Cover Story : How Engaging Is Your Website Design?

Take the test: best practices revealed

During the past two decades, the Web has grown from an interesting academic oddity to one of the most powerful platforms for commerce in any era. Through it all, marketers have been playing with the design of the basic website to come up with the ultimate digital sales tool.

Target Marketing checked in with three online marketing professionals who are tops in their field to find out what works—and what doesn't—when it comes to wooing the ever-elusive, and increasingly multi-tasked, Web cruiser.

Their insights form the basis for the best practices quiz shown below, which offers you the chance to see how your website design stacks up.

In addition to expert advice, you'll also find examples of best-of-breed Web design in each best practice area to study and pick up a few good ideas for adaptation or adoption.

The Questions
1. What is the maximum number of clicks until a visitor reaches a piece of information?
a. Two b. Three c. Four d. Five

2. What should you avoid placing in the right rail?
a. Navigation b. Search box c. Text modules d. E-newsletter sign-up form

3. How often should promotional content be tested?
a. Daily b. Weekly c. Monthly d. All of the above

4. The best time to ask buyers to register during the shopping process is?
a. Before they can place items in the cart b. At the start of checkout
c. Just before completion of the order d. After completion of the order

5. How fast should a page download?
a. Five seconds or less b. Ten seconds or less c. Thirty seconds or less  d. One minute or less

The Answers
1. What is the maximum number of clicks until a visitor reaches a piece of information?
Answer: b) Three

In general, website visitors should be able to find most information within three clicks, says Tom Goosmann, chief creative officer at digital direct marketing agency True North, based in New York and San Francisco. "I don't want to spend all my time hunting the site for information that may or may not be there," he says, noting the same is true for today's consumer and business professional.

Goosmann subscribes to the concept of "threes" for other aspects of Web design, too. "Whenever we build a site, True North applies what we call the 'three-thirty-three rule' to direct both our strategic thinking and creative work," he says. In three seconds, the site needs to connect viscerally with an arriving prospect, to intrigue them enough to stay put and not click away. In 30 seconds, the site needs to communicate the company's core message and make clear that its pages contain good content to explore. And in three minutes, the site needs to provide enough succinct, relevant information in an emotionally satisfying format that persuades the prospect to take the desired action.

"Sites built along these lines tell a story across time, unfolding in short, medium and long term to hold and direct a user's attention," Goosmann explains.

Cristin Siegel, director of user experience and research at interactive agency Designkitchen in Chicago, also recommends marketers consider adding filtering to their site navigations. The new trend enables visitors, for example, to drill down to a specific item or piece of content, based on variables they select.

As for pitfalls to avoid: Learn to live with the fact that you can't put everything on the homepage, Goosmann says. Instead, give obvious clues on how to find things. If you're sporting video, don't "force" users to view it; offer them an option to click and view. "Also be careful with use of flash animations that repeat when backing up to a homepage," Goosman adds. "Yes, it was beautiful and you paid dearly for it, but don't reload it every time I hit the back button. Again, annoying."

Siegel agrees: "In the end, site navigation is still about utility. I caution against getting too fancy. And remember, it's more about function than form."

2. What should you avoid placing in the right rail?
Answer: c) Text modules

Too many text modules in the right rail can be a visitor engagement landmine. Over the years, Web users have come to associate stacks of text modules on the right side of a page with advertising, Siegel says. If you're going to put text there, she explains, make sure it doesn't resemble advertising.

When evaluating page layout, Goosmann looks for "a central focus, or stage, to telegraph the site's primary message, top stories and key takeaways." At the same time, don't overload the page with information, and don't foist advertising on people, he says. "Reflect site hierarchy and emphasize primary actions."

Siegel agrees that the temptation to overstock a page with information and graphics needs to be quashed. Don't try to squeeze all your content above the fold, she adds, because "users understand there will be content beneath the fold."

Be sure to take into account new computer formats. Be ready to program for smartphones, Apple's iPad and other mobile devices, as well as for people who are immersed in social networking, Goosmann says.

One big risk marketers take, especially when resorting to templates, is the "sea of sameness," according to Goosmann. "There are plenty of template pushers that have reduced website design to a commodity, and promise a website in short order—or these days, a Facebook presence," Goosmann says. "Put all your competitors' sites up against each other and look for what will differentiate your site from the rest."

3. How often should promotional content be tested?
Answer: d) All of the above

The answer here was obvious, but the topic merits reinforcement if for no other reason than to reemphasize that content and offers should never be updated without testing.

"A lot of marketers are inclined to periodically refresh their promotional content, which is fine as long as you test new vs. old to ensure you're making things better, not worse," says Eric J. Hansen, founder and CEO of Boston-based SiteSpect, a provider of website testing solutions. "If your conversion rate remains high over time, then there's probably little reason to update your offers just for the sake of updating them. Whatever you do, make sure to properly track conversion rates to see how performance trends currently vs. last week, last month, last year, etc."

Changes in consumer trends and preferences, current events, competitive offers, and other factors all contribute to the fading efficacy of promotional content, Hansen notes. "Left on its own, the performance for most types of promotional content will eventually erode," he adds.

For testing, A/B and multivariate approaches are the most graspable, actionable ways to try new versions of promotional content and gauge how effective they are at persuading users to take action. While A/B testing pits two or more wholly different versions of offers against each other, multivariate testing allows you to test many combinations of small changes at the same time.

4. The best time to ask buyers to register during the shopping process is?
Answer: c) Just before completion of the order

Actually, requiring shoppers to register at all is one of Siegel's pet peeves, and especially when it's early on in the shopping process. If you must require shopper registration, she says, do so just before completion of the order when it's the least obtrusive and likely to cause shoppers to bail.

For many people, the Amazon.com shopping cart is the industry standard, including Siegel. The cart is known for clearly delineating the steps needed to complete checkout better than virtually any other—a concept that also applies to the purchasing and sign-up processes in travel, insurance, financial services and other sectors. Siegel also appreciates the fact that the cart "remembers" your multiple shipping addresses and credit card number from visit to visit.

"You also want a shopping cart that allows you to enter and see credit for coupon codes early on, and allows editing of a purchase right from a cart—say changing the number of widgets you're ordering from two to three," Siegel says.

"Clear inventory availability, shipping options and in-home dates" are also de rigueur, Goosmann adds. "Support me in my purchase and build a good relationship. Offer me every option of ongoing communication with you—not simply e-mails, but social network destinations as well. Seek feedback and listen to it."

5. How fast should a page download?
Answer: a) Five seconds or less

Siegel thinks a five-second download time works; whereas, Goosmann does not see download time as an issue. "Lessons learned from designing websites for dial-up customers are internalized for ease of use, and should be adequate for a 'front-end' solution," he says.

Most importantly, "know who your users are," Siegel adds. If you have an Apple-related site, for example, you'll probably be more concerned about accommodating users of mobile devices than what your download time is, she explains.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan, N.Y. He can be reached at (646) 233-4089 or joe@joedysart.com, or via his website, www.joedysart.com.

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