Comments on: Why do corporate websites suck?

By: Jeff Ogden

Jeff Ogden — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:28:08 +0000

Max at Clickable introduced me to your blog, David. B2B websites suck for all the reasons you state and one more — customers are looking to solve business problems. Corporate websites talk about our company, our products, our services and our customers. Problem is that buyers don’t care.

Websites should focus on customer problems and personas. Almost none do.

I also invite you to visit my blog. http://www.fearlesscompetitor.com. All the best.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor

By: Paul Kerstein

Paul Kerstein — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:39:41 +0000

David,

I think that this video says it all. Reminds me of a couple of redesigns I worked on as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gUVmdGGc-U

By: Mark Cahill

Mark Cahill — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:58:50 +0000

Personally, I have long fantasized about driving a stake through the heart of a stakeholder…

The corporate website is a tangle of compromise, bound together with a web of conflicted goals. It’s chance of success is inversely proportional to the number of people in the “decision matrix” or on the “design review board” more than 2 or three and the chances of success plummet.

Lengthy approval processes assure that we’ll be featuring stale content, while review boards introduce the concept of “Mutually Assured Mediocrity.”

15 years as a corporate webmaster has taught me that there absolutely must be a single point of responsibility.

By: jim Forbes

jim Forbes — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:14:34 +0000

I really hope that someone would commission Thomas Kinkade to design their website. the possibilities therein are so funny, i’d have to repeatedly change my underwear.

jimF

By: David Churbuck

David Churbuck — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:08:19 +0000

Purple version? There were so many and it wasn’t until the last one – the Rare Medium tear sheet template — that the site found it’s identity. Still hanging onto that blue id for the past 9 years

By: Charles

Charles — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:22:31 +0000

I do–though in its way it was actually pretty cool. It was the Capitalist Tool/Digital Tool trope and it worked in a half-assed early Internet kind of way. Not a great way to sell ads, though, but at that point I think we were just all sort of amazed that it worked at all. The godawful purple version, however, was truly the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. Thank god no one came to the site in those days so only a handful of us know of the abomination of which I speak. I try to forget about it.

By: Nano Broyles

Nano Broyles — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:40:57 +0000

this is hysterical… thomas kinkade painter of light… did you ever see the 60 minutes story on him? unreal.

By: Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal » Blog Archive » The case for American Airlines’ website redesign

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:57:44 +0000

[...] Got to know about the American Airlines thingy from David Churbuck’s blog post! Share [...]

By: David Churbuck

David Churbuck — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:29:38 +0000

Charles — remember the round one with the tools? Saws and hammers and shit? Those were the days when I learned never to trust a designer.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:29:14 +0000

David,

I think part of the problem is that companies try to manage the user around the site, trying to funnel them here and there all with the aim of getting the money.

It would be interesting to see the difference in commerce sites vs purely informational website designs.

If the site were organized based on value to the customer rather than value to the site owner (business), there might well be a difference as well.

Perhaps too much focus on user behavior and not enough on experience, with emphasis on understanding and delivering the kind of experience the USER wants to have.

I think this happens because business objectives get in the way – companies have revenue targets they are trying to back into via promotions, click throughs, average cart value measures, etc, rather than thinking of their site as providing a service and trying to make it an exceptional and rewarding one.

Mark