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What are people looking for in a web site?
Overview
This survey was given to help inform me as to what my clients and perspective clients valued in an agency and in an agencies web site. The results of this survey guided the design of my web site (www.designintheory.com).
Method
I interviewed 15 owners of small businesses and people whom work in the marketing field. The participants were asked a number of questions and to rate them 1-5 with 5 being the most important. I chose this interview/survey method because it's inexpensive, fast, easy and a fairly accurate way of gathering information.
1.0 Agency Related Questions
Question Asked: To you when looking for a web agency, which is the most important quality? Rank 1-5 with 5 being the highest priority
| Topic | Rating |
|---|---|
| Portfolio (creative design) | 66 |
| Referral from friend or business partner | 66 |
| Past experience | 60 |
| Cost | 60 |
| Amount of services offered | 45 |
| Past client names (recognizable) | 33 | Office location | 24 |
Cost: In a study performed by NYU the following was found
Customers do not regard transaction costs as seriously for high involvement products because the cost itself may not be as important as the quality or their personal preferences. For lower involvement products cost was found to be much more important since the cost might be the single most important factor in this type of purchase.
Internet business that focus on high involvement products should focus on trust in order to increase loyalty because transaction cost do not have as large of an effect. Internet businesses focusing on low involvement products should focus on trust and transaction cost because both values are important. When selling low involvement products it's important that there are shared values between the customers.
2.0 Web Site Related Questions
Question Asked: To you what would be the most important qualities when reviewing an agencies web site? Rank 1-5 with 5 being the highest priority
| Topic | Rating |
|---|---|
| Trustworthiness* | 72 |
| Ease of use or usability | 69 |
| Quality of information | 69 |
| Simple Clean Design | 66 |
| Use of latest technologies (flash, etc) | 51 |
| Amount of information | 45 | Team bios | 30 |
Trustworthiness: As I expected, most people wanted to treat this as an open ended question, below are some of the comments.
- Client lists, referrals, references, philosophy and types of clients are important to help build trust
- Design really matters
- Client lists are important for building trust and testimonials
- Portfolio, its important to see past work
- I think that the design means a lot
According to the Association of Computer Machinery trust has been regarded as one of the most important variables in the relations between human and computers. Understanding how trust is established and maintained is critical to a web sites success.
3.0 Your Web Site
Question Asked: To you and your company what is the most important when building a web site? Rank 1-5 with 5 being the highest priority
| Topic | Rating |
|---|---|
| Usability | 72 |
| Content quality and information | 69 |
| Creative design | 66 |
| Search engine optimization | 54 |
| Flash design | 54 |
Usability and Navigation: Does your site provide an efficient and simple navigational experience? Such glitches as broken links and interface inconsistencies can have a large effect on a web sites credibility.
A well built navigation and architectural schema should make the users feel as if they are in control, allowing them to easily retrieve the information they are seeking. The user should always know where they are within a web site and they should be able to predict the results of a given interaction. Similar functions should be grouped together and important information should always be visible.
General Comments
A few general Comments made throughout and at the end of the interview
- Name, photo and bio - makes it easier to pick up the phone and call
- Explain your process if it is a good thing. How you do business that's what most important to me
- I like to get a feel for the capabilities and style
- Client list is most important in building trust
- Quality of the information is much more important than the quantity
- The track record of the clients is not important what's important is the quality of the work
- It's important to have a good overview with out having to go through the entire site. Get to the point
- The home page should get the person interested
- I am kind of over the flash stuff. It use to be pretty cool but now I want to just get to the information