Make Way for Life Happens

By David Cross
The horse had escaped. And she was chasing the baby goats around the field. And the dogs just ate the bucket of chicken eggs. And I was trying to change a diaper. Then, when I got out into our pasture, I discovered that the water in the sheep’s trough had frozen overnight, and they were bleating and looking forlornly at the ice.

Ten minutes later, everything had calmed down. Crises averted, I returned to my computer and what I had been working on. Just before all hell broke loose, I’d succeeded at the seemingly impossible task of finding a string of connecting flights between the U.S. and three European countries for a business trip I am making this summer.

I was at the “click to book” point.

[click]…
“We are sorry but your session has timed-out due to inactivity.”

“Inactivity! What the…?”

Twenty minutes later, I finally managed to get the entire trip booked. That frustrating little incident got me thinking about how websites so often let down their visitors – and what more you can, and should, be doing for your own customers.

Life happens – and it often gets in the way. But how many websites actually take that fact into consideration? For instance, why don’t website forms with a time restriction offer the user the ability to save what they’ve already entered if they’re unexpectedly called away before they’re done?

Or how about another bugbear of mine: Only after you’ve completed a website’s form does it tell you that your phone number should be formatted in a certain way or that your password “must contain a minimum of eight letters and numbers, one of which must be a capital letter.” Or that you must not enter your credit card number with any spaces. Er… um… but mine HAS a space in it.

Take a look at your own website right now. Look at it through your customers’ eyes. And see if any of these little gremlins are lurking – places where you or your programmer made an assumption about what your customers should already know. And then vanquish those hidden problems forever.

[Ed. Note: David Cross was Senior Internet Consultant for Agora Inc., August 2002 – January 2010.]
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This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2341, 04-28-08], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.