[thelist] selection refining application

Isaac Forman isaac at triplezero.com.au
Fri Sep 1 01:25:47 CDT 2000


(resending cos this msg didn't appear to make it through earlier. apologise if
it ends up duplicated.)


hey,

here's a quick and somewhat confused question.

we're hoping to build a little application that steps people through a process
of selecting a product based on a couple of factors. it'll ask them a few
questions, and based on their responses, present them with the product/service
most likely to be of interest to them.

i've seen this kinda thing done before to help people choose a digital camera
("are you willing to pay a little bit more if it gets you higher resolution?")
or a dog ("do you have a large backyard? do you have children? are you looking
to increase the security of your property? etc)

the three factors involved are cost, time, and speed.

we're hoping that by the end of the question process, we can match a user to one
of the services. a service, for example might be rated 5:1:5 (expensive, brief
amount of time, maximum speed).


has anyone done something like this before? any suggestions on how to accomplish
it?


im thinking that the answers to each question could effect a user's personal
ratio, which we then try to match with the available services at the end.

for example, clicking: "i am willing to put up with a slower service if it means
that i reduce my monthly cost" would lower their speed ratio, but also lower
their cost component.


maybe the application would begin by initiating each user with a ratio of 2:2:2,
and then 5 questions later, try to match their ratio with the closest service?

should the question path be linear, or is it achievable to use more of a tree
format. for example, when asked what matters most to you, clicking "price" puts
you on the "cheapskate" pathway. if you then later indicate that maybe speed
does matter after all, you branch off, or hop over to the speed pathway.

anyway, before i confuse myself any further, i'll see if anyone else has any
ideas/advice.

one thing we are considering is, is using flash to make the process quicker for
the user. ie, instead of answering a question, and then waiting for a page to
reload with the next, it'd jump them to the next screen, or the next "area"
within a large 2d/3d space of pathways.



isaac






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