-down diversions?

The answer is–not many of us, and there’s an important reason why. Things that are boring aren’t relaxing because paying attention becomes a struggle, and that’s hard work!

In light of this, the degree to which we’re drawn into and engrossed by our diversion experiences is a strong indicator of the value of the time spent engaged in those experiences. If we have trouble "getting into it," the diversion has not achieved its goal. Since the degree to which we’re consumed by our consumption of diversion is so important, Web enterprises that employ these diversions need to understand how, when, and why they should be provided.

This amounts to understanding how to anticipate the emotional state of a person at the time of interaction. Is that person worried, sad, happy, glad, etc.? In light of our insight into his or her state of mind, what can we do to benefit it?

01.01.04 We consume goods to meet a multitude of tangible and intangible needs.

This is the type of consumption that is easiest to understand because it’s…well…tangible. People want widgets so they interact with your online resource to buy them–or is it that they interact with your competitor’s online resource to buy them?

Salesmen say that people base their purchasing decisions on price, quality, or service. This is only partly true. In reality, people buy based on their perception of the price, quality, and/or service that they believe constitutes an overall better value proposition than that which is offered by a competitor. In light of this, it’s clear that as much thought needs to be put into the appropriate presentation of the price, quality, and service message as possible. This should be blatantly obvious to those with sales, marketing, or advertising backgrounds. In the future–if it’s not already–it really needs to be obvious to those involved in Web experience design as well.

01.01.05 We consume services to ease our burdens.

How we value services is different from how we value products in that there tends to be a greater degree to which we value the relationships that accompany the benefit that services provide. Because of this, a purchasing decision is based as much on the intangibles of factors such as personality, values, and integrity as it is on the more tangible aspects of the service. A person isn’t just purchasing a completed tax return, but the security, comfort, and flexibility of a reliable advisor who wants what’s best for him or her. A widget can’t do that. Only a person can.

When selling a service online, it’s essential that the intangibles be addressed. It’s often said, "People buy from people." This is true. What’s more, when given a choice, people will buy from people they like and believe will help them by making helpful recommendations. Web enterprises that sell services need to understand the cognitive and emotional triggers that cause people to put confidence in people and then design their presentations to incorporate these triggers. For an in-depth look at what these triggers are, read The Media Equation by Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass.

‘Users’ Versus People–Understanding What Motivates Online Behavior - Page 2
Train of Thoughts - Designing the Effective Web Experience
01.02 People Go Online for Social Reasons - Page 4