Think about the User, Not your Business

In this article I am going to look at the user experience of a “where’s my nearest …” system I had the misfortune to use at the weekend. I don’t know who designed it, but it broke all the rules.

I was going out at the weekend and wondering where to go and what to eat when I got there. My partner suggested we try the Black Rock Grill concept where you cook your own meat to your exact requirements on a hot rock in front of you. It sounded fun, so I tried to track down a restaurant that used the system.

Google didn’t return much of any relevance in my area, so I checked the supplier’s website. They didn’t have a tool to help me, so I kept digging. After a while I happened across a link to a dedicated website to help me find a restaurant near me that was using the Black Rock Grill, a website that had been created by the suppliers of the equipment. The website is www.eatblackrockgrill.com

Great! So I clicked into the “find a restaurant near you” page and was confronted by a form that wanted to know my name, email, telephone, postcode and had an “information” box. There was no description about this latter box – what was I supposed to put in it? – nor any indication if any or all of the fields were mandatory.

I entered a postcode – after all, I only wanted to find a restaurant near me – but I got an error asking for my email. OK, now I know which fields are mandatory at least! So I entered the information and was then greeted with a “thank you for your form submission” page. That’s it. Period. No restaurant list, nothing.

Personally, I think this is one of the worst “where’s my nearest …” implementations I have seen in 2009. Why is this?

1. There was no clear link to this dedicated website to help me find a location (it was buried in the suppliers main website)
2. The “find a location” page has zero information to help the visitor find a location, just a generic form.
3. A “find a location” system should do 2 things very well, and 2 things only. Sadly this system did neither. Here are the 2 things:
   1. Ask you where you are
   2. Show the nearest locations to you in a list or on a map (or both)

It is critical for success on the web to think about what the user wants. If they want a location finder, don’t try to capture marketing information from them (unless you’re explicit and clear that it’s optional), and (especially) don’t tell them “we’ll get back to you” when they do manage to complete the form. People asking for “where’s my nearest …” have an immediate need, and not one that can be satisfied a few days later. This is a one-time opportunity to fulfil their needs and make them a happy visitor, one who might return again and again. Anything else and you’ve lost them.

Looking at a wider scope, your website may be about your business, or made to sell things to customers, but if it isn’t built for those customers you will lose them to a competitor who does the job better. The more you can think about what your site visitor wants, the better you will achieve the results you want.

Needless to say I didn’t go to eat at a Black Rock Grill outlet as I couldn’t find one!