Customer Reviews

Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Web Sites

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

What a pleasure to find a book on this subject that's easy to read. Andrew Chak puts forward each principle clearly, with illustrations, then at the end pulls it all together in a demonstration of how it works in the context of one example.

He divides users of ecommerce sites into browsers, evaluators, transactors and customers, and shows you how to satisfy each one. He links his ideas to persuasion techniques put forward by Robert Cialdini in "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion".

He explains that you can use six key elements of influence to change the behaviour of web site visitors:
- scarcity
- commitment and consistency
- reciprocity
- social proof
- authority
- liking.

While this book doesn't go into any great depth or subtlety, it is an excellent introduction to designing for commercial web sites. It requuires no background as an interface designer, usability expert, graphic designer, marketer or programmer, but would be helpful for all of these disciplines.

Caveat emptor -- Amazon is shipping "on-demand reprint" editions of this book, without warning. My copy seriously looks like it was printed at Kinkos on an aging black and white copier. Maybe it's a good book--I don't know, the quality bugs me so much I haven't even started it--but you should probably consider buying it from someplace that won't sell you an edition that was apparently printed in the back room of a crack house in Jersey.

I read a review by P Malan, who warned that the print quality was poor, but I ordered the book anyway. I should have listened. The shoddiness of Amazon's "on-demand" printing defies description. The pages are streaky and low-contrast, in some cases almost impossible to read. The alignment is off, so some pages are crooked or trimmed too close to the content. There is no color of course, only black and white (I should say, gray and white). In short, imagine if you were to print out this book on an old laser printer and stick a nice cover on it -- which as it turns out is exactly what Amazon did. I sent my copy back.

Amazon gets one star for product quality, but to be fair to the author, I've given the book three stars for its content. Everything in the book is good advice, but little of it is new. An excellent resource for beginners, a nice refresh for more experienced designers. If the book appeals to you, try to find it somewhere else.

This book gives a lot of practical, common-sense advice that will either give you a new perspective - or validate your instincts. All the ideas are very well organized and makes it easy to use as a reference.

Actual purpose and persuasiveness in design is often completely neglected, this is a must read for anyone doing digital design. The book is worth it's weight in gold for Chapter 6's "The Design of Everyday Pages", It has excellent design notes... really top notch.

The make believe school district of Maple View in this book may not be so make believe. After all, the purpose for writing this book is to challenge educational leaders to go beyond the comfort zone that schools have operated in culturally for a long time. With that in mind, Maple View is really a composite of many schools all over the nation that are faced with the challenges of modern education in all its complexity, growing diversity and social changes.
The authors begin with proving the case for the importance of having cultural leadership. Schools, like the community at large, reflect changing demographics, growth and the need for expansion, equal opportunities to achieve, and continued availability of appropriate resources. Like the community at large, dynamic leadership is required to meet the challenges. Where do the leaders begin? The authors say to begin with oneself and they provide the tool for discovery with the Cultural Proficiency Receptivity Scale. It is the first of many reflective tools offered in this book.
This book is written to highlight several different characters as they travel along the road to cultural proficiency. With each of the five guiding principles for culturally proficient leadership, a vignette is presented that reflects the conversation between and among characters struggling with the various issues of cultural proficiency. Then an opportunity to write and reflect in the book format is provided to the reader. This self reflection tool is an opportunity to record current thoughts and can be looked at again and again as the reader's cultural proficiency begins to grow.
Key to this book is the discussion and reflection about the next tool - the Cultural Proficiency Continuum. The Cultural Proficiency Continuum can help the reader to understand her own road to cultural proficiency and what challenges lay ahead in order to keep progressing. Once again the format is discussion, conversation, and the opportunity to reflect. The Continuum is a challenge to every reader to be honest with one self. Only then, do the authors purport that individual growth can actually take place. When individuals change, buildings can change, school districts can change, and communities can change.
The authors outline their thoughts about what leadership standards should look like and the self imposed moral obstacles that can keep leaders from creating schools that are inclusive of all students. These standards are not necessarily easy to achieve, but they are essential for cultural proficiency in schools. The authors believe that nothing less than narrowing the gaps in achievement and equity are at stake here and the culturally competent leader is deliberate in thought and action in creating the atmosphere and climate of cultural competency.
The culturally competent leader uses both formal and informal communication to keep the conversations ignited that can lead to organizational changes. Organizational changes are built upon relationships. Those relationships occur at all levels in the organization (the school) and communication is the key to building relationships. Those conversations occur every day between and among students, teachers, administrators, school personnel, parents, school board and community members. The authors describe different modes of conversation that can enhance or impede cultural proficiency and provides a final tool to use in the form of dialogs which can be utilized as practice conversations.
Lastly, the authors present a challenge to school leaders to change both personally and professionally. Cultural proficiency requires questioning assumptions, changing attitudes, and transforming environments. All leaders make choices. Choices mean commitment. A commitment to cultural proficiency can make a difference in every student's life.
This reviewer found The Culturally Proficient School and its companion books, Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders (Lindsey, R.B., Nuri Robins, K., Terrell, R.D., 2003) and Culturally Proficient Instruction: A Guide for People Who Teach (Nuri Robins, K., Lindsey, R.B., Lindsey, D.B., Terrell, R.D., 2002) to be very insightful in discussing the challenges of creating schools that openly strive to accept each and every student and to give value to their contributions to the fabric of the school. Especially interesting was the key to it all - the Cultural Proficient Continuum. This tool is meant to serve as a constant challenge for personal change. In a day when the conversation is all about student scores and achievement, it is inspiring to read about the conversations that should be taking place among all the parties in education. These conversations could be the impetus for systemic change that could truly narrow both achievement and equity gaps that as a democratic society we seek to overcome.