The Website Experience Nexus

Often in the creation of websites there is a tension between the tasks visitors want to accomplish and the messages companies want to market or the information they want to gain. With the exception of some social networking or entertainment sites, people expect a certain level of anonymity, and want to remain in control of the interaction. If a customer comes to your site to perform a particular task, either in a browsing or goal-directed manner, yet is greeted with a sales pitch, fluffy marketing language, cryptic or misleading labeled links (or worse, pop-up ads and interstitials) they are presented with barriers to task completion, which leads ultimately to anxiety and frustration.

The problem however, is not the marketing. People want to be engaged with the products they use, feel satisfied that they are accomplishing what they set out to do, and get the most out of the time spent. Reminding customers of your value proposition is an important job for marketing, and reinforces the visitor’s confidence in your brand’s ability to deliver on its promise. In the right context, people want to be exposed to related product suggestions, appealing photos, and rich interactions. It’s when designers and marketers become too clever, or emphasize the brand without regard for audience context, that usability is compromised. The result is long flash intros, splash pages, internally-focused marketing jargon, and mystery-meat navigation.

The opposite approach is not any better. Focusing solely on usability can result in sites that lack enticement and emotional appeal. The elimination of style and personality can be a detriment to your perceived value as much as having a site that is difficult to use. This is why beautiful things work better.

An optimal user experience exists at the intersection of three factors:

Listed in this diagram are the positive and negative aspects of each concept. Focusing solely on any one has the potential for confusion, apathy, or frustration among your visitors. The ideal experience is one that embodies a balance of all three factors.