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Corporate America is still getting its head around Return on Exposure without collecting personal contact information. By my own admission, the metric for a successful web-based initiative in my own organization is still based on the number of leads collected and generated. However, I'm persisting in making the case that other content should be "totally free" such as podcasts and hopefully one day eBooks. My organization's thought leadership and influence can't propogate freely if the audience perceives there are "strings attached."
BTW, well played in using the "Back of The Napkin" inspired visuals.
That snapshot has lots of forms about personal information, but if it's "all about usability" and the other successful snapshots are extremely simple, and the third is not, and this blog is not, well... :)
For example, I am a researcher, and I often use Google to (try and) find the oldest reference for various concepts. I am often constantly frustrated by Google's overly simplistic interface, and my by complete inability to use that interface to instruct Google as to what I need.
Google has recently started exposing more advanced search options, but not only is it often very difficult to find those options, they don't even always do what you want. For example, you can now restrict your searches to particular date ranges. But within that date range, things are still sorted by most-recent, rather than least-recent. So unless you already know when the earliest version of a particular idea appears, the only way to get an answer to my query is to do something like this:
(1) Set date range to y=2008
(2) Restrict the range from Jan 1 of year "y" to Dec. 31st of year "y".
(3) Run the query.
(4) Look at the top 100 results, to make sure I've found almost everything
(5) Subtract 1 from y, and goto (2)
I usually end up having to comb through 2000 or so results.. 100 result per year, going back 20 years.
It's painful, awkward, and extremely unusable. All because of the focus on "simplicity". It wastes my time.
I would much rather have the "Your Company's App", esp. if it gave me the option to do a reverse chronological sort, because it would be a lot easier to use.
In fact, they already do this, but they just don't provide the options you want. If they did provide the options you want in the Advanced Search area, would you be happy?
So what I want from Google is probably never going to happen.
As marketers, we should look at our own company's info requests and adjust accordingly. If you hate filling out a billion little boxes simply to get a little info, what are the odds that your customers do too? We shouldn't subject our customers to things we ourselves hate doing!
Tessa Carroll
VBP OutSourcing
www.blogs.vbpoutsourcing.com
Sure, if the customer's only goal is to get a LITTLE info, then yes, keep the interface nice and simple.
But as I said above, the opposite also hold true: If you the customer are trying to get a LOT of info, or really important info, or really detailed info, or compare and contrast large sets of complicated info, then a "one button" interface actually works against you, and makes your task even more difficult than it otherwise would have been. In those latter situations, you the customer actually want a billion little boxes, so that you can be very specific on what it is you need.
One really has to understand the end goal, here. "Make it simple" is but one factor, and not always the most important factor. Not everything needs or should turn into this Apple/Google/McDonalds interface, where customer interaction is nothing more than choosing Happy Meal #1, #2, or #3. That doesn't always work.
"My name is ___ but I'd like my username to be ___" type stuff.
My profile link is to a post I wrote called "the best signup on a website ever" - though I do accept Usability might be a factor.
PS I hate Disqus it hijacks our comments back to their profile pages... Just sayin'.
This so reminds me of the crazy "Guest Cards" that the apartment industry just will not let go of. We ask a zillion questions, then ask the same questions when we finally see the prospect. Pretty silly,
BR Joakim
The same simplicity that is so effective with interface design is as effective with presentation design. If more people designd their presentations with this in mind, as opposed to dumping mounds of information on each slide, their ideas would stick instead of bore.
(Don't need to say more... less is more)
Santiago
www.onlinecouples.com
over 250 million people visit the homepage of Yahoo every day.
i can't paste the url here.. just search 'macbook wheel' in YouTube.
The fact is that any API is as complex as it needs to be, the moment a strange company want a lot of information i know that things are to complex for me.
I remember one time a huge form poped up, i wrote my phone number and something like 'I'm not paid to fill in your CRM'
i yearn for the simplicity of my old Ford (UK) Orion... sigh*
But not always, and as much of a fan I am of both of them, they both do plenty wrong. The difference is that they have both learned how to build world-class brands. That comes from product, sure, but it also comes from listening to consumers, engaging them, and clearly communicating value. Most companies fail at this at least as violently as they fail at making elegantly design products, and they both hurt.
We're a lot more forgiving of Google's 40-odd products that don't really work because we believe in the brand.
regards
Arguelles
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