Posted on August 12th, 2008
When it comes to business web design and web development, making assumptions about user behavior can be risky at best - and cause your company to lose out on potential clients at worst. One way to avoid making dangerous assumptions and driving away customers is to work with a web design company that understands the principles of usability and doesn’t make assumptions about user behavior, because after all, assuming makes an ____ out of you and me (you’ll have to fill in the blank yourselves).
The Palmer Web Marketing Blog recently featured a post that covered ten costly assumptions that can negatively affect the visitor experience and ultimately conversions. They started with the biggest one - assuming people will know how to find your website (this is where SEO and SEM come in handy).
Next comes the second most dangerous assumption: assuming people will know what you sell. How many times have you come across an amazingly creative and visually stunning website and had no clue what their message was or what their company had to offer? The web design firms that created those sites were probably assuming users would take the time to figure the message or find the company’s products or services, but it is more likely that confused visitors would just leave the site.
Be sure to check out the rest of the assumptions on the list, and ask yourself if your website makes any of them. Better yet, find an objective user or two and get them to test out your site, ideally someone who is not particularly internet savvy (they make better testers). After all, you don’t want to risk losing business just because of a few assumptions.
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