I've heard quite a few service managers where I work say that they see the website as "a way of delivering our service 24/7 at any location". I don't think that can happen, because our website is a collection of static information, and the service that we deliver is an advice service with live advisers. The managers believe it can happen because they think that "the website" and "online" are the same thing.
Two points here. Firstly, a static information-based website will not allow you to deliver what your real-life staffed advice service does. Sure, if your staff are spending a lot of time answering questions like "what are your opening hours?" then a website will take some of the load off. But there are situations where people will want to talk to a real person, because they want the human contact.
And a good adviser can answer almost any question, even the subtle and complicated ones. The website shouldn't even be trying to do that. The most effective websites are geared towards top questions and tasks, and refer people with more particular needs to - you guessed it - a real person.
Secondly, "online" doesn't always mean the website. Facebook and Twitter are online. Skype's online. Instant messaging services are online. Our Virtual Learning Environment is online, as is the information portal that many students use to get to e-mail. E-mail's online, too. Delivering your service online should mean a lot more than adding content to your website.
You can deliver, online, a service that is very similar to your in-person staffed service. Catch is, you'll need to think about and staff the online service. You'll need to put someone on e-mail, or IM, or Facebook, or whatever means you are using to talk to people one-on-one. You can't just upload a bunch of information onto the website and hope it will be as good as an adviser.
On the bright side, using online tools - not just the website - you truly can begin to offer a service 24/7 and at a distance. And wasn't that what you wanted?
Monday 23 March 2009
Wednesday 18 March 2009
It's a website, not a place
Most managers where I work believe that our website's purpose is to be a online copy of their physical service. This is, to me, a fundamental misunderstanding of what the web is for; and one which has wide-reaching consequences.
The prevailing metaphor at work is that of the website as, literally, a site: an extra location in which a service is delivered. Both managers and clients would expect a service to be the same whatever physical site it's delivered at; managers would also expect to have a large measure of control over the behaviour of users at a physical location. These expectations carry over to the web.
To ensure consistency of service across the "sites", any object that is present at a physical site must be put online; any information that would be given out by a staff member, likewise. When the department creates a poster, it's put online as a pdf: it's on the wall at a physical location, so must be "on the wall" at the online "location". Staff members may direct clients to other online resources; endless "our favourite links" pages are born so that the same resources may be ignored by legions of online users.
And managers expect users to be under their control online in the same way that they are at a physical location. A member of staff can direct a user to read information in a specific order, or to explore options other than the one they have set their mind on. On the web, this expectation results in paths through content that reflect the service's idea of how the information "should" be used, and in a tendency to put barriers in the way of users getting what they came for (I should stress that this is done with the best possible intentions).
My advice to managers: the website is not another location. It does not follow the same rules as physical locations. You can't control users in the same way, nor does it help you to try. Most importantly, people come to a website for very different reasons from those that send them to talk to a staff member. If you think of the website as just another location, you miss the key point: that websites are there to complement, not replace, your existing staffed services.
The prevailing metaphor at work is that of the website as, literally, a site: an extra location in which a service is delivered. Both managers and clients would expect a service to be the same whatever physical site it's delivered at; managers would also expect to have a large measure of control over the behaviour of users at a physical location. These expectations carry over to the web.
To ensure consistency of service across the "sites", any object that is present at a physical site must be put online; any information that would be given out by a staff member, likewise. When the department creates a poster, it's put online as a pdf: it's on the wall at a physical location, so must be "on the wall" at the online "location". Staff members may direct clients to other online resources; endless "our favourite links" pages are born so that the same resources may be ignored by legions of online users.
And managers expect users to be under their control online in the same way that they are at a physical location. A member of staff can direct a user to read information in a specific order, or to explore options other than the one they have set their mind on. On the web, this expectation results in paths through content that reflect the service's idea of how the information "should" be used, and in a tendency to put barriers in the way of users getting what they came for (I should stress that this is done with the best possible intentions).
My advice to managers: the website is not another location. It does not follow the same rules as physical locations. You can't control users in the same way, nor does it help you to try. Most importantly, people come to a website for very different reasons from those that send them to talk to a staff member. If you think of the website as just another location, you miss the key point: that websites are there to complement, not replace, your existing staffed services.
Sunday 1 March 2009
Books on my desk #1 - The elements of style
Title: The elements of style (illustrated 4th edition)
Author: Strunk, White and Kalman (illustrations)
Description: Style guide originally written to encourage good essay-writing in American university students. Contains reminders of good grammar and usage (for American English), guidelines for good form in writing, and a section on developing style.
Review: Packs more punch in a smaller space than any writing guide I've read - and entertaining too. Sample gems:
"Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs. The adjective hasn't been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place."
"Rather, very, little, pretty - these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words."
This has been my desk-top writing guide for years; it stays fresh and relevant even after being re-read till the spine breaks. The illustrations are slightly odd - pretty pastel colours which lull you into believing the book to be similarly wishy-washy. It's anything but.
Why it's on my desk: It's not specifically aimed at web writing, but it turns out that web writing and clear, high-quality essay writing have a lot in common. "Avoid fancy words", "Be clear!", "Put yourself in the background": all of these and more apply to writing for the web just as much as they do to writing an essay.
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