What is Visitor Effectiveness?

The Winery Web Site Report rates what we allege is "visitor effectiveness."  So what exactly is visitor effectiveness?

Think of it this way: everyone comes to a Web site with some purpose in mind (setting aside the small percentage of mindless zombie Web surfers, who must almost certainly exist). A site that is truly visitor effective results in visitors who both achieve their goal and leave with a positive impression of their experience (often, visitors achieve their goal, but the process leaves much to be desired).

The challenge is to prevent the visitor from becoming so frustrated in pursuit of their goal that they click the always-convenient Back  button in their browser.  The desired goal is to make their experience so satisfying that they will continue to interact (online and offline) with your company, e.g. purchasing your products and telling their friends.

Building a visitor-effective site requires starting with the aim of the visitor, not with your aim, which is what makes it difficult.  For wineries, we decided that there were four types of visitor:

• people who wanted to buy something right now (buyers)
• people who wanted more information about the winery and/or its wines (browsers)
• people who were interested in reselling the winery's wines (the trade - distributors, retailers, restaurants)
• people who wanted to tell a story about the winery and/or its wines (the media)

(plus the mindless zombie Web surfers, of course).

From there, we sat down and asked, "What would help each type of visitor achieve their goal?"  Some of those things are pretty basic - the site needs to be "findable" (Search Rank and Domain Name), the site needs to be available and have reasonable response time (Responsiveness & Availability), and the site needs to be viewable a browser likely to be used by a visitor (Compatibility).  Some are more specific (trade and media types want everything nicely packaged up).

Out of that process came 25 "rating elements."  Each one makes up part of the 100-point total score for a winery's Web site.  Some are worth more than others, based on their value to visitors.  For example, information about current releases is worth 6 points.  Having a blog is only worth 1  -- as much as we like blogs and blogging, having one doesn't make a visitor much more effective (unless their original goal was to find your blog), although a blog is a great way of maintaining a relationship with visitors once they've met their original goal.

If you're happy with the performance of your Web site, great.  If you're not, looking at how effective it is for visitors with a particular goal in mind when they arrive is a good place to start (that's why we created the Report).  If your site doesn't have any visitors to begin with, that's another problem altogether.

Comments

[Anon]

I want to purchase a winery web report online. Those are my needs, but your website doesn't fulfill those needs. That is about $495 that you aren't getting.

Your website says something about going "high tech" and having an order form online someday. Isn't it a bit ironic? You are, after all, selling reports on website performance.

I was also wondering if you have ever done any ad agency work for any of the top ten wineries...

[Mike Duffy]

I'm sorry that we can't presently accomodate your need to order online at The Winery Web Site Report web site (although we *do* give clear instructions on how you can order, which is the same point we make in the Report - it's not about e-commerce, but as you correctly point out, it *is* about satisfying your visitors - for which I apologize).

If you legitimately want to order a copy, please give us a call on our dime (toll-free 1-888-946-3799). I don't think that's completely unreasonable.

We have no ad agency affiliation. Michael E. Duffy & Associates is a strategic technology consulting group (of which I am the principal). We've never done any work for the winery Web sites in our Top Ten list (although I have shaken hands once with the owner of #10 Quivira, Henry Wendt).

As consultants, we're not in the e-commerce business, so I face the same problem as any small business in setting up a secure order page, and frankly, it's a desire to provide a really good experience that has delayed our ability to take orders online. I'm not satisfied with the offerings from 1shoppingcart.com or mcssl.com, even though it would be functional, and many small businesses use them. If that cost me your $495 order, then I am indeed being a foolish perfectionist.

Is there any reason you felt a need to be anonymous in your posting?

[christopher]

i gotta say you are half right about designing to the customer's need. the goal however of any web property is to provide a solution for two often differing needs, that of the consumer and that of the business.

This is really where the art and science of "agenda blending" comes into play. In working with my clients i map out both the customer need and the business goals and find the points of intersection and similarity. Assuring my clients are achieving tangible results from their web budgets and providing the best user experience for my client's customers are goals that are defined up front and continually monitored though out the life of the engagement.

-christopher
www.drinksomewine.com