You Might Get What You Ask For
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It's unlikely that Sound Transit expected a seven-minute video critique when it requested user feedback on its website. But that's exactly what the operator of Seattle's buses and trains got from Ian Lurie of Conversation Marketing.
After giving the site a flunking grade, Lurie takes aim at a poorly organized homepage. For instance, instead of offering an interactive map that enables users to plan trips—the site's most obvious function—they are treated to a massive Seahawks promotion in the center column, and a right column dominated by relatively unimportant content links. Both of these, argues Lurie, should disappear.
"Nobody is coming here to read the news or the project updates or the meetings and events," he says. "They're just not. I'm sorry. You need to announce those, they need to be on the site; they don't need to be on the homepage."
His advice? Create a clean, usable tool by placing trip planners and rider alerts on the left, and a large Google map on the right. "So I can actually plan my commute and my trip, all in one place, without even clicking into your site," he explains. "That's why people are coming to the site."
The Po!nt: Put on your critical-thinking cap and ask why visitors come to your website—and then be sure to give them what they want, front-and-center.
Source: Conversation Marketing. Click here for the full post.
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Or, instead of putting on YOUR thinking cap consider usability testing the site with Seattle transit riders. Ask them to use the site to plan their next trip and find out whether they succeed, fail, or bail. As they proceed, ask them to "think out loud" so that you can determine what you'd need to fix to improve their experience.