It's All Geek To Me - February 19th 2004

As websites continue to develop some things don't just stay the same – they get more pronounced. Good sites have always had a very well defined MDR (most desired response) but in the last year or so it has become even more important.

Great websites can be pretty or ugly, they can have compelling copy or so-so copy, they can have excellent photos or just ok ones – but any website without excellent MDR is in deep trouble.

Getting the right mix of elements to make your MDR work is a bit more complex than you might think. People read from left to right and top to bottom, but putting something in the upper left corner doesn't automatically make it the first thing people see.

To make your MDR work, the first step has nothing to do with the website – you must decide. A good roadside billboard has one short quick understandable message, a good page on your web site is the same way. Try to think through the process of your sale – is it really better if people call you, stop by your store, or is it really best if they just click to "buy now". For some companies the MDR is more subtle – "I want visitors to see me as the expert."

Once you are clear on what the MDR is, then you can begin to construct an experience that drives people to it. When a person first gets to a website they scan and pan – looking to define areas before actually reading or absorbing anything. They try to spot your masthead first (the name, logo id, etc.). Next comes the navigation – those are always the first two. Where am I and how do I get around. Visitors then generally fall into two categories – learners and do'ers.

do'ers look for functionality areas related to what they want first – sign up now, click here to buy, and so on. If those functionality areas don't exist they then look for the navigation item most closely related to what they want. Depending on the type of site you have, a great percentage of your do'ers could be repeat visitors.

Learners usually are either general (very unlikely to buy now) or have a very specific question in mind. General folks are looking across the site to grasp more about your goods or services generally. General learners are usually visiting two to five sites, looking to understand the basic types of available vacuums for their office or the rough pricing for silverware. Specific questioners usually have already been a general learner and have just one thing left – does it come in blue, will it fit in the space I have, how long will it take to deliver. If your site answers the specific question they have well they get converted to a do'er.

So your well defined MDR needs to work for the do'er and also needs to lead the learner down the correct path to convert them.

Rubber Meets the Road

To give you an example of the kind of practical impact all this can have, consider the experience of one of our clients – The TrendSight Group.

The TrendSight Group is a consulting and training firm that helps major corporations build their sales, share and profits by improving their communications with women. KISS recently redesigned this site, and the primary focus was on MDR. Let's take a peek. For this firm do'ers are making a major choice/significant hire – and the different type of do'ers are accommodated with defined areas down the left hand side of the site.

Option 1: Sign up for the newsletter: let the firm build a relationship with you over time.

Hate that? Option 2: Get the free white paper, which sets up TrendSight as the experts they are as well as putting right into the hands of do'ers what they need to move forward.

Concluding that you can't afford a serious consulting project? Option 3: Buy the book.

The important thing to notice here is that while multiple actions exist there is still only one MDR.

Learners can scroll right down the home page and scan to get a sense – Gender Trends, Consulting Services, Speaking and Training, About the TrendSight Group, Free Resources. Well sprinkled testimonials from real people also push the learners – it is worth it to keep reading.

With these elements in place this site is gaining conversion and sales – folks are signing up, downloading, buying the book and learners are coming away with the right frame of mind to visit again and get converted to a do'er.

SO go take a good look at your own site – can you spot the MDR? Do you give the do'ers the quick action they want and accommodate the learners with well organized info?

One of my favorite MDR tests requires a 7-12 year old person and a cookie. Put them in front of the site – say nothing other than you want them to visit and see what they think – and watch what they do. A site with a well defined MDR will find the literate child going right for it and clicking on the MDR – even when they don't' fully understand the minutiae of what it is all about. If your tester kid hits the MDR first shot it is very well defined, be proud and give your friend the cookie.

(a grammar aside – I have no idea if do'ers is an actual word but when I saw that the NEA had do'ers profiles on their site I thought that made it close enough for IAGTM)

Tech Tip

by Michael McGrath Viruses, bugs, patches, risks, MyDoom... make them all stop! Make them all go away! Yep, we've been saying that here, too. Hundreds of infected emails daily have been arriving at KISS. According to mi2g Intelligence Unit Ltd., MyDoom has caused nearly $23B of economic damage in terms of loss of business, bandwidth clogging, productivity erosion, management-time reallocation and cost of recovery. Scary. As if that were not enough, Microsoft warned customers of a “critical” flaw, an “extremely deep and pervasive technology one” that puts into jeopardy Windows 2000 and XP users. Funny thing is, though, Microsoft knew about this six months ago, and is just now announcing it and the patch to cure it. Go figure. So, our Tech Tip this week has to be: Get that Patch! If you are using Microsoft NT, 2000 or XP, go to the Microsoft web site, where you will find their “Urgent Action: Microsoft Windows Security Update.” Follow the instructions for the download and installation, and do it sooner rather than later. The Linux guy here is smiling again. The home system remains safe and secure. Open Source. Think about it.