The subconscious mind of a web surfer - a three part series
These people look like they have it together...
This website looks awful.. this company must not know what they're doing...
You're not what I wanted!
Is this company in business still? It doesn't look like it...
Ooh, I am intrigued. Give me more!..
How in the world do I contact these people? They must not want to talk...
If you've ever watched yourself carefully while surfing websites (especially when you're looking for something), you'll notice how quickly you dismiss certain websites. While this may be a time saver for users, it may also be detrimental to website owners. Too often there are great companies and individuals with poorly designed websites. Even if you may be the greatest at what you do, people may easily dismiss you by your website. And to a certain extent rightfully so. We do this with people all the time. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they dress, the words they use, and by what you see when you enter their bedroom. Psychologist Samuel Gosling did a study to measure how well friends vs strangers know an individual. As it turns out, complete strangers were able to assess a person—their trustworthiness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness—better than friends, just by studying their rooms for 15 minutes (via Blink, pg 36).
The same is true for websites. People, within seconds, assess the value of a company or person and make decisions on whether or not they want to take further action, or go to another website. Over the coming weeks I will cover some basic things that people subconsciously pick up on while visiting websites:
- Week 1 - Design
- Week 2 - Up to date info & transparency
- Week 3 - Clarity & content
Do you ever notice anything specific about websites that either attract and intrigue you, or frustrate and turn you away?
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