In his blog post “The Client That Matters Most,” Robert Hoekman talks about a company who intentionally maintains a bad user experience on its commerce website. The idea is that customers will be driven to make a phone call to the company’s customer support, where the customer is then pressured with add-ons and up-sells. But, what if the customer never makes it that far. If a customer has a frustrating experience with your website, they will likely associate that negative experience with not only your website, but also your company. This could mean that the customer gives up on your product/service, or your company altogether based on their bad experience. Even if they don’t immediately give up, the damage is done and is difficult to reverse. People will be wary of communicating with you when the need arises again, they will start scoping out your competition, and they will let everyone know about their frustrations. That’s why its imperative that we do all we can to design and maintain a positive user experience and not force people down a difficult or unnavigable path. Think about your website in terms of the needs of the users, not the other way around.

Tags: user experience, web design