This article seems to have got me thinking. It has brought forth a sleeping thought and although it isn’t too comprehensive … it gives a fair idea about what lines to think along …
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Derek Pennycuff
For me, personally, the last thing I want from a site is a bunch of marketing fluff about how great their service or product is, especially if it stands between me and the action I’m trying to make. If I’m on the fence, then fine, give me your whole spiel. But if I show up credit card in hand, ready to purchase, just get the hell out of my way.
Back end incentives can also do this. I don’t want up selling, I don’t want special offers from your strategic business partners, I don’t want to hear about your customer loyalty program, I just want my order confirmation number and a tracking number.
It boils down to using smart design to assist the user as unobtrusively as possible. I think at the heart that’s what this article is suggesting.
However, if some of the marketing types I’ve dealt with in the past caught me reading this, they’d latch on to some of the language as an excuse to mislead and manipulate site visitors into clicking that buy button rather than assisting them in making an informed decision to do so. In that situation, the percentage of visitors who begin the check out process would likely go up. However, the percentage of abandoned shopping carts would likely to up as well, removing all possible gains. And since it’s a problem on the web site, who gets the blame, the marketing team or the web team?
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John Smith
As well as watching friction, it also helps to keep an eye on the amount of commitment required from the user; would you talk about marriage on a first date? Half far are you expected to go? Although every site is different a useful template to keep to the rule of physiological thirds.
Your output:
Graphic
A couple of brief statements
Details (if you looking for input try to incorporate this into you first input page).
Your input:
Never more than 3 pages with the amount of input increasing by about a third:
Percentage questions:- 25%, 33%, 42%.
Input type:- Tick boxes, drop downs, typing.
Personal data:- general, preferences, personal details.
If it looks like you need a fourth page break it down into a two stage process sign up (confirmation email and then log in) than a couple of more questions when they log in.
If you can target at getting the user to the end of page two, odds are they will feel a sense of obligation to third.
One thing I find nice about the article is I’ve never heard the idea of kinetic energy during web surfing. I suppose I would generally use terms like flow and momentum, but this idea is definetly going to be added to my list of topics to bring up with clients.
It’s unfair that people are calling this a plug for the author’s link. If they write an article about a design idea, they too can use their project as an example.
If Smartbrief.com is really a partner, you should talk to them about redoing their site. They could really use some help going from so graphic heavy to something more usable.
I’d just like to express my enthusiasm for ALA moving into topics outside “hardcore” design, like marketing. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the best article for it.
I was confused by the abstractness, and the need for a complicated metaphor like a “flywheel” when “a good push” would have been good enough, but there were some good ideas in there and it left me thinking.
I think it would have played much better to the ALA audience if the author didn’t include marketing language like “conversion rates” and “incentives”, and more solid examples would have moved it into the real world instead of an imaginary abstract blur of cars, flywheels, pathways, and funnels.
While I understand the analogy being made, I’d argue that the term ‘energy’ is not accurate. A good website doesn’t transfer energy to the user, it empowers a user with choice and control. The term ‘friction’ is a good one, however “˜reducing obstacles’ more accurately describes the goal of effective web design and usability. I see no point in making up new terms, as they merely muddy the waters and dilute understanding.
For those looking for concrete examples of reducing “friction”, here’s but one:
Please don’t make me register before I can make a purchase. Some of us detest dealing with passwords, etc. I’ve abandoned more than one cart myself, just because I didn’t want to go through the registration process.
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Weixi Yen
Basically, this article said to build your page to be conductive to selling a single item and make checkout pages shorter. In return, conversion rates will be better. Also, add incentives or free giveaways to users to increase registrations.
If the kinetic energy analogy and new flywheel buzzword were not used, this article would probably not be accepted by ALA standards. It’s just content about things that are pretty obvious. Show us something we don’t know, and if you want to show us something we already know, go into it in detail as we’ve never gone before.
Copy & paste the code below to embed this comment.
Weixi Yen
Basically, this article said to build your page to be conductive to selling a single item and make checkout pages shorter. In return, conversion rates will be better. Also, add incentives or free giveaways to users to increase registrations.
If the kinetic energy analogy and new flywheel buzzword were not used, this article would probably not be accepted by ALA standards. It’s just content about things that are pretty obvious. Show us something we don’t know, and if you want to show us something we already know, go into it in detail as we’ve never gone before.
32 Reader Comments
Back to the ArticleHarshit Sekhon
This article seems to have got me thinking. It has brought forth a sleeping thought and although it isn’t too comprehensive … it gives a fair idea about what lines to think along …
Derek Pennycuff
For me, personally, the last thing I want from a site is a bunch of marketing fluff about how great their service or product is, especially if it stands between me and the action I’m trying to make. If I’m on the fence, then fine, give me your whole spiel. But if I show up credit card in hand, ready to purchase, just get the hell out of my way.
Back end incentives can also do this. I don’t want up selling, I don’t want special offers from your strategic business partners, I don’t want to hear about your customer loyalty program, I just want my order confirmation number and a tracking number.
It boils down to using smart design to assist the user as unobtrusively as possible. I think at the heart that’s what this article is suggesting.
However, if some of the marketing types I’ve dealt with in the past caught me reading this, they’d latch on to some of the language as an excuse to mislead and manipulate site visitors into clicking that buy button rather than assisting them in making an informed decision to do so. In that situation, the percentage of visitors who begin the check out process would likely go up. However, the percentage of abandoned shopping carts would likely to up as well, removing all possible gains. And since it’s a problem on the web site, who gets the blame, the marketing team or the web team?
John Smith
As well as watching friction, it also helps to keep an eye on the amount of commitment required from the user; would you talk about marriage on a first date? Half far are you expected to go? Although every site is different a useful template to keep to the rule of physiological thirds.
Your output:
Graphic
A couple of brief statements
Details (if you looking for input try to incorporate this into you first input page).
Your input:
Never more than 3 pages with the amount of input increasing by about a third:
Percentage questions:- 25%, 33%, 42%.
Input type:- Tick boxes, drop downs, typing.
Personal data:- general, preferences, personal details.
If it looks like you need a fourth page break it down into a two stage process sign up (confirmation email and then log in) than a couple of more questions when they log in.
If you can target at getting the user to the end of page two, odds are they will feel a sense of obligation to third.
bugmenot bugmenot
Where are techniques? Where are tips?
I’ve looked at the ad… um… example site, but I don’t see how their signup is revolutionary. Aren’t they just getting 500% more ALA readers signing up?
kris meister
One thing I find nice about the article is I’ve never heard the idea of kinetic energy during web surfing. I suppose I would generally use terms like flow and momentum, but this idea is definetly going to be added to my list of topics to bring up with clients.
It’s unfair that people are calling this a plug for the author’s link. If they write an article about a design idea, they too can use their project as an example.
mike white
If Smartbrief.com is really a partner, you should talk to them about redoing their site. They could really use some help going from so graphic heavy to something more usable.
michael moncur
I’d just like to express my enthusiasm for ALA moving into topics outside “hardcore” design, like marketing. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the best article for it.
I was confused by the abstractness, and the need for a complicated metaphor like a “flywheel” when “a good push” would have been good enough, but there were some good ideas in there and it left me thinking.
I think it would have played much better to the ALA audience if the author didn’t include marketing language like “conversion rates” and “incentives”, and more solid examples would have moved it into the real world instead of an imaginary abstract blur of cars, flywheels, pathways, and funnels.
Stuart Matthews
While I understand the analogy being made, I’d argue that the term ‘energy’ is not accurate. A good website doesn’t transfer energy to the user, it empowers a user with choice and control. The term ‘friction’ is a good one, however “˜reducing obstacles’ more accurately describes the goal of effective web design and usability. I see no point in making up new terms, as they merely muddy the waters and dilute understanding.
Michael Straker
For those looking for concrete examples of reducing “friction”, here’s but one:
Please don’t make me register before I can make a purchase. Some of us detest dealing with passwords, etc. I’ve abandoned more than one cart myself, just because I didn’t want to go through the registration process.
Weixi Yen
Basically, this article said to build your page to be conductive to selling a single item and make checkout pages shorter. In return, conversion rates will be better. Also, add incentives or free giveaways to users to increase registrations.
If the kinetic energy analogy and new flywheel buzzword were not used, this article would probably not be accepted by ALA standards. It’s just content about things that are pretty obvious. Show us something we don’t know, and if you want to show us something we already know, go into it in detail as we’ve never gone before.
Weixi Yen
Basically, this article said to build your page to be conductive to selling a single item and make checkout pages shorter. In return, conversion rates will be better. Also, add incentives or free giveaways to users to increase registrations.
If the kinetic energy analogy and new flywheel buzzword were not used, this article would probably not be accepted by ALA standards. It’s just content about things that are pretty obvious. Show us something we don’t know, and if you want to show us something we already know, go into it in detail as we’ve never gone before.
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