Convincing A Client To Change
Do you remember the time before cell phones or the internet? When the only way to call someone was by a telephone or a payphone on the street? Or to find a business or service, you needed to use the Yellow Pages? That is how I grew up, and I look back on that time and relish those memories. As we have all heard before, life was much simpler then.
So what does that have to do with web design? There are many projects I have done, where I have used those simple times as inspiration for for fixes in simple design themed websites.
Back then, when you had a problem, you used the simplest and easiest way to fix it. So taking this philosophy, and applying it to a design may actually not be that far fetched. Have a problem or challenge in your design, find the simplest way to fix it.
A long time client of mine has decided on doing his third re-design. At the time of his first website, he had definite ideas on what he wanted and how to accomplish it. That first site was a tough task in getting him on board with what works and what does not, and I will admit, I lost most of that battle. That site was bulky and slow, and very difficult to navigate through, but like many new to the website world he did not budge on what he wanted because he thought he knew best.
The second version of his site saw him add a new feature to his business. His ideas were very similar as to what he wanted in the first site, and again would not budge on them. He had added a new branch to his business and the combination of these two business entities, overlapped each other and made it confusing at times.
So when he approached me with this problem, I was more than happy to finally push simplicity 100%. I was not going to take no for an answer this time, and I was going to do whatever it took to prove to him that, for him, simple was better.
So how did I go about trying to accomplish persuading this idea of a simple, minimalistic themed website to him? Here was my game plan:
First Step:
I created 3 small mock up websites, each one representing each of the 3 versions of his websites. The last would be the most current version that I was proposing to him.
The mock ups were exact copies of his previous websites except for the fact that the information on the each site dealt with a completely different topic, and none were the same as his original. Although they all dealt with different topics and services, they functioned just the same as their originals. The reason for this is explained in the next step. The mock ups were responsive as well, and that would be an important factor.
Second Step:
I then created a list of tasks for him to accomplish. These tasks asked him to gather information that he would have to look for and acquire. As I stated in the first step, the information was different so he could not cheat on his answers.
The Rules:
- He would have to perform a set of tasks that were different on each device version, each website version, and he would have to do these tasks for each mock up.
- He would have to time how long it took to accomplish each task and copy it into a form I provided for him.
- He would also have to rate on a scale of 1–5 (5 being the easiest) how hard it was to perform each task.
- He would also have to start with the oldest site, and continue in order, to the newest site that was being proposed.
- He would have to do this work in one sitting.
Third Step:
Analyze his data and see how the different designs affected the user experience.
He was not very receptive to this test. But I explained that it was worth his time because it would have a positive effect on his new site, and would help me to give him the best product I can. He then accepted the work.
The tasks were not monumental. They consisted of finding a topic on a page, getting a phone #, finding a product and a price, and things of that nature. This test was to prove to him that the bulky, overloaded, site that he had, and wanted again, would hurt him in the long run. And that visitors who get frustrated trying to find something, often give up quickly and move on resulting in the loss of a sale or new potential client.
So after he completed his work I had all I needed to prove to him that a simple, minimal themed site, was in this case, better for him.
Data for desktop version:
Task Ex. — A task to find a certain product took different times on each website, On the oldest, this task took almost 45 seconds! On the second site it took almost the same. The third, newly proposed, minimal site, took 10 seconds! And while his task difficulty for the first and second sites were 2, on the third site it was a 5.
These types of numbers were similar on all the tasks I had asked him to perform.
Then came the clincher. He had to perform them on the mobile versions, with no wifi. This is what really sealed the deal.
In this test I did ask him to also write down the load times of each page to prove a lighter weight, more minimal design, also loads faster. Again the numbers followed the same patterns as the desktop data. He actually finally understood how frustrating a slow loading webpage on a mobile phone is, when compared to one that loads quickly, like in his newest version. Coupled with the analytics data that showed most of his site visitors used mobile devices, he had no argument for me, and actually thanked me for teaching him something he did not know.
In the test, I purposely put the new, minimal site last. I did this to show him that even after performing all the tasks on the older sites, when he was tired and frustrated, the simple design was still quicker and easier, and he was able to complete all the tasks although he had been working for so long.
So in the end, I was able to convince my client, that a simple minimal design, would work better for him. His site is being developed now, and should hopefully be live by the time this article gets published.
You may say this was a long way to go to prove a point to a client, and maybe there was way too much work involved. But this is a good client who keeps me on retainer. He has paid for all his re-designs ahead of time, and has now contracted me for a second site. So in the end, this client will stay with me and hopefully we will continue to work together for years to come.
While this was a long process, which I hope to not have to do again, I am saving this data to use a case sample for future clients. Hopefully these results will be enough to sway someone else without performing the same work.
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