[thelist] targeting effectively

David Kutcher david_kutcher at hotmail.com
Sun Mar 24 17:09:02 CST 2002


> except that this promotes leaving users out in the cold...
It promotes targeting.  If I'm a company that doesn't sell products to China
nor is willing to ship internationally, must I support other languages
besides English?  Must my site support non-english character types?  Or can
I make the decision to exclude non-US users?

> if you built the site to be browser/OS/device/JS independent, it'll still
work as
> new browsers and platforms are released... otherwise, the client has to
> constantly keep you around to maintain and update their site to work on
> newer systems, fix bugs, etc...
So, when Netscape 6 was released, you didn't have to go back and make fixes
because it failed to adequately support various features?

> some may like that scenario, it keeps the money coming in... but it's a
> disservice to the client, and ultimately, once the client figures this
out, you've
> lost a client and all the other leads and projects they would have brought
your
> way...
It's a disservice to create a site that must be completely redesigned and
developed if the client is ignorant of why the decisions were made, but if
target specifications are agreed upon, why is this a disservice to the
client?  It might be a disservice to a user, but the company makes the
decision whom to target.

> so, instead you have to maintain many templates just to make it work for
all
> users?  essentially, that's what you would do... and what % is the
cut-off?
That's the whole purpose of XML/XSLT, styling, and browser/device types.  To
be able to create a styled page that effectively targets that user's device
with minimal coding.  It's not MANY templates, it's one template with the
ability to effectively transform to be displayed properly on the user's
device.

> and how does that % bear out?  how many of the lost customers had money
> to spend?  have influence on others?
Is that MY decision or my CLIENT's decision?  If I can prove that the site I
create for them with javascript, flash, etc. makes them more money because
it retains their customers better at the expense of the few users that are
not able to even view their site, then this technique worked, did it not?

> and when do you make new templates?  how quickly after a browser is
released?
If a client makes the determination that they want to expand their target
audience to include another device, then again, it's another styling of the
same template, not a recoding of the entire site.  content != interface.
separation of the two and the use of styling makes this relatively easy.

> because "wowing" is, by definition, just that... if you were truly
offering
> enhanced capability, that would be one thing, but i haven't seen JS do
that
> well enough for me yet...
Most of the CMS interfaces that I have developed rely HEAVILY on javascript.
And javascript was the most effective way of creating the interface while
maintaining a high level of usability.

> you've got a much different client base than i... most of mine are down
with
> accessiblity, usability, cross-browser support, and future compatibility
without
> building me into their business...
I think mine have a good idea of whom they want to target and have been
online and in business long enough to make decisions.  They don't see the
entire world as their customers, but instead have market research that tells
them pretty effectively who their customers are and how they surf the web.
With that information, we target them in the most effective way possible
because we KNOW who they are and how they are surfing.  Moving a company
onto the web that is taking the buckshot approach (scatter shots as widely
as possible) is not what I consider a winning proposition.

David
www.confluentforms.com





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