WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES phần 7 doc

Marketing material only goes so far in selling goods. Since it’s designed to persuade, people are understandably wary; after all, no one wants to admit to being persuaded. As with pur- chasing a house, prospective buyers will rarely base a major financial decision on the agent’s brochure—they want to explore the grounds, look in the closets, flush the toilets, tap on the walls, and generally poke around the space to get a better feel for the investment. A public support area offers people the same opportunity to evaluate products and services. It allows them to get their questions of nuance answered—the tiny details that can affect the final decision. It also enables people to see if the prospective vendor meets their expecta- tions for support itself, if there is interaction between customers and the host within the site (e.g., in a forum), and how the company treats suggestions, criticism, and praise. Support options Over the years, different techniques and technologies for customer support have surfaced. Some of them are as old as the Web itself (e.g., the ubiquitous FAQ); others are a result of new technology opening up opportunities for service (such as interactive chat). As we dis- cussed in the beginning of the chapter, some companies will require minimal customer support, and others will necessitate complex portals to meet client demands. The FAQ The FAQ is an Internet standard. When the list of topics is thorough and the answers are good, a simple list of common queries can be extremely effective. The vast majority of people understand what a FAQ is, and because of this, many will try to answer their ques- tion there first—especially if the subject matter is fundamental. Consider it the first line of support. A FAQ can be as topically deep as a company wishes, but there is a fine line between too minimal an approach and overwhelming the visitor with content. The goal of a FAQ should be to address exactly what its name implies—questions that are common among users or prospects. Riddling the section with minor technical details, esoteric scenarios, frivolous assumptions, and other distracting riffraff can be as detrimental as leaving out major answers. Usability is a key ingredient to the success of a FAQ. The design should be clean and read- able, with an emphasis on categorization and scanning, all of which will help people find their question faster. Avoid the easy yes/no In terms of content, questions should be phrased to avoid simple yes-or-no answers. Responses should be moderately detailed, but completely resolve the query. Imagine browsing a FAQ for a fabric company. Here is an example of a poorly structured inquiry: Question: Do you offer custom patterns? Answer: Yes. CUSTOMER SUPPORT 225 10 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 225 While this accurately answers the question, it provides no detail, and does not help the reader find out how the company addresses custom patterns, much less the next step in using those services. FAQs can be leveraged as minor marketing vehicles. If a prospect sees everything they want in your product after consulting the FAQ, help them make contact with your company to procure their business. Here is an improved example: Question: I’m interested in your fabric, but what if I need a custom pattern? Answer: Acme Textiles is happy to address the unique needs of our customers by offering a full range of custom pattern reproduction on all of our fabric options. For pricing, please see our detailed pricing chart, or call 1-800-555-8866 to speak with our knowledgeable sales staff. Notice that the question could not be answered with a simple yes or no—it demands an explanation. In this example, the response is immediately affirmative while boasting about the company’s great product line, and follows that up with two simple options for getting more information. The response weaves a subtle marketing flavor into the text, which works well for FAQs addressing prospects. For FAQs handling the problems of existing cus- tomers, much more straightforward language is appropriate. Here’s an example: Question: I was shipped the wrong color. What do I do? Answer: While we strive for accuracy in ordering, we occasionally make mistakes. Please call our support staff immediately at 1-800-555-8866 to receive instructions for returning the incorrect order, and to confirm the details of the correct order so we can ship it with- out delay. This response admits that the company is at fault, and provides a means of immediate rec- tification. There is no attempt to market services or speak over the customer’s head—just a straightforward reply to a very real problem. We’ll cover writing support content later in the chapter. Designing the FAQ The architecture of a FAQ is clear-cut: there is a list of questions, and each one has an answer. If there are a substantial number of entries, the FAQ should have subheads to intelligently categorize the content. The simplicity of the content opens the door for dif- ferent design options. Listing the questions in a linear fashion can be complemented with simple collapse/expand JavaScript functionality that dramatically shortens the initial page length and has more of a table-of-contents feel, as shown in Figure 10-2. For deeper FAQs, a slightly different architecture should be considered. One popular option is to keep the list of questions in the top half of the web page, and all of the answers in the bottom half. When people click a question from the leading list, they are transported to the point of the web page where the answer starts. This is accomplished through simple inline anchor tags. For instance, this might be the question at the top of the page: <a href="#custompattern">I'm interested in your fabric, ➥ but what if I need a custom pattern?</a> WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 226 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 226 And this might be the answer further down: <p id="custompattern">Acme Textiles is happy to address the unique ➥ needs of our customers by offering a full range of custom pattern ➥ reproduction on all of our fabric options. For pricing, please ➥ see our <a href="/pricing.html">detailed pricing chart</a>, or ➥ call 1-800-555-8866 to speak with our knowledgeable sales staff.</p> Figure 10-2. The example on the left shows frequently asked questions in a single, linear format; the example on the right demonstrates how that same list can be shortened with simple expand/collapse JavaScript functionality. This, like the earlier example, presents the questions like a table of contents, but can still be used when JavaScript is disabled. It also gives each FAQ entry a unique URL, such as www.acmetextiles.com/faq.html#customfabric, so that they can be individually book- marked or referenced from another page. When a FAQ begins to expand, the section must branch out beyond a single web page. One central list of all questions can be maintained on one page, but each question links to a separate, individual web page for the entry, so a user might arrive at a URL like www.acmetextiles.com/faq/custom-color. This flattened architecture allows for a more scalable system. Bear in mind that if a multi-page hierarchy becomes necessary, the content begins to stretch the fundamental definition of a FAQ, and we find ourselves reaching the next stop along the knowledge management train ride: the knowledgebase. The Knowledgebase A company’s knowledgebase (alternately written as two words—knowledge base—or abbreviated KB) is a very rich, content-oriented environment that houses everything the corporation wants to share about their products or services. For smaller or service-heavy companies, a FAQ fulfills this need nicely. For companies producing an array of products, or whose technology touches many industries and third-party products, a knowledgebase is essential for collecting, organizing, and presenting a nearly unlimited amount of infor- mation. CUSTOMER SUPPORT 227 10 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 227 Knowledgebases are extremely popular with software companies. Microsoft’s Help and Support center is one of the most well-known knowledgebases. 2 It contains thousands upon thousands of public articles that can be referenced by employees, consultants, IT profes- sionals, and the general troubleshooting public. Other major software and technology com- panies such as Novell, Apple, Texas Instruments, and Corel retain similar environments. Standardized format vs. the library approach The content of a knowledgebase typically takes two paths. The first is a standardized article format, where all content is presented in the same template, searchable within the same section, and typically tagged with a unique ID number. This is how Microsoft operates—every article has a unique code (e.g., 907586) that gives the article a permanent identity in the knowledgebase database. This code is placed in a prominent position inside the article’s web page so that users can note it for future reference. The second methodology treats the knowledgebase as a traditional library. It becomes a repository of a variety of document formats, with little or no design continuity between them, tied together only by the fact that they somehow support the customer. See Figure 10-3 for an example of a library-style approach. Figure 10-3. A knowledgebase can take on a library-like feel when it houses a variety of document types. WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 228 2. http://support.microsoft.com 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 228 Neither of these approaches is better than the other—it depends entirely on the internal definition of the knowledgebase. A singular format is easier to maintain from a database point of view as every document will follow the same template for content and metadata, but there is value in distributing generic help files, PDF documentation, whitepapers, and more in their natural state. Search: Don’t deploy without it Because a knowledgebase is designed to contain a vast amount of content—quite possibly more than any other part of the corporate website—it must be designed to help users find very specific, targeted information. Where a FAQ must be easy to browse, a knowledge- base must be easy to search. In fact, providing the opportunity to browse is secondary in importance; only a severe minority of users will even attempt to manually navigate a knowledgebase of any substantial size. A knowledgebase requires a dedicated search, and should not be lumped into the general site search. Users should know before they enter a single word that the results will be exclusive to the knowledgebase. Designing search for a knowledgebase is a bit different than general site search. Since there is typically a voluminous amount of information to sift through, it has to be treated as more of a general web search, with the search box prominent and focused on immedi- ate use. See Figure 10-4 for an example. Figure 10-4. The knowledgebase search should be simple and prominent. As you can see from Figure 10-4, a knowledgebase-specific search should have the following: A prominent presence in the page: The landing page for a knowledgebase should have the search function highlighted, front and center, without any ambiguity about its functionality and exclusivity. A long search field: Typical queries are two or three words long; for a knowledge- base, this could easily be a much lengthier string. For instance, users might search Microsoft’s Help and Support center for an entire error message—a precise string that could be a dozen or more words. An additional filter: This optional filter confines searches to certain products or document types (whitepaper, documentation, third-party technical article), or any other segregation that makes sense to the user. If a filter is used, the default should always be to search the entire knowledgebase. Lack of complexity: Do not ask users to only type in human-like questions, never mention Boolean search phrases, and make the link to any advanced search capabil- ity small with the understanding that a minute percentage of users will actually use it. CUSTOMER SUPPORT 229 10 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 229 Documentation How many times have you purchased a product, put it together, and promptly threw away the manual? How many times have you purchased software, got it installed, and misplaced the documentation at exactly the same time the program crashes? Almost every product comes with some documentation, from quick install guides to 500-page tomes. These printed materials are hard to replace once they’ve been lost, and companies rarely sell the documentation separately. The support section of a website is the perfect medium for delivering digital versions of product documentation. The good news is that this material almost never needs to be converted to HTML. PDF is ideal—most users will be looking for a replica of the actual printed material, which can contain copious screenshots, illustrations, symbols, variations in typography, and complex layouts designed to convey the information accurately. Best practices in long-format PDFs Ordering a double tall nonfat latte at Starbucks requires more time than page layout pro- grams such as Quark Xpress, Adobe InDesign, or even Microsoft Word need to convert a manual into a web-ready PDF. Chapter 8 covered some important tips for rendering short marketing collateral as PDFs, including keeping the file size small, linking links, retaining the integrity of text, and more. All of these practices still apply. However, product docu- mentation can be lengthy, and in order to keep file sizes manageable, apply these addi- tional practices: Squeeze the compression just a little more: In Chapter 8 we advocated using the preset [Smallest File Size] when rendering a PDF. If a document contains a lot of images, consider reducing the pixels per inch variables even further—72 for color images and 200 for monochrome images. Build a table of contents: Acrobat enables users to craft a table of contents using the Bookmarks feature, which produces a list of page links in the left column so that the audience can easily jump around the document without manually scrolling through every page linearly. Some programs, such as Microsoft Word, automati- cally generate this list when rendering a PDF when the content is marked up with appropriate headers. Forums At the time of this writing, the Web 2.0 fad/buzzword is sweeping the Internet like a virulent mist, clinging to and infecting hundreds of marketing roadmaps, software specs, and busi- ness plans as forward-thinking companies try to grab onto the next wave. At the center of these new marketing channels is user-generated content—fan blogs, social networks, con- tent syndication, API mash-ups, and more. It’s a great set of ideas, except that it’s largely been done before with simple, pedestrian forums. A forum can be a massive asset to a company’s support effort. By acknowledging that their customers have a voice—and that many of them are just as smart as their own employees— companies can be confident that their forums will grow into sprawling repositories of information. If traditional knowledgebases are bonsai trees, carefully pruned and tended by the corporation, forums are creeping ivy, expanding organically in all directions at once, fertilized by the constant tides of member activity. WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 230 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 230 Both have their purpose, but over time, a forum can prove to be an irreplaceable source of information to customers as well as provide three key assets to companies: 1. Community building: Over time, forums often become the central hub for cus- tomers, because of the sense of common ground. It’s where the topmost fraction of corporate evangelists engage in flame wars with the bottom-most fraction of disgruntled customers, with oceans of lurkers, moderators, and curiosity seekers in between. 2. Information repository: The most active forums have dozens of posts every hour. In time, the community’s knowledge becomes the definitive source of information, and searches through the forum’s archive can dwarf the searches in a company’s FAQ or knowledgebase. The differentiating advantage for users is that the forum might contain the answer to a question so esoteric that the knowledgebase has no record of it. 3. Direct, constant access to the customer mindset: The value of this cannot be understated. Company moderators can read discussions in the deepest threads, introduce new threads with important announcements, perform searches on spe- cific products to see what people have said about them, and much more. Forums tend to grow at exponential rates. Once enough users become part of the system, more users will hear of it, and then it will grow more, and then even more people will hear about it, and then it will grow even larger. The larger it gets, the richer the information becomes. See Figure 10-5 for a forum that encapsulates this organic knowledge growth. Figure 10-5. Forum content grows organically as members slowly feed the system posts over a long period of time. CUSTOMER SUPPORT 231 10 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 231 Forum platforms Thankfully for developers, webmasters, designers, and the rest of the website team, there are plenty of forum software platforms to choose from. Most are free, some are add-ons to current CMSs (e.g., licensed users of ExpressionEngine can purchase the forum module), and almost all share some common administrative features like thread closing, user ban- ning, spam control, and so forth. Here are just a few popular options. IP.Board. Formerly known as Invision Power Board, this rich forum software is ideal for enterprise-class installations. Along with phone and e-mail support direct from the com- pany (IPS), the software has a bucket of features, including a detailed administrative area, customizable interface, and powerful moderation features. There is also a focus on com- munity content, and socializing the forum experience. IP.Board enables members to create buddy lists, user ratings, detailed profiles, RSS feeds, and more. 3 In addition to all the built-in features, IPS also provides a host of snap-on functionality, including IP.Gallery (photo management), IP.Blog (integrated blogs for forum members), and IP.Downloads (a file manager that users can employ for all types of downloadable con- tent). These deeply expand the IP.Board environment, and help create a unified social area for members of a support forum. PhpBB. This software has been around since 2000, and is one of the most feature-rich and stable forum packages available for free. 4 PhpBB (a snapshot of which can be seen in Figure 10-6) is completely open source, and runs on MySQL and PHP. Its features are com- parable to other major platforms: comprehensive back-end and admin, full thread and member management, a rich member profile section (including the ability to tag other members as “friends” or “foes”), and a well-designed search function. Since there is no formal company backing phpBB, support comes through the large and active community (which can be found at the website’s own internal forum) and a detailed set of documentation. There is no option for paid support, although you can buy a phpBB t-shirt to fund the development team. PunBB. In the early 2000s, a new breed of alternative forum software packages began turning up. This generation focused on two things: a stripped-down feature set (meaning that all the bells, whistles, and functionality bling in software like IP.Board is largely lost) and a stronger adherence to web standards (which means that the chunky, artery-clogging, table-based layouts of phpBB are replaced with light and zesty CSS-based layouts). PunBB is part of this new generation. 5 What it fails to deliver in volume of features is made up for in streamlined functionality, fast-loading pages, and much easier customization. PunBB is also free and open source, and actually has more platform options than its brother, phpBB. (The forum shown in Figure 10-5 is driven by PunBB.) Forum administration The one significant disadvantage to maintaining a community forum is the amount of time needed to moderate members, threads, and spam. For small forums—a few hundred WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 232 3. www.invisionpower.com 4. www.phpbb.com 5. http://punbb.org 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 232 members and maybe a few dozen posts a day—a single person can sufficiently monitor the activity. For larger forums—those over 1,000 members—several moderators are needed to keep discussions on track. As you can see in Figure 10-6, a moderator has the power to lock threads, delete posts, and ban users, but is also expected to contribute to good conversations, and even answer questions from members as needed. Figure 10-6. This screen from phpBB shows how administrators can ban usernames, IP addresses, and e-mail addresses. People expect to post whatever they want on a company-sponsored forum, even if it reflects negatively on the host. Moderators have to be exceedingly judicial in how they wield their power. Arbitrarily deleting content, from single posts to entire threads, will quickly cultivate a bad reputation, and users will be reluctant to discuss legitimate support issues in a place that does not foster free discussion. A “benevolent dictator” approach tends to work better than “overreacting jerk.” That being said, there are always people who post off-topic spam or caustic and destruc- tive comments. These are the threads that administrators have to watch for, and delete or lock ruthlessly. Think of a forum as any traditional community. People will congregate where they know there are like-minded fellows, especially when they sense that the envi- ronment is being tended by a considerate but firm-handed authority. On top of all that, administrators have to constantly weed out spam messages. Each system comes with different levels of spam control, and many members of the community have contributed plug-ins and system modifications that help stem the flow. For instance, in phpBB, there is a modification file that allows URL posting from active members only, not guests. In PunBB, there is the option to verify all registrations so that moderators can review individual member sign-ups. There is, unfortunately, no magic script that filters all spam. Keeping the forum clean requires constant updating of spam-deterring methods, as well as brute-force deletion of unwanted posts. CUSTOMER SUPPORT 233 10 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 233 Running a forum inside a support portal is not a small undertaking. The community requires constant attention. Fighting spam and banning troublesome members is a full- time gig, but the opportunity to communicate directly with customers and prospects (and mine their thoughts for product enhancements and marketing ideas) more than makes up for the less glamorous aspects of the job. Dedicated support contact Despite advances in technology, and despite the massive investments companies have made in building rich support portals, the most effective way of maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction is to provide a direct means of contact, and respond in a timely manner. Logically—and realistically—the deepest knowledgebase and most active forums cannot possibly address every issue a customer might have with your product or service. These can deter a large percentage of direct customer contact and save a company a wad of cash, but at some point, a customer is going to contact you for one of two reasons: 1. They’ve looked for their answer elsewhere and cannot find it. 2. They don’t want to look for their answer. They just want someone to tell them. A search on Amazon.com for “customer service” returns more than 50,000 books. Chances are that most of them are probably pretty good, and their advice practical and actionable for companies of all sizes in all industries. Whether you read them or not, remember one thing—when a customer contacts you through the support portal, they are asking for help. They are vulnerable. They need you. Nowhere else on your site is clear communication and usability so important, and at no other time will a company be able to make such a strong statement about its integrity and dedication to good customer service as when its mettle is tested. Instant messaging While it’s not realistic to slap an AIM or MSN Messenger handle up on your support portal (unless you do it for each member of the support team), it is possible to implement an internal, generic chat window that customers can use. The functionality is not that differ- ent from a phone system. People enter their name and wait in a queue for the next avail- able agent; once they come online, the agent and customer simply type back and forth in real time. This technology does not even have to be custom developed. There are plenty of vendors that specialize in enterprise-grade chatting systems. Akeni, for instance, produces a range of products for help desk applications, secure messaging, messaging within just a LAN, and more. 6 For companies on a budget, there are smaller solutions with open source licenses. Phone number The oldest of the support options, the eternal phone number for technical support is very much alive in an era of interactive technical triumphs. This traditional medium is popular WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 234 6. www.akeni.com 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/07 3:12 PM Page 234 [...]... linkrot and prevent users from getting lost in the site When pages disappear completely and there’s no indication of a new location, frustration sets in and visitors will quickly find somewhere else to go 2 47 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/ 07 3: 27 PM Page 248 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 404 Not Found Missing content is an all-too-common problem on the Web The reasons are many Websites. .. not designed to be primary content; they exist for users who have not found what they are looking for through the website’s navigation scheme When a visitor finds themselves off the beaten path, they need to understand that the 255 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/ 07 3: 27 PM Page 256 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES page they are on is still part of the main site, so maintaining design uniformity... issue, forcing the user to define a problem that they don’t understand through a series of drop-downs or radio buttons can quickly lead to frustration 235 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/ 07 3:12 PM Page 236 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES Do not ask for unneeded information: This point ties in with the preceding one Asking for someone’s mailing address, for instance, is not appropriate for a... been designed by drunken monkeys—that kill a user experience before it even starts But because of their interactive nature, forms allow designers to help users Once the Submit button is clicked, companies have the opportunity to check a person’s inputted information for both content and format before unusable stuff gets passed on 2 57 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/ 07 3: 27 PM Page 258 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS. .. 241 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/ 07 3: 27 PM Page 243 1 1 CONTINGENCY PLANNING 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/ 07 3: 27 PM Page 244 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES It’s only a matter of time before something goes wrong on a corporate website This is not a hair-brained prediction made with a crystal ball, nor is it arbitrarily negative, glass-halfempty portending It’s simply a fact The Web is not built on... message should look designed, as if it were part of an effort to streamline the experience (which it is) 259 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/ 07 3: 27 PM Page 260 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES Chapter 3 stressed the importance of not using color alone to convey important information Nowhere is that more applicable than in handling errors It’s simple to throw a bunch of red borders and text around... www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/6 074 .aspx 10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_nauseam Nothing like a little “proof by assertion.” 239 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/ 07 3:12 PM Page 240 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES The mobile Web has been long heralded Before mobile phones became small enough to fit in a pocket, techies and gadget nerds predicted full media access, from commercialfree television to movies on demand... (Perl, PHP, ASP, and others) is not functioning 245 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/ 07 3: 27 PM Page 246 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES All told, there are nearly 60 standard codes that are tracked by servers.1 Some codes remain unused (such as 402, which was intended for micropayments, but has yet to see the light of day); others are being drafted (like 509, which indicates bandwidth limits... /path/to/your-500-page.html 249 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/ 07 3: 27 PM Page 250 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES This functionality in Apache can handle any type of error document For Windows servers running ASP.NET, the process is a bit different Open the web. config file and search for the following cluster of code: . mere click away. WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 238 7. Charlene Li, “Creating Good Online Content Experiences: Usability Beats Unique Content, Hands Down,” Forrester, October. customer needs and accommodating them before serious issues arise is necessary for retaining strong customer relationships across borders. WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 240 11 ➥ but what if I need a custom pattern?</a> WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 226 8393CH10.qxd 8/6/ 07 3:12 PM Page 226 And this might be the answer further down: <p