Omniture is a well respected company in the area of web analytics and online marketing tools, including conversion optimization. So I wanted to discover what products Omniture offers to assist me in optimizing my website. As masters of website optimization, I would have assumed that their website’s ability to engage with me as a potential customer would be up there with the best.
I was wrong.
Open the homepage (www.omniture.com), and you see a great presentation of their product suite :
The product selector uses nested hover over actions. I am not a fan of this. You always have to do mouse gymnastics to ensure your second level options don’t disappear. But this is a comparitively minor gripe.
The fun really starts when you try to view the product features, or even a well advertised case study (like the one highlighted in red on the above picture). Try to find out what miracles they have performed for Guess, and this is what you get :
Mr Omniture, you insist on lengthy form asking all sorts of complicated questions . . . to allow me to get acquainted with your product? Yup mr. Big Corporate Omniture, I might only be a student looking to get some information about online marketing tools, but I am your potential future customer. Don’t antagonise me now, I might just remember it when I am a big shot myself.
Or I might be the not-so-clued-up marketing director of a company that could actually afford your pricey product, wanting to perform some research in the comfort of my own privacy. You know, so that I might not look so stupid when I speak to my bright online marketing manager, or when I have to justify spending tens or hundreds of thousands on your products.
The copious copy on the left hand side doesn’t help either – it is convoluted, and adds very little in terms of additional information. And it is in light grey, as if you really don’t want me to read it. Maybe it’s only me, but this page gives me a decidedly creepy feeling.
You might argue that the capture of some customer data is important, but is it really more important than letting the customer know what you have to offer?
Can you not think of ways to engage your potential customer in a way that he willingly and trustingly gives you the data that you require? Remember the marketing / engagement cliche “What’s In It For Me”?
So I will give you a couple of suggestions for free (and it won’t cost you the earth to implement) :
- Allow me to research your products on-line to greater depth – I don’t promise that I will be more attracted to your product, but at least there is a better chance that I won’t waste your salesperson’s valuable time.
- Use your attractive sounding “white papers” for marketing executives to get me to sign up, ONCE you have given me some confidence in your product (and in your Brand, or let’s just call it your company values)
And then maybe I won’t be such a bastard when your salesperson phones me after I have succumbed and completed your form.
Thanks for listening. Now I feel better (but I still haven’t downloaded any of Omniture’s product info)
