The Reasons Why Your Website Fails, Same Reasons Why Business Fails?
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Thu, Mar 24, 2011
At SiliconCloud we take what works offline and take it online, and this month Harvard Business Review has a great article on “Why Most Product Launches Fail”. In the article they go through the five causes of flops and how to avoid them. The flaw that stuck out the most was Flaw 4: “The Product defines a new category and requires substantial consumer education – but doesn’t get it.” And the lesson to learn from this is: “If consumers can’t quick grasp how to use your product, it’s toast”. The same goes for your website: if people cannot understand what you do or where the value of your product is then you are also toast.
The example they gave is quite funny. In 2004 P&G came to the market with a new air freshener that looked like a CD player but emitted scents. But they did not stop there. They went on to name the “disks” with terms like “Relaxing in the hammock” and then used singer Shania Twain to promote their products. You can see where the confusion came from with people thinking that that the device involved both music and scents. Hence the product ScentStories failed.
When you are designing your website, do not forget the 5 second rule. If a visitor to your landing page can’t figure out what you’re offering during the first 5 seconds, you’ve probably lost them. There’s simply too much for them to do online these days.
My advice is to apply these criteria to your website and see how you get on:
- What is it about? How obvious is the core brand message?
- Do I care? Am I interested? Does it speak to me?
- Is it trustworthy? Does the design make me feel comfortable? Do they appear professional?
- How do I participate? What am I supposed to do first? Is the primary call to action presented in a clear manner?
- Is it newsworthy? Given today’s social web economy, how likely am I to want to share my experience? Is this facilitated in any way?
My last piece of advice is hearing opinions can be painful – but not as painful as launching a website that is not right for the market and fails....