(Author’s note: this is an unreleased post from February 2009, which I’ve recently updated due to Zoomerang making some good changes to their website [good job Zoomerang!]. The process is a good exploration of user interface design consultations we do).

Do you have an easy-to-navigate arts website?

What information can we glean for our arts websites from the homepages of commercial companies? Turns out, quite a bit. Let’s look at online survey providers Zoomerang and Survey Monkey as examples. It’s a no-brainer that your website should be easy to navigate. People should be able to find the information they need, with a minimum number of clicks, and there should be as few things to steal my attention away as possible. No annoying ads (are you really making any money with google ads on your site? If not, take them down), no “website hosted by” badges, etc. Just the facts about your organization ma’am. But as I’ll show you in this article using Zoomerang and Survey Monkey as examples, we need to go deeper to make sure we’re displaying what are patrons are looking for right away.

I needed to do some research on online survey capabilities for one of our clients, an ethnic dance festival. I know that Zoomerang and Survey Monkey are the Coke and Pepsi of the online survey world, and for this round, I just needed to know:

• How much does using the service cost  for how long
• Does the service offer secure, encrypted surveys via SSL (https:// style), and how much was that in addition to the regular cost.

Pretty simple laundry list. Before I go into this article in detail, just a note to say that I have no real affiliation with either Zoomerang or Survey Monkey, other than I have used both of their products in the past for various reasons, and found them both to be robust, capable, online survey programs. I do have an acquaintance at Zoomerang that I know through a previous position, and at one time we discussed some potential contract work related to Zoomerang, but I didn’t end up doing any work for them.

I took a look at SurveyMonkey first:

Survey Monkey's homepage as of 2-15-09

I saw the pricing button right away, and after clicking on that, I was able to see that my client could pay for a couple months of service and that would work for them.

Survey Monkey's pricing page

Survey Monkey didn’t have anything on the homepage about SSL being a feature, but they did have a “need help” in the upper right corner, and so I clicked it and got a search area. I typed in SSL and got the response “What is SSL encryption and what level do you offer?” where I found that I could add it for $9.95 a month. That’s all the info I needed.

When I went to Zoomerang, I searched the homepage, but couldn’t see any clear area to go to see pricing information:

Zoomerang's homepage as of 2-15-09

So I clicked on “online surveys” thinking I would get more information (which was a little odd because I originally thought that online surveys is all that Zoomerang offers, but that is not the case it seems). On that page I could see some pricing information, but it was written in such a way that I couldn’t tell for sure if I needed to sign up for a whole year at a time, or if I could just pay monthly:

Zoomerang's "online surveys" page

One might be tempted by the multiple “sign up now” and “use it free” buttons, but we all know that the free version isn’t going to have everything the paid version does. We want to know what those differences are before we sign up for anything. SurveyMonkey gave us a nice chart, but I don’t see an obvious chart on Zoomerang.

I also got stopped up for a minute considering the links on the left for “Event Planning,” “For Business,” “Non-profit,” etc. It seems that Zoomerang wants me to self-identify with one of these categories, perhaps to offer me a special deal. But as a user, let’s say I’m a small theatre company. I’m a non-profit, so that fits. But aren’t I also a business too? And if I’m doing a survey about an upcoming event, does that mean that I am “event planning”? Author Barry Schwartz (watch him in this video) in his book “The Paradox of Choice” says that when people are presented with too many options, they become paralyzed to taking any step. One of the reasons they become paralyzed is that they are unsure if they will make the “wrong” choice and miss out on the “best” option.

I never did find any search on Zoomerang that allowed me to look for SSL as an option, or any feature page that mentioned it. But I didn’t look for more than a minute or so. That’s about all the time you can ask somebody to search for something on your site.

How does an easy to navigate site impact your arts group’s website?

What information are people looking for on your arts website? And how is that information being displayed to the user in a useful way? If you are a presenting organization, people are probably looking for an easy way to see how much tickets cost (including fees, people don’t like surprises). Do you list the ticket prices with associated fees right on the page for your event? Or do you just have the user find out the actual costs once they start to buy a ticket in the checkout process? Displaying the former will lead to more people doing the latter.

Are there useless choices on your arts website, that clutter things up and increase my choices to click, without helping me to buy a ticket or find the info I need? Remove them. Google ads that aren’t bringing in any money? Remove them. Links to individual past shows on your homepage? Put them on a separate page called “Our Past Shows” and link to it from the homepage.  Are there directions to get to your location as a link from the homepage, or are the buried under a “contact us” page? I shouldn’t need to contact you to ask for directions on how to get to your theater, so why would I expect to find that information under the “contact us” page?

It’s these sorts of things that when done right, give patrons the subconscious idea that you have a “good” website. They are able to find what they need quickly and easily, with a minimum of thought. “Bad” websites “make you think” as you hunt to find the information. Remove anything that is unneeded and dilutes my choices. Allow me to search your site for a keyword I may be looking for so I can find the information. And put things on pages where I expect to find them (such as finding directions on a page called “directions” and not on “contact us”).

Ultimately, it was my recommendation to the client that they use SurveyMonkey, because I was able to find the information I needed quickly, and that gave me the confidence that using their system would be just as easy for the client. Don’t get me wrong, Zoomerang is a great system, but their website could use improvement to the ease of getting the information I’m looking for.

How does your arts website stack up as far as ease of use? Want to have it evaluated? Email us and we’ll take a look. We may even feature it on an upcoming blogpost!

UPDATE — August 25, 2009

Zoomerang has made a few changes for the better to their homepage design:

Zoomerang has made changes to their homepage -- you can find pricing easier now.

They’ve reduced the clutter, added an attractive face, and most importantly, included a choice to get to the pricing information quickly. This is a great improvement. There still is no search capability that I can see, and under the “Online surveys” tab at the top they still have the difficult to understand list of the surveys they have for different groups (nonprofit, business, etc.) but I think what they’ve done in this round is a good step towards a more friendly and easy to use site. Keep it coming Zoomerang!

What incremental change for the better can you make to your site? Have us review your web presence and tell you simple, low-cost user interface improvements. Contact us to have us take a look.

Ron

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Markets are down, raise your marketing up!

Difficult economic times call for different ways of thinking about marketing. From arts organizations looking to fill a seat, to restaurant managers trying to sell a dinner, the issue is the same: how to keep patrons coming in and participating with your organization.

In many cases, an organization’s first response to needing to save money in a down economy is to cut costs, and often times the first budget to go is marketing. But when you stop to think about it, marketing is one of the only direct expense-to-income streams you have. Marketing is a revenue generator, not simply an expense, so your organization should be budgeting to market MORE in a down economy, and to market smartly as much as possible. Let’s talk about some easy ways to do this with a goal of not raising expenses or reducing revenues.

Let them know you care

First things first. Your patrons want to know that you understand what’s going on with the economy, and that you realize that it may be harder for them to participate with you. Let them know that you feel their pain, and “sell into the market” by changing your message to reflect your understanding. As an example, theater companies should let their patrons know about existing “pay as you go nights,” opportunities to usher before a show, or even ways to volunteer with the organization in return for access to performances. You may just get a long-term set of helping hands to move you forward. A restaurant can easily mention their regular happy hour specials, with a slant to “fill up on our great appetizers.” It gets them in the door, without a need to discount your product.

Sell them on the benefits

What are the benefits of going to a musical performance or having a nice dinner out? How do those things change when society is stressed by the economy? Focus on relaxation, peace of mind, fun with friends, and “escape” to your patrons — all things that “get them away from it all,” even for a short time. Starbucks became successful because people found that they could enjoy a small indulgence for just a couple of dollars. People are looking for excuses to “treat themselves,” especially when they have already decided to curtail their big vacations and new tv purchases, and savvy marketers should jump to fill in the gap.

Offer helpful information that allows people to participate more easily

Are there factors around participation with your organization that you can help streamline for your patrons? Is your venue near public transportation? Let your customers know they can save money on parking by taking the train to your stop. Are there other things to do nearby that could save time for them? Remember the coffeeshop/laundry combination, where people drop off their clothes and then go next door for a cup a joe? Examine the process that someone needs to go through to participate with you, from calling to make a reservation or buying a ticket, to getting back home again, and look for ways to turn lemons into marketing lemonade.

Make partnerships and market together

Who nearby has a business or service that is complimentary to your own? Arts groups and restaurants make wonderful partners. As an example, let’s say an arts group and a restaurant both have an email list of 1000 people, respectively. Both can, of course, create a special offer that gives their customers 25% off their product. Unfortunately, this creates discounted revenue from people that are knowledgeable about your organization and are already ok with paying the full regular price. While promotions based on price can be effective in getting new customers, you should avoid using price to try to influence existing customers.

If the arts group partners with the restaurant however, its easy to send a 25% food discount offer to the arts patrons, without discounting their arts event ticket price. The restaurant gets exposed to 1000 new people vs. their same old list. In reverse, the restaurant would send a discount arts ticket offer to its restaurant patrons, as a benefit to an experience to be had after dinner. Both groups double their exposure, and provide a benefit without cannibalizing their existing customers with a discount offer of their own. Powerful and effective collaborative marketing at its best.

Add value instead of discounting

It can be difficult to resist the powerful urge to use price as a way to market to your existing customers. But tough times do call for a little more “bang for your buck” to get people in the door. Instead of offering a discount, what can you add of value to the experience? Can you create a value that does not cost you money where one did not exist before? It could be as simple as getting your email list to respond to an offer for priority seating in your general admission theater — let folks who respond to the offer into the theater first as a benefit to being on your email list, and then open it up to everybody else. Doesn’t cost your organization anything, but creates a value idea of “getting the best seats.” Talkback sessions with your show’s director or cast members are another free and easy value, that also helps people to understand the work to a greater degree. Or tell your restaurant patrons that on Thursday nights, the executive chef will come to each table and explain the history and the influences of the dishes he or she has created. Again, that knowledge exists, the chef exists, and you can create an interesting, valuable benefit for free, where one didn’t exist before.

When times are tough, organizations that market smartly can create revenue in new and interesting ways, that get the attention of the public. While people may quickly get used to discounts, you stand a great chance at getting and keeping their attention by creating promotions that bring value to their lives in other ways. Get your marketing team together and brainstorm on some of these no-cost ways to drive participation, and odds are you’ll enjoy no-risk rewards!

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