Controlling his slideshow with an iPhone, Ian Hamilton of ripe advised a packed room of marketers in best practices for web design at AMADC’s recent “How To” Series event hosted at restaurant Trattoria Nicola’s in Georgetown. Hamilton opened his presentation by explaining that most people do not aimlessly search online, but instead come to the web looking for very specific information. Many websites today are not successful because organizations fail to think critically about user goals when designing their presence online. A key takeaway from the event was ripe’s advice to “Help your users achieve their goals, even at the expense of your own.”
Controlling his slideshow with an iPhone, Ian Hamilton of ripe advised a packed room of marketers in best practices for web design at AMADC’s recent “How To” Series event hosted at restaurant Trattoria Nicola’s in Georgetown. Hamilton opened his presentation by explaining that most people do not aimlessly search online, but instead come to the web looking for very specific information. Many websites today are not successful because organizations fail to think critically about user goals when designing their presence online. A key takeaway from the event was ripe’s advice to “Help your users achieve their goals, even at the expense of your own.”
Controlling his slideshow with an iPhone, Ian Hamilton of ripe advised a packed room of marketers in best practices for web design at AMADC’s recent “How To” Series event hosted at restaurant Trattoria Nicola’s in Georgetown. Hamilton opened his presentation by explaining that most people do not aimlessly search online, but instead come to the web looking for very specific information. Many websites today are not successful because organizations fail to think critically about user goals when designing their presence online. A key takeaway from the event was ripe’s advice to “Help your users achieve their goals, even at the expense of your own.”
Hamilton provided a number of examples of websites that over-deliver on interactive features such as flash and video, but fail to provide even the most basic contact information required by potential customers. He also shared his experience searching Comcast’s website for internet services, which left him feeling “excessively marketed to” but still lacking the answers he had set out to find. In contrast, as another example, Verizon’s site provided the data he needed up front, while incorporating relevant marketing pitches at more appropriate times to inform his decisions.
In today’s era of smartphones and tablets, Hamilton explained that in some cases it can be more beneficial to create a “bare bones” website that loads with the quickest speed. In addition, he advised marketers against creating graphical icons on the site that could be mistaken for ads, since they will likely be ignored.>
At the conclusion of the program, every attendee was provided with a QR code linking them to ripe’s suggested resources to help marketers ensure success. In addition, ripe offered everyone in the room a free 15 minute website audit in which the ripe team will share their expertise on ways to improve the user experience.
With a lively question and answer period that ran for more than thirty minutes, this “How To” Series event was an overwhelming success. We look forward to seeing everyone again at the next event at Trattoria Nicola’s!
Written by Rebecca Geraghty