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First impressions:
How to increase the effectiveness of a web site
By Paul Hudson and Fiona
Mathieson
 First
impressions count. First impressions give consumers
their first clear idea about what a company is like:
are they professional? amateurs? modern? traditional?
trustworthy? And so on. And the company Web site must
reflect this 24 hours a day. Is visual attractiveness
therefore the most important aspect of web site design?
So not surprisingly, the subject of Web design –
both its expectation and the actual perception –
has been a very serious issue for companies seeking
a presence online. But despite the wealth of design
opportunities available, for nearly all the websites
Teleconomy has researched, customer’s expectations
of the visual attractiveness prove quite low. On a ratings
scale of 1 to 9, customer expectations of visual attractiveness
have an average rating of 5.73, the least important
attribute measured.
Research has aided us in identifying several factors
that contribute to the site appearing ‘visually
attractive’ to the user. The screen must appear
to be 'uncluttered', with the information presented
in an ordered format, perhaps separated by lines or
boxes, and the appearance should remain constant throughout.The
first impression is also improved if the design (colour
etc.) supports any pre-existing brand image. This also
provides first time visitors with a sense of familiarity.
The overall visual style acts as an indicator and creates
the perception of how quick and easy the site would
be to navigate to complete their intended purpose, and
its importance decreases with the number of return visits.
And once an individual begins to carry out their task
within a site they are then concerned less with the
perception of easy navigation, and more with the actual
ease of navigation.
Teleconomy research shows that the ease of navigation
is at least 40% more important to users than the site’s
visual attractiveness. Unfortunately, however, all sites
we have measured fall short of expectations for speed
and ease, with scores falling by 18% once people browse
the site. And the websites traditionally regarded as
defining best practice are not necessarily the most
appealing to look at.
In order to improve the user experience, it is essential
to understand user behaviours more fundamentally. This
can be done by understanding the different needs and
purposes for visiting a website – and these are
more varied than the reasons for walking into a physical
shop. People could be doing background research on prices,
looking for a speedy shopping solution for an item they
know about, seeking more information about the company,
logging into a private zone of the site, and so on.
For example, our survey of financial websites found
that existing customers were keen to service their account
and viewed advertising for unrelated products and services
as an irritating distraction. First-time users, on the
other hand were more interested in the advertising for
general information gathering.
The key to improving the experience and satisfaction
with a web site is less about it being visually attractive,
and more about conceptually understanding the different
needs and purposes of the user groups, responding to
this by adjusting the layout and design of the site
accordingly.
Teleconomy have developed a very sophisticated and
entirely customer focused web measurement and performance
benchmarking methodology for a number of sectors. For
more information contact paul.hudson@teleconomy.com |
