Yearning for Web site simplicity
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Early this fall, The New York Times noted that Procter & Gamble planned to launch a multi-million dollar campaign to reinforce Ivory's heritage ofpurity. Although its advertising agency did dream up the heretical idea ofslipping in about a thousand bars that actually sink (lucky purchaserscould be eligible for a quarter of a million dollars), the campaign'sfocus, according to marketing director Alexandra Lipinski is purenostalgia. In a troubling age defined by new threats to our personalsecurity, Lipinski told the Times that this initiative will "help bringIvory to the forefront of consumers' minds as they think about simplifyingtheir lives."
Simplicity may be the new mantra of our age. The Wall Street Journal'spersonal technology columnist Walter Mossberg mused that too many hardwareand software companies still don't understand the importance of makingtheir products easy to use. Advertising Age scanned the e-commercelandscape at the onset of yet another critical Christmas season for onlineretailers and proclaims "Top Marketers Focus and Simplify Web Sites."
Ironically, this yearning for simplicity remains closely tied to ourenjoyment for all things complex. We don't consider how the water reachedthe bathtub, or why a Palm Pilot works when we press a button. We coverthese complex systems with a veneer of simplicity, so we can use themeffortlessly. Unfortunately, too many Web sites fail to achieve this featand instead present information in a manner that may be too complex formany users to fully understand or utilize.
Is there a simple way to make things simple? Yes, if we recognize that when we communicate, all of the participating parties are interdependent of each other, especially in regards to the Internet, a medium that encouragesclose interaction. First, you need a common language, so that both partiesassign the same meaning to words or imagery. Second, you need sharedexperiences, so that your messages fall within the correct context. Third,you need reciprocal intelligence. In other words, does the intelligence ofthe speaker match the intelligence of the audience? You can only be assmart as the least intelligent person within the group you address.
A site automatically establishes intellectual requirements for its use by the way it incorporates these three elements of interdependence. Even Web beginners can use a search engine, such as Google, because it eliberately strives to keep these intellectual requirements at a bare minimum. On the other hand, sites that appeal to more specific audiences, such as Slashdot,impose greater requirements on its participants. As the common connections between site and user become narrower, only people with specialized knowledge will find value from these Web properties. Everyone else will essentially be shut out.
Of course, the Internet never needed to consider interdependence in itsnascent years, because it catered to one of the most sophisticated andintelligent audiences in the history of this planet. These early usersembraced what 95 percent of the populace would have considered intolerable.Today, the audiences are broader and more diverse, and complexity, once ahighly regarded badge of intellectual prowess, represents a majorvulnerability.
Consider the theories of David Keys, an archaeology correspondent for the London daily, The Independent. To demonstrate the inherent weaknesses that lie within a structure with too many internal interdependencies, hechronicled a turbulent period within the middle of the first millennium, inwhich a series of climatic calamities and pandemics brought down everymajor established civilization within a century's time. The era's mostmodern societies had become too complex to adjust to the changes aroundthem. Yet, their less sophisticated rivals thrived. Simplicitydramatically won out over complexity in a high stakes battle for survival.
Common sense dictates that sites that make themselves easy to use willattract greater audiences than cumbersome, complex alternatives. When Websites strive to reduce the interdependencies that define their relationshipwith their audience, they, in turn, will automatically reduce thecomplexities that discourage usage in the first place. Web sites thatinclude non-intuitive navigational links, rely heavily on regionalcolloquialisms, or require visitors to possess specialized knowledge becomehostage to the perseverance and aptitude of potential visitors who must nowdetermine how to get past these intellectual "roadblocks."
When we weigh down our sites with components that increaseinterdependencies, we are no different than the marketers who createsinking bars of Ivory Soap. When we extract the extraneous, clarify ourmessages, and most of all, listen to our audiences, our sites obtain adegree of purity that allow them float by their competitors.
Mike Sockol is a senior vice president and interactive practice leader at Makovsky & Company, a full service, award winning communications firm based in New York.
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