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What Customers Want

  • May 17, 2001

10. "Yes, I Want it, Now What?"

Customers get frustrated when a Web site leads them down a path to a product and then they can't get it. Either the Web site does not give them the option to select or purchase, or they have to go through some convoluted process to end up doing something other than purchasing it.

This happens with frightening frequency in relation to special deals.

Blunders

Hype and no hustle

A customer goes to a software company's Web site for business customers to find out about its special deals. They click on "Special deals" off the home page and get a page with mini-ads for three hot specials. One of them looks interesting; this new software could help the customer manage business forecasting a whole lot better. The customer clicks on this special to find out more.

A promotional Web site comes back, with good explanatory information about what this software can do for businesses. It's only a beta version of the software, but it sounds great and it's affordable. The customer decides they want it and clicks on "Get It." This results in a page that details what you need to run the software, terms and conditions and how to install it, as well as a link to "Register Interest" in the final version of the product. But nowhere does it actually tell the customer how to get hold of the beta version of the software, only a contact for more information. Since there's nothing else, the customer clicks on "Contact for More Information" and receives an e-mail form that allows them to enter comments; the customer simply types, "So, how do I get it?" and sends the form.

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Other Collection and Use of Information


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Children


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Marketing


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Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


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Sharing and Disclosure


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Links


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Changes to this Privacy Notice


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Last Update: November 17, 2020