Usability, My Lesson Learned

Anyone who has visited Market to the Moment in the last couple of weeks, will probably have experienced problems with my contact forms. It was my own fault for not checking the fine details, that is prevented them from working properly.

Hopefully, I’ve taken the appropriate steps to remedy the situation.

My own lack of attention to detail reminded me of a similar situation that I had a few weeks ago with one of the associations that I work with. At the time I was frustrated because it seemed like such huge oversight on their part, but now that I have essentially created the same situation, I understand how these things can happen sometimes.

I had received an invitation to register for a golf tournament that is being hosted by the association. It was very flattering, and I was excited about the opportunity to network with other people within the industry. I eagerly began registration process.
The registration required two steps:

1. Fill out the Registration Form
2. Send a cheque payable to the organization

I was soon at a loss in the process as two items in the package seemed to be missing:

1. The Registration Form
2. An address to forward my signed cheque

Two huge faults in the usability of their direct mailing.

I know what you are thinking, check the outside of the envelope. I did, believe me. This one was a little beyond my own common sense. The mailing had been forwarded from another association of which they had partnered to reduce the cost of the mailing.

A search of their website also proved fruitless as well. The only contact information was an info@ email address, and who knew how long it would take to get a response.

I resorted to calling the contact on the cover letter. After a lengthy phone call and step by step process of navigating their website, I was finally directed to the appropriate registration form. The phone call closed with a verbally relayed address, which solved the second problem.

Had I not wanted the marketing opportunity that badly, I would have given up much more quickly.

The moral of the story: Usability is a very important factor in communicating with your potential customers.

We can’t just assume that things are working. Pieces get lost in the shuffle, website links can become “un-linked”, and sometimes in our hurry we just forget the most important details.

I learned my lesson after having several test emails bounce back. Not only my own, but those of a generous friend, who is extremely patient.

Pamela Weir is a Marketing Copywriter. If you are looking for a sales writer with experience creating website content, press releases, squeeze pages, and sales pages, please visit her Copywriting Services page for more information.

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