In last month’s column, I brought up the idea that the first impression your web site makes can have a bigger impact than many of the more traditional design considerations we tend to regularly obsess about. My theory is that users’ gut-level reactions when seeing a new site for the first time—and the split-second judgments they make about the site based on that first impression—have a major influence on the likelihood that they’ll ever end up transacting with that organization. I was intrigued to find that the amount of time it takes a major league baseball hitter to decide whether to swing at a given pitch is exactly the same amount of time it takes web users to start forming judgments about a site. The magic number for both turns out to be 0.05 seconds, or 50 milliseconds. Which is way faster than we can think consciously.

I decided to test this concept a bit at some recent speaking events. During my presentation, I show the audience a glimpse of two different sites, flashing each up on screen for about half a second (as fast as PowerPoint would let me). I then asked the audience which site they’d rather do business with. The results have been overwhelmingly one-sided. Almost everyone chooses the second site. When I ask people why they chose the site they preferred, they used words like “professional” and “credible.” For the losing site, they used terms like “small-time” and “cheap.”

Ouch. Pretty harsh judgments for a split-second view.

Read the full article on SearchEngineLand >

Question: What do web users and professional athletes have in common?

Answer: They both make fast decisions about their next action based on limited information in the blink of an eye.

This thought occurred to me as I was reading How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. It’s quite an amazing book. I say that because it’s a book about brain science and psychology (ooh, gotta get me some of that) and yet it’s really fun to read. Seriously.

The thrust of the book is that the traditional model of how human beings make decisions based on either a rational or emotional basis is flat wrong. Instead, the author’s position is that we make decisions using both our rational and emotional minds simultaneously.

Pretty heady stuff, to be sure. But Lehrer weaves in such compelling and well-written stories that otherwise dry subject matter really comes to life. I was reading a passage about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s decision-making ability on the field when the similarities between his thought process and that of a new user arriving at a site for the first time hit me.

Here are the lessons I took away from the first part of the book:

Read the full article on Search Engine Land >

One of the coolest parts of being an author is receiving unannounced foreign language copies of your book in the mail. Last week we received the Polish version, which they apparently named “E-Business.” So watch out, Czech Republic; Poland just gained a competitive advantage.

Sandra is upset about a minor color shift in the cover design. And that button label is way too long! But otherwise it looks very nice - great job on retaining the page layouts!

For the English version and related freebies, visit http://www.WebDesignForROI.com.

I’m not a big fan of TV. But my wife and I decided to cancel our satellite TV service effective next week, so I’ve found myself watching more TV than ever recently, trying to squeeze the most out of my remaining days. I guess Cinderella was right: You don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.

Anyhow, my wife and I cracked up the other night at a TV commercial that’s had me laughing ever since. The commercial involves two characters: a guy and a llama. The guy (who looks suspiciously llama-like himself) chews on a Starburst, which makes him look exactly like the llama chewing cud (or whatever llamas eat). Then you see the guy’s arm feeding the llama a Starburst, which it continues chewing. Then when the shot switches back to the guy, you see a llama’s arm (Leg? Paw? Hoof?) reach up and feed the guy a Starburst. It’s unexpected and funny, which makes it memorable. I’d argue that it’s a rare example of a TV ad that does a brilliant job of branding.

It did this by appealing to multiple senses. Most TV ads use both video and audio, thus playing to our sense of sight and sound. This ad went further by playing off the unique chewiness of Starburst candy in such a funny way. It was easy to imagine being the funny-looking guy, chewing the candy yourself (touch), savoring the flavor (taste) and inhaling the aroma (smell) with your llama-esque nose.

The essence of branding

Branding has been on my mind a lot lately because I just finished reading “Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy” by Martin Lindstrom. It’s a fascinating book that provides great insight into how branding really works in the minds of consumers. It also explains how most companies get branding wrong by continuing to focus on stale advertising tactics and logo design instead of engaging consumers’ senses and emotions. The author conducted research using brain scanning technology to see how consumers really react to various types of stimuli associated with brands. It’s a very compelling read that yields some eye-opening takeaways about how human beings are wired.

… Read the full article on Search Engine Land >

In two weeks the SXSW Interactive Show begins and we at CLM couldn’t be more fired up. This year we’re taking the entire company to the show and have a whole range of activities planned. I’m not normally one to hype things, but if you’re thinking about attending SXSW Interactive, consider this a plug to go. It’s the single best conference I’ve ever attended. And if you’re going to be there, please stop by and see us at one of the events listed below.

Why We Like SXSW

Last year Sandra and I attended SXSWi for the first time to promote our book and we walked away completely hooked. You can check out Sandra’s summary of our experience at last year’s event here.

We didn’t know what to expect when we landed in Austin last year. We were vaguely aware of the SXSW Music and Film festivals, but SXSW Interactive hadn’t even been on our radar prior to then. But after only an hour at the show, it was clear there was something radically different going on here. The programming made you actually think. The panelists were truly interesting people who had something valuable to say. And yes, there were a number of famous people. But what made the biggest impact on me was the other attendees.

I can’t completely put my finger on it, but there was something different about these people. The open-mindedness, the passion for the Web, the desire to make a difference. These people had all that. But I also had the sense that these people could – and would - actually DO the things being talked about, instead of just talking about them. The people and the nature of the event itself created this hum and buzz wherever we went that was just intoxicating. Having done the event/speaking circuit for a number of years, I don’t know that I’d point to any show as being so good for business and the soul as SXSW.

What’s CLM Doing at SXSW?

As I mentioned in the beginning, the entire team is going (we’re not into doing things halfway). In a way, this is the annual company meeting, only with better music and no conference rooms. Yes, we’ll be attending the panels during the days and partying down during the nights. But we’re really going to help promote the company. Here’s a snapshot of our participation:

#1: At the SXSW Film + Interactive Trade Show
Austin Convention Center, Level 4, Grand Ballroom, Booth 616/717

• Saturday, March 14, Noon – 6pm
• Sunday, March 15, Noon – 6pm
• Monday, March 16, Noon – 4pm

For the first time in CLM history, we’re exhibiting at a Trade Show. As skeptics of exhibiting, we’re looking to make this fun, interactive and valuable to visitors. So stop by our booth for a free, no-obligation one-on-one SEM Assessment or Conversion Consultation. Or just enter to win a really nice bottle of wine.

(Read the full article…)