To communicate strategic intent, you must first know the answers to these questions:
- What do users want to do at your site?
- What do you want users to do at your site?
When a first-time user lands on your homepage—or any webpage, for that matter—it should be immediately obvious to that user, by simply scanning the screen, what can be accomplished, seen or found on that site and/or that page. Clearly and prominently focus on the action(s) that you want them to take and that they expect to take: Browse? Buy? Subscribe? Sign up? Join? Sell? The content and graphics should be well-presented and prioritized in order to guide the user’s eye to the desired action(s). A jumble of images will cause the eye to jump around and the user will become confused.
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Further, those action(s) should clearly relate to the strategic mission of the company. In order to trust the company and do business with it, site visitors must understand the deal. They must “get,” right away, what the company does, what it expects in return and what the benefits are for signing up, subscribing, joining, buying or otherwise providing information.
In the first chapter of Internet Marketing Strategy for Publishers and Authors authors Don Nicholas and Jane E. Zarem point out a few website design tips to keep in mind:
- Clear strategic intent is easier to achieve when the website has a theme, very simplified functionality and clear navigation.
- Complex websites without a clear purpose—and/or are filled with competing links and unrelated text or graphics—are ineffective because they confuse users.
- Again, users should know from the very first screen why the site is there, what it offers and how it works.
- That way people who belong there will know what to do. And people who don’t belong there will know right away that they’ve taken a wrong turn on the information highway.
- Strategic intent is, perhaps, the most important of the 14 guidelines. If users can’t figure out your website, they not only leave quickly—they won’t come back.
