Visual Value

Monday, September 10, 2007

Web sites are many things to many different users, but a few things are clear – a Web site is not the primary place to promote your brand or broadcast your mission statement.

Not that those things don’t have a place on your Web site, but those should not be – and can not be – the primary focus of a successful site, especially if the site is designed to be a revenue generator for a company.

Now, before your marketing director has a cow, let’s talk about what should be on your site, and how the site can support a company’s sales and marketing efforts.

The top priority for any Web site is to provide the straightest line between the information available and what the visitor is looking for. If you sell shoes, and the visitor to your site wants a pair of men’s Nike brand sneakers in a size 10, then your home page must allow that visitor to find that particular shoe in the fewest number of clicks possible.

Clicking through a video of a football player – or, worse, having to wait for the video to end -- only slows down the user. In fact, that is what happens at www.nike.com.

The most important page on any Web site is the home page – the first page a user finds when he types in a company’s Web site. Space on that home page is, obviously, the most valuable. It is the company’s best, and only, chance to capture a user’s attention, and keep it long enough to allow the user to find the information he is looking for.

With that in mind, how many users come to a site looking for a company’s brand or mission statement?  Few, if any. So that’s why those types of messages are given support roles. They can be found on the site, but they are not given primary roles.

So what should be promoted on that prime real estate that is your company’s home page? It’s something we call “Visual Value” – and if not used properly, it will make or break the success of a site.

“Visual Value” is a process of bringing to the front of a Web the elements that you feel are the most important.

Decades before we had Web sites, we had department stores, such as Macy’s and Lazarus. And to get shoppers into the store, they promoted their goods in store windows. Not all of their goods, of course, but just enough to entice a passer-by to come into the store and browse all of the offerings.

A store window

   
The store window was designed to stop you in your tracks, create a good impression and pique your interest enough to come into the store. Once inside, the store is laid out in a fashion that allows you to find what you are looking for. Looking for men’s jeans? Finding the men’s section should only take a minute or two. Same with women’s or kids clothes. No matter the needs of the shopper, the path is quick, easy and clear.

A Web site should do the exact same thing, by assigning “visual value” to the elements that will bring an user into the “store” and then delivering the “goods” in a matter of a click or two.

Another way to look at the home page is to relate it to meeting someone for the first time. You look a stranger in the eye, greet her with a handshake and exchange a polite hello. And then you walk away with an impression of that person – good, bad or indifferent. Fair or unfair. In just a second or two, you have an impression that will last.

Same with a Web site. The first impression will last with the user. The only difference is, there won’t be a second meeting if the impression is negative.

The fastest way to create a negative impression is to burden a user with too much to read. Visitors to a site don’t have time – or the desire – to read more than a few words until they find exactly what they are looking for. So the most important aspect of “visual value” is the word “visual.” Seeing is always believing, but not more so that online.

The Web is 100 percent visual. With very few exceptions, any other elements – video or audio – will only prevent a user from finding the information he is looking for.

If a picture is not only worth 1,000 words, it’s better than 50 words. Or 25. Or 15.

Images are also the best way to make a good first impression with a user – and make it in the fastest way possible.  So when you find the four or five things that represent the information visitors to your Web site are most likely interested in, the best way to present that information is visually.

No matter the reason for the visit, the compelling image will catch you attention, and then a clear menu of options provides a path to what you are looking for.

The path would not have been as quick, though, if that image would have been a slow-loading video or audio. Only a picture will catch a person’s immediate attention. And failure to do so will lead to a lost customer.

The deeper one goes into a Web site, the more likely that visitor is to take time to read a paragraph or two. People don’t read Web sites. They look for information. Until, of course, they find that information. And then they will read – but not before.

Immediate feedback

And, the Web provides a tangible platform for users to take action.

One of the hidden beauties of the Web is that is tells us almost immediately how effective other, more traditional advertising campaigns are working.

The “call to action” for many advertising campaigns is to visit a Web site. So, if a company runs a large advertising campaign, a Web site will you immediately the effectiveness of the site. Web sites are measurable, tangible and the best way to gauge marketing efforts.

If the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Bureau runs a $5 million advertising campaign in USA Today and the New York Times, it will know immediately whether the campaign was effective. If traffic to the site increases – and thus bookings through the Web site increase – then the campaign was a success.

If the campaign is up and running for a week or two and traffic to the site is stagnant, then changes need to be made to the campaign. Immediately.

Along the same lines, if traffic to the Web site increases dramatically, but sales on the site do not increase, then the Web site probably needs an update. The “visual value” of certain elements is not registering with the user, and changes can be made swiftly.

And, how do you know what to change? The Web site will tell you – truthfully.

Want to know which pages visitors are looking at, the Web site will tell you. If users are going to a page touting “special packages” on the site, but aren’t buying the packages, chances are they aren’t a very good deal. If shows are getting a lot of traffic, but those aren’t highlight on the home page, then you can adjust and give the user what he is looking for.

Three things a home page will do:

Create an impression: when a user comes to your site, you must impress – and impress quickly

Establish your position: you are in business, literally or figuratively, for a very specific reason; make sure that comes across loud and clear

Allow users to identify themselves: users visit a site for many different reasons, so design your site to allow all visitors to find what they are looking for in the shortest period of time