Should websites delight the customer?
I received an email from a potential client recently where he expressed the opinion that he wanted a website that would delight his clients. What a wonderful thing, I thought. Everyone should have one!
The difficulty arises when you ask “Why?”
It is a reasonable question, but a bit of an awkward one. And the reason is simply this: there is a great danger that website owners will make the assumption that a site that delights a visitor, will, of necessity, cause them to take some meaningful action.
Once again, why?
We all see a myriad of things in our daily lives that we might consider delightful, but that does not mean that we take any action as a result of the experience. For the most part we simply enjoy it and move on.
A reality check. In the end it is the task of all business websites to persuade their visitors to take some action. So while it is perfectly reasonable for a business website to delight its visitors, that in itself is not the end goal. The end goal is driven by a good old fashioned marketing thing called a “call to action”.
In summary, of course a website should delight and engage its visitors. Having done that however, if you want them to follow a pre-determined course of action, you are going to have to ask them – clearly, persuasively and nicely.
If your website is an important part of your business and you would like to sharpen the focus of your content, I can recommend Michael Gladkoff of Word Nerds. Effective copywriting really is one of the most effective drivers of a business website.
While images may delight – words can compel.
