Are You 'Tapping' to your Website Visitors, or 'Singing Their Tune'?

Communication is essential in most areas of our lives. Our websites are no different. Effectively communicating who you are, what you do, and how we can benefit from your services on your website is crucial to its success. I want to share a research study with you that may shed some light on just how effective your communication is.

The following is an excerpt from Made to Stick, by Chip Heath & Dan Heath:

"In 1990, Elizabeth Newton earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Standford by studying a simple game in which she assigned people to one of two roles: 'tappers' or 'listeners'. Tappers received a list of twenty-five well-known songs, such as 'Happy Birthday to You' and 'The Star Spangled Banner'.  Each tapper was asked to pick a song and tap out the rhythm to a listener (by knocking on a table). The listener's job was to guess the song, based on the rhythm being tapped.

The listener's job in this game is quite difficult. Over the course of Newton's experiment, 120 songs were tapped out. Listeners guessed only 2.5 percent of the songs: 3 out of 120.

But here's what made the result worthy of a dissertation in psychology. Before the listeners guessed the name of the song, Newton asked the tappers to predict the odds that the listeners would guess correctly. They predicted that the odds were 50 percent.

The tappers got their message across 1 time in 40, but they thought they were getting their message across 1 time in 2. Why?

When a tapper taps, she is hearing the song in her head. Go ahead and try it for yourself - tap out 'The Star Spangled Banner'. It's impossible to avoid hearing the tune in your head. Meanwhile, the listeners can't hear that tune - all they can hear is a bunch of disconnected taps, like a kind of bizarre Morse Code."

So what does all this mean for you and your website? It means you need to make sure you're not tapping to your visitors. We know our own websites...top to bottom, front to back. We know everything that is on it and how to get to everything that is on it. We know about ourselves. We know about what we do. We know why we do it. But, the vast majority of your visitors do not. Below are a few tips that may help you sing to your visitors instead of tap.

• Background Information - This doesn't have to be on the front page, but take some time to tell people about you and your organization. You could include the story of how you got started, who's involved, plans for the future, etc. Allowing your visitors to get to know you, will help them understand, and buy in to whatever you have to offer.
• Lingo - Try to avoid words and phrases that are understood only by those familiar with what you do. But, if you need to use them, offer help text that defines them to those less acquainted with your work.
• Examples - If you're selling something, provided as many detailed pictures and descriptions as possible. If you're providing a service, take some time to explain in detail what you offer (avoiding lingo), and provide examples of your work either through your website, through references, or give locations where your work can be seen.
• Contact Information - Know matter how hard you try, someone will always need more help understanding who you are and what you do. Make it very easy for someone to contact you in the method they are most comfortable with. At a minimum, offer a phone number and email address (or contact form). If possible, live chat is a great addition.

Every organization is different, and may need to seek out unique ways to avoid 'tapping' to their visitors. If you're unsure how you're doing, sit down with someone who knows nothing about you or what you do, and have them browse your website. You may be surprised at what you discover!

Have some more ideas about how to avoid the 'tapping' phenomenon? Let us know by commenting below.