Tim Almond

If you are going to build a website, here’s some thoughts…

1) Don’t make me give you anything you don’t need to know. I recently visited a site asking me "where did you hear about us" which I ignored. But the site insisted I had to input it and annoyed me. Do you want my money or not? For me to buy something, you don’t need to know. So, ask if you like, but don’t insisted on it.

2) Log me in with an email. It’s unique, and means you don’t need to hold two things. I don’t need to remember hundreds of user IDs in half a dozen different formats. Email means it’s simple to reset my password too.

3) Guide me where I want to go. The National Rail website had a dozen options, all in the same type and size. Finding "train times", which I guess was a common option, wasn’t easy. Thankfully, they’ve now changed this and you go straight to times. Well done.

4) Work with my browser. I’ve had sites telling me that their site is better in Internet Explorer, or even throw me out for using Firefox. It’s something around 10% of the market. Mobile browsers are taking off and are going to grow. People may not switch browsers just to work with your site. They might just go elsewhere instead.

5) Work with the national identity. If a customer has told you they are from the UK, why are you presenting dates as mm/dd/yyyy to them?

6) Don’t advertise to me. It always seems unprofessional to me to visit a site that’s a commerce site, which also has what are obviously commission-based ads. A content-based site might need them to survive, but I’ve come to a commercial site to buy. It also seems to me like a good way to get your customers off their original intention to buy something with you, and buy something elsewhere.

7) Don’t make me log in twice. If you’ve got an arrangement with a company to provide a service, integrate it. You’ve sent me an email saying that you are now offering a service "in association with…" I don’t want another ID from you to use it.

Tags: Business //