Do You REALLY Need To Change The Site?

In the web world - there is often an argument of change for change sake

Hey because the web changes so quickly you need your website to change too. The result is that you have big projects every year to change the site. People love to talk about "The New Website". Frequently that creates a groan from the user.

Just as he gets used to the new site and its changed navigation - along comes another one.

Making the argument for change is not hard. But do you ever ask yourself whether the change was really necessary. Would perhaps an incremental set of improvements have been better? Is this a wise use of the money?

Some sites cry out for re-design because they just get junked up or because they have new technology. Case in point the new Ryanair website.

A fun thing to do is to go to the WayBack machine. Have a look at some of the sites - like Expedia after a redesign. You will see how they tend to start clean after each redesign.

I heard a recent statistic that is really relevant to the Travel Sector. (This was quoted by Expedia in a recent webinar) the source was the IAB. The number of clicks before abandonment was 7 down from 13 a few years ago. This tells us that the customers are getting frustrated with sites. TOO much eye candy purporting to be "merchandising".

So now is the time to think - do I really need to change. If I am going to merchandise products and services or am I simply putting things in the path of the consumer that are unnecessary and will in turn piss them off.

I am still somewhat amazed that the Look to Book ration in Travel is so abysmal. It reeks of a lack of trust and clearly the site User Experience is driving a number of users away.

This week in my alter ego state I shall be moderating a panel on Airline Merchandising. I urge you to consider these issues. Finally here is a little piece this week from Gerry McGovern that takes these issues a little further.

Food for thought and ammunition to enable people to think more carefully.

Cheers