Web Design Development Articles

Imagine taking a taxi ride where the driver dropped you off at the wrong location. Would you trust that driver to take you to another location? Probably not. You’d most likely look for another taxi. One with a driver that promised to take you where you wanted to go.

When people click a link, to or on your website, it’s a lot like jumping into a taxi. They’re trusting you to take them where they’ve agreed to go. And when they end up in a strange location, it’s very likely they’ll take their business elsewhere.

This is why it’s very important to make sure that, as the driver, you’ve carefully planned the course. Because even the tiniest detour from the path your customer expects can ruin the trust you’re hoping to build.

So what’s a detour? And how does it cripple online trust and sales?

The web is task driven. Plain and simple. So when your customer clicks on a link for something, it needs to take them directly to what they’d expect. If it doesn’t you’ve created a detour.

These detours start to put unnecessary stress on your customer. Each time they click to a new page they immediately look for confirmation they’re in the right place. If they don’t get that confirmation, panic sets in. Just like when the crazy taxi driver takes a turn you’re not familiar with.

With each wrong turn the customer loses confidence in you and their trust meter plummets. And as the trust meter plummets so do the chances of the customer doing business with you.

How do you avoid this happening?

Just make sure your links take the customer on the ride they’ve agreed to. Let the customer complete their desired tasks. If the path doesn’t make sense or if your customer has to take extra steps to achieve their goal, you run the risk of losing them altogether.

Let’s take an example:

Domino’s Pizza. Currently, they’re promoting their new oven baked sandwiches. The online ads for oven baked sandwiches feature the scrumptious looking sandwiches and a button to “order online now.” But what happens when you click?

You’re thinking, “MMM…Oven baked sandwiches!” But when you get to the landing page order form. There’s no mention of sandwiches. There’s something about pizza. But I’m not looking for pizza. Now I’m starting to get grumpy. But I continue on because those sandwiches can’t be too far away. Or can they?

The next screen brings me to a page to build my pizza. Pizza! Where the heck are my oven baked sandwiches? That’s the reason I clicked on the ad in the first place. Now I’ve got to take the time to search for what I’m actually looking for. OR I could just forget it. Leftover chinese food doesn’t sound too bad.

How could Domino’s have gotten the sale?

Simple. Give the customer what they want. Don’t muddy things up with what you want me to buy. Let the customer get what they want first. Then an up-sell to pizza is appropriate.

The easier you make it for the customer to get what they want, the easier it is to get them to do what you want. Which is buy your product or service.

But aren’t customers smart enough to figure it out?

Yes, most times they are. But it isn’t a question of smarts. It’s a question of time. By making the customer struggle to find what they want, you’re sending the message that you don’t care about their time. Don’t squander people’s time by making them think about it.

Summary:

Make sure links and process take your customers where they expect to go. Don’t make customers jump through hoops and do things they shouldn’t need to do.

Action plan:

Have some people click through your site and point out areas where they get sent on a detour. Then find a taxi driver that really knows how to get your customers around.