Business Tip – Don’t Make People Think
Don’t Make Me Think
One of the best books on website design and usability (making websites easy and pleasant for people to use) is called Don’t Make Me Think. It’s a classic, and everyone I know who is serious about web design is familiar with it. I even recommend it to customers who are interested – it’s an easy, practical book with common sense explanations and lots of examples.
The best websites will make it obvious to people browsing the web where to click, how to navigate and what they offer. These are the sites that are a pleasure to visit and that allow you to go deeper and deeper, but without overwhelming you at the beginning. They don’t make the user stop and think about what the site is trying to do, how to accomplish the user’s purpose, or what the choices are. They don’t make the user stop and read, but make good use of headings, bullets, clear buttons and visual distinctions.
Don’t Make Your Customers Think
Good design and making it easy doesn’t just apply to your website.
Does your sales pitch make it obvious to people what they’re getting and, even more important, why they care? Or do they have to wade through your sales pitch/marketing materials trying to figure out what the product/service does for them? The easier you make it for people to understand why it matters to them, the more likely you are to close the sale.
Does your customer support make it easy for people to figure out how to solve their problems?
Do your your production processes make it easy for customers to know what is happening when, and why?
SQL or MySQL or XML?
At Open Box, we do a lot of work with companies that are looking to increase efficiences, build their online presence, improve their reporting knowledge or build productivity systems. Our customers for the most part don’t want to know the technical details. Who cares if the database is SQL or MySql or Access or XML? Does it accomplish the business purpose it is meant to achieve? And does it do so in a cost-effective and easy-to-use way? If so, then pick whichever database is best for our purposes!
Do you talk with customers in internal jargon for your industry? Do they have to figure out what you mean, or are you making it easy for them?
The Pleasure Aspect
We all lots to think about & lots to figure out day to day. The more you can make doing business with you seamless & enjoyable & easy for your customers, the happier they will be. I suggest looking at all aspects of your business – maybe bring in someone who knows nothing about it & ask them to go through the buying process, and watch every place that they get stuck, aren’t sure what to do next, hesitate. ‘Don’t Make Me Think’ is not just great advice for web design – it’s great advice for business & process development.
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