Perception is 90% of Success

When a customer or prospect comes to your website, they usually do so with a specific task in mind. In most cases, they have little or no interest in reading everything on your site, but only that which gets them further down the path of their intended purpose. If you have information or a service that is important to your website users that you want and need to communicate to them, you must not use language or design elements that hide this from them.

In industry terms, websites and their elements are said to have a "perceived affordance." These aren't two terms that are often used together in common vernacular, but a short:

• Perceived - What people think (they can do)
• Affordance - What can actually be done with or at an interface

If the two don't match, then the object is said to have poor perceived affordance. But what you need to know is that a preponderance of poor perceived affordance will cause your website to fail.

Jakob Nielsen wrote about this problem in his recent article, "Top-10 Application-Design Mistakes." He says that you can tell you have a perceived affordance problem when:

• Users say, "What do I do here?" - (This should be obvious to them.)
• Users don't go near a feature that would help them. - (If it would help them, then it needs to be highlighted at logical places.)
• A profusion of screen text tries to overcome these two problems. - (Lengthy instructions should not be needed, and they won't be read anyway.)

To demonstrate his point, Nielsen wrote about an interesting and persistent problem -- that sometimes objects in a Web design look like they should be clicked, but are not clickable. His example was something that looked like (but wasn't) a button, but the same can problem occurs when people use  underlined text on websites for anything other than a hyperlink.

(Did you see the difference?)

But not all affordance-perception problems are related to interface issues. Marketers can also fall into this trap by hiding the true purpose of their ads -- by making promises that cannot be fulfilled without effort that make the endeavor less valuable.

A "marketing" example
Last night I bought a plane ticket to New York from a very popular travel site. At the end of my checkout process, I came across a promo that told me I could get a $20 rebate if I would just "Click Here."

Curious but skeptical, I clicked on the promo only to come to a page that told me that to capitalize on this offer, I had to agree to a "trial subscription" for whatever it was they were selling.

Once the trial period expired, they would make things "convenient" for me by automatically deducting $14.95 per month from my account. On a page full of text, graphics, and fields, here is the fine print:

I had no interest whatsoever in what they were selling, and the promo gave me no idea what I could expect. In fact, because the conditions necessary to get $20 cash back  weren't spelled out (nor did they mention any conditions existed at all), the promotion was misleading -- something that is becoming increasingly frowned upon in a society that claims to value transparency and authenticity.

In the case above, the deception hid something that the company wanted to hide, but it still amazes me how many companies hide things that they think give them a competitive advantage.

They'll shove it under "About Us" and leave it there. They'll use cute navigation names and calls to action that hide the true purpose of the resulting or subordinate pages just to satisfy executives. What they fail to realize is that people aren't looking to be sold to. They're looking to accomplish something that probably has very little to do with the managers of the company or the bonuses they relish.

If you have information that may help people accomplish their tasks or be more comforted that they are making the right choice, aside from constructive design constraints, you should not force it upon them, but make the information accessible. When you do so, make sure people know 1) that the information is available and 2) how they can get to it, if they want it. - Cam Beck

Comments

[Clay Parker Jones]

Great. Nielsen is a genius... good examples of his points. It's hard sometimes as a strategist to kill design features that are pretty but don't make sense, but you just have to do it. It's all about honesty and "speaking" in the right language, whether honesty is expressed in words (as with the example you note) or in the presentation of those words...

[mvellandi]

That's why they need to write: "Terms and Conditions apply" to the offer, so at least to offer a disclaimer.

[Lewis Green]

Cam,

Nice post Cam. Let's just keep it simple when we communicate. We owe it to our readers.

[Cam Beck]

Clay - I am increasingly finding the idea easier, but it's sometimes difficult to convince others that certain ideas, however well conceived, have got to go.

Mario - That would be an improvement, for certain.

Lewis - You don't find it contradictory that in a post about clarity, I throw out a term like "perceived affordance?" :)

[Drew McLellan]

Cam,

Great post...and something that applies not only to websites but to all marketing communications.

We make it more complicated than it needs to be. However...best sentence in the whole piece was "I was buying a plane ticket to New York!"

Can't wait to see you at Social!

Drew

[John Herrington]

Is that a Southwest plane in the graphic? I hope this was their site so that they've made a fool of themselves instead of someone else misrepresenting them.

[Steve Woodruff]

Cam,

In reviewing websites, one of the most common errors I see is up-front information overload. I've been posting on pharma websites and most of them are terrible about this - they feel they have so many things to say to so many audiences, that you end up with a jillion navigational elements all tossed at you like a salad on the home page. Very few try to encapsulate one distinguishing message and drive it home.

Which brings it down to a question of purpose: Are you just seeking to publish stuff out there? Or do you intend to make a connection?

[Cam Beck]

Drew - Likewise. 'Tho it seems I already know you.

Steve - Pharma companies in particular need to become acquainted with the art and science of progressive revelation. :)

[Jim Stroup]

Hello Cam,

I have always been concerned - convinced, really - that I don't have this right, either. This post and the comments do little for my confidence, so it's back to trying to get a fresh look - my own and from others.

Thanks!

[Cam Beck]

Jim - Robert Kiyosaki had a story in one of his books that really resonated with me for some reason.

When a writer came to him and asked him for his advice on how to become a successful author, he suggested that she take a few sales courses.

The author recoiled at this suggestion, thinking such a thing beneath her.

He then pointed to his book and asked her to read a line from the cover. She read "Best Seller."

He pointed out that it did not say "Best Writer." He also noted that she could write circles around him. He was successful because he was able to sell.

Food for thought. I struggle with this every day.