Another premiere Web site design book

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Product Description

Usability is not enough. This book shows what it takes to design a site so browsers become buyers: the ultimate measurement of success for an e-commerce site. Designing Persuasive Web Sites: Submit Now examines how customers search, evaluate, and make decisions realistically-not using marketing guesstimates.This book focuses on changing the mindset from selling to customers to helping them buy. It begins by exploring how customers make decisions and how that integrates with the online experience. It presents tangible design ideas that can be instantly applied to sites to make them more effective. Real examples are used to provide insight and inspiration that can be directly applied to a multitude of sites. The book provides a simplified description of the essential process necessary for designing a site that gets visitors to click. It concludes with guidelines to for designing any transaction-oriented site.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #581426 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From the Back Cover
Usability is not enough. This book shows what it takes to design a site so browsers become buyers: the ultimate measurement of success for an e-commerce site. Designing Persuasive Web Sites: Submit Now examines how customers search, evaluate, and make decisions realistically-not using marketing guesstimates.This book focuses on changing the mindset from selling to customers to helping them buy. It begins by exploring how customers make decisions and how that integrates with the online experience. It presents tangible design ideas that can be instantly applied to sites to make them more effective. Real examples are used to provide insight and inspiration that can be directly applied to a multitude of sites. The book provides a simplified description of the essential process necessary for designing a site that gets visitors to click. It concludes with guidelines to for designing any transaction-oriented site.

About the Author
Andrew Chak is an award-winning Information Architect and User Experience Designer based in Toronto. His work for clients such as Deustche Bank, General Motors, Thomas Cook, New York Life, and American Express has given him background and insight into how customers transact on the Web. A speaker at InternetWorld, WebNYC, WebChicago, WebLA, WebDC, and Web2000, Andrew's presentation at December 2000 C/Net Builder conference in New Orleans was voted one of the top ten best by attendees.

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Customer Reviews

A wonderful primer for the designer starting in e-commerce
What a wonderfully educating book with tons of ideas on persuading site visitors to take action and click! Andrew Chak has a winner with this "first of it's kind book." While the bookshelves are filled with information and visual design books, Submit Now is the first to present best practices, tips & tricks on creating an e-commerce site which motivates browsers, evaluators, transactors and current customers to act on your site. The tone is very much like Steve Krug's book "Don't Make Me Think," with little chunks of humor thrown in for good measure. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to move their website design skills into the e-commerce domain.

The potential to vastly improve everyone's online experience
I've been involved in Website design and implementation since 1996. I don't claim to be the top designer, but the success of my sites gives me enough stature to comment on a book like this. First, the downside of this book: It was published in 2003. Consequently, some of the references and information in it are a bit dated. But when you understand the points Chak makes in this book--that doesn't matter. The upside of this book is quite substantial.

When I began reading this, I figured it would be smart to keep a notepad next to the book because I'd probably pick up a pointer or two. I ended up with copious notes and several things to follow up on.

I've read umpteen books, newsletters, articles, and e-mails about Website design. Many of them propose the "right" way to implement a site. That way is "right" because it's the way that particular author does it. Fortunately, Chak stays above the fray, not even venturing into that territory. Instead, he focuses on the theme of getting your Website's visitors to do what you want them to do.

Most "how to do a Website" authors seem to forget why anyone has a Website in the first place--they get lost in the glitzy stuff and forget the site visitor. Chak stays keenly aware of the visitor throughout the entire book. In fact, five of the eight chapters are about Website visitors.

If you have a Website for any reason other than self-stroking your ego, then Chak's book is a "must read." Each chapter provides a solid explanation of key concepts for going beyond simple usability. That's where you want to go. You want to convert visitors into customers.

Chak isn't yet another Web designer who can sling a line of BS and then call it a book. He's a Web designer who has worked for major clients and has amassed the expertise that comes from that experience. He's also a solid researcher, and you can see this in his real-world examples. Add to this the fact that he's a great writer who communicates clearly and you have all the ingredients for an excellent book on Web design. After you read this book, you'll see why Chak is also in demand as a speaker at Web conferences.

This book has the potential to vastly improve the online experience for everybody. The trick to making that happen is to get all Webmasters to buy a copy, read it carefully, and implement what they learned. We can always hope....

A note on style and composition: Form is important, as it dictates readability. Fortunately, this book actually uses Standard Written English (SWE). In an age where most "authors" seem oblivious to basic writing, this book stands out as one where the author actually cares about communicating to the reader. Given the subject matter, Chak's consideration for the reader is a crucial plus.

How to prove through your site that you deserve trust
It is reasonable to say that the point of web design that was most underappreciated for the longest time dealt with assumptions about surfer attitudes. While the common chant was that the Internet was the new economy that relied on brand identity and not profits, it turned out that the chanters were right that it was new, but wrong as to the reason. People did move to the web in large numbers, but were far more reluctant to purchase than anyone anticipated. Fancy graphics, marketing hype and free stuff were not enough to convince many people to buy as old marketing tactics proved largely ineffective.
The answer turned out to be very simple. Create a site that is well organized and make sure that the potential customer can back out of a sale at any time, even after it is consummated. The latter is your decision and requires no significant amount of web expertise to execute. Developing a site that is persuasive in appearance and organization is hard, and this book will show you how to do it. Using sites that are commercially successful, most often Amazon.com, the author shows you the simple, yet effective ways to convince a viewer that you are a site that can be trusted.
The principles that are emphasized in the book are not hard to learn and require no training in graphic design to understand. In fact, most are organizational rather than structural. Advice such as always informing a potential customer that they can opt out of a purchase goes a long way towards convincing them that you are a site to do business with. Showing them where they are on the site also helps increase the level of comfort, even among veteran web shoppers.
Online purchases continue to rise and are apparently the one bright spot in what is considered a poor Christmas 2002 shopping season. Therefore, there is money to be made via an online presence and only a fool would ignore this market. However, the difference between being there and exploiting that avenue is a large one and the information in this book will increase your chances of being profitable.