Designs that impress the Board
If you’re looking for kudos and results then it’s not the glamourous pages on your site that need redesigning; it’s the hard working pages: forms, search results, and product pages.
Last year, a financial services client asked us to improve their online business. We redesigned two pages and boosted applications by over 80% – a big win for our client that earned him high praise from his board of directors.
The pages were a text-only product description and an application form – two of the least glamourous pages on the entire site. But they were doing the hard work of turning visitors into customers. Focusing on them is what delivers the numbers to the board.
Of course brand design matters. Crafting a great brand message takes a great amount of skill. Great brand design often works on an almost subliminal level (the swoosh on a Coke can echoing the shape of the classic glass bottle). It is about stepping back from the design and getting the big picture.
But designing an online form or a product description is a different kind of skill. It’s about immersing yourself in the minutiae of the users’ interactions and decisions, smoothing out all the kinks in the road, opening doors for the user to step through.
If you’re going to deliver the goods, you need to have skilled people working on those pages. It’s not the place for junior designers to cut their teeth, it’s an art that rewards patient attention.
In our time designing and testing those hard-working pages, we’ve come up with three golden rules: think like a user, simplify and collaborate.
Think like a user
TIP: Island Cruises Read our Island Cruises case study.Thinking like a user means breaking down the users’ decisions at every point in the page. For Island Cruises, we created a map of the decisions users have to make as they go through a complex booking process. This turned out to be very different from the process Island Cruises expected. Putting it on paper stopped us from designing for ourselves or for what was convenient for the call centre. Those new designs trebled Island Cruises’ sales.
Simplicity
Simplify – our second rule – means getting rid of clutter. For instance, we helped increase leads on Lexus’ site by simplifying the navigation – getting rid of layers of menus and putting simple calls to action in a single location on the screen.
Web pages get cluttered for the same reason that basements get cluttered – because designers think users ‘might need that link / picture / instruction one day’ and don’t have the heart to throw out junk. Having a map of how users really think gives us the confidence to throw away all that clutter and keep things simple.
Collaborate
The last rule, collaborate, is important because it’s through the iteration and scrutiny of workshops that a design gets tested and improved.
Of course your board may want to boost the brand. But you can build great brands on the back of a focus on simple design. In last years’ Superbrands survey of British consumers, the number one spot went to Google – a brand that focuses on delivering results rather than glossy appeal. If a brand is a promise of service and satisfaction, then it’s better to keep your promises than to look smooth.
So if you want to impress the board, focus on the places where promises are kept – the forms, search results and product descriptions – and you’ll be able to improve business and brand at the same time.
About the author
Giles has been making products more usable for over fifteen years. He was President of the UK Usability Professionals’ Association from 2003-2007 and speaks frequently on usability in the UK and overseas. He writes on usability for Revolution magazine and was one of the editors of the PAS 78 accessibility guide from the British Standards Institute. Email Giles, or call +44 (0)117 946 3930
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Great article!
Though I think you are missing one important point, when it comes to making “Designs that impress the Board”: Measure!
Designers aren’t used to numbers and measurement, most of them will even shy away when you mention stuff like that. But being able to show a board that “this design change will improve your bottom line with xx%” will give you the power to do pretty much anything you want.
You are obviously doing that yourself, since you can say that your redesign boosted applications by 80%. But being able to say that requires measurement, which is essential when it comes to dealing with boards. Even if you are working in the creative field.
That’s right – measuring is crucial in making sure you’ve hit your objectives.
You must create a search box to the blog.
Hi,
Just found your site very interesting. I’m an SEO and often have the problem where design companies just don’t seem to understand the difference between, generating sales and look and feel.
We find it very diffiult to find design companies in south africa who can find a good balance between the two.
Nice Article
Any chance you have some before and after shots of the pages in question Giles?
Great article Giles, as ever.
To be contrary though (again!) sometimes a little bit of “spit and polish” on one page does make a hell of a lot of difference too. Maybe in a different way.
Homepages, in particular, garner a lot of negative internal PR if it’s felt they do not look smart and in-keeping with what the organisation is trying to achieve. Plus, as they are incredibly visible to all and sundry, for better or for worse, a lack of attention could quickly get one into hot water.
But you’re right, when it comes to delivering the monthly report numbers, nothing works better than showing a design-driven increase in conversions.
Also I think a little of Steve Krug’s approach is useful – only change that which needs changing, and change as little as possible. The focus on getting quick and easy wins live and proving the difference certainly wins people over to do greater, more dramatic things.
The trick is to spin all of the plates simultaneously, without skipping a beat.
DJ