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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: November 04, 2002 Study: For Site Cred, Looks Matter -- "Although consumers taking part in the research were aware of important factors such as quality of information when they were judging a site's credibility, the bells and whistles of its design also held sway, the Stanford study showed." (Comments: When it comes to credibility, does this mean that designers and programmers are more important than usability specialists?)
Reader Comments...
Credibility is a component of perception and is also individualistic – what you may use as your criteria for credibility may not be mine for example. A first viewing of a site may convey a level of credibility but research has been done to show that user very quickly make up the difference when reality sets in. In summary the results showed that users perceive something to be a certain way, but very quickly reality sets in and thus the users perception changes. I guess what this really means is that designers and programmers are important, but they are part of the equation as usability play an important par tin setting reality - thus repeat visits etc.
But it shouldn't. Posted by: on November 5, 2002 11:22 AM
To answer, I will assume that the design is generally agreed on to be a clean, pleasing design ("good" design to one is "fresh-outta-college-design-nighmare" to another). Of the three, I think design is the most important. Bottom line: people are visual creatures. If I go to a website that doesn't look good to me, I'll leave - I don't care how well it works. That company didn't take the time or invest the money to put together a good site, so how can I trust them? Design is backed up by solid programming and good usability. You can't have a site without programming, but you can get away with poor usability; it's just that you may not get away with it twice. Usability retains customers. It's like customer service design. It's essential to a well-rounded website, but when I come in I don't think, "Wow, what a clever way to handle this problem!" I think, "Nice design. Someone obviously thought this through and put some effort into it. These colors are soothing/exciting/attractive." Posted by: Lydia on November 5, 2002 05:36 PM
Speaking personally (and as a web professional) I often assume a site with obviously amatuer design comes from a less credible organisation. I know this often wrong!! but I can't help making the association between credibility and the amount of money/time people spend on their website. Often a site that has had a lot of work put into the functionality and content, will also have a professional looking design. For example - I will not buy products from website with repeating background images - crazy but true. Posted by: on November 6, 2002 08:55 PM
I am so with you on that one, Mr. Anon. I try to convince my employers of this every day. I'd bring them here, only I don't want them to see how I spend my extra time! (grin) Posted by: Lydia on November 7, 2002 03:29 PM
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