Short and sweet.
Start talking about file sizes, page load time, ease of navigation and in the shortest time possible you've just qualified yourself as a goodie-two-shoes geek with admirable yet naive views on making money on the web.
And that, my friend, is your fault.
Instead of using Urkel speak and freaking geeking everybody out, use words that make sense in business.
"Is the site consumer friendly? Is the site ready to do transactions at any time, on any platform? How easy is it for a prospect to become a customer? How fast can a customer pay?"
See, now you're talking; you're talking dollars and profit.
It's not about "tricking" someone; it's about using words everyone in the conversation understands.
You are the expert; we know that. You don't need to use big of insider-only words.
You're relied upon and your job as an expert is to make sure load time already was a factor. Your customers should already know that usability matters to "them".
Why?
Because in the end it's all about them.
Short and succinct, Ruud, just like the point you are making. I think plain speaking and English is all too lacking in many walks of life today (I know I’ve been guilty of beating about the bush myself, on my blog at least – using ten words where two will do).
Of course, a customer will be far more trusting of somebody who tells it to them straight instead of trying to fox them with an endless tirade of teccy-speak.
Good post, Ruud.
Like you said short and sweet. I recently had to ask what POSH stood for and it was as simple as “Plain Old Sematic HTML” Still with the meaning the word sematic which again meant nothing – so thank you for speaking human ;o)
hmm…A rant Ruud?
@Nick Still learning myself. In this post I could (should) have made the connection between the tech and plain more clear but the basic point is across, I see.
@Rob An conversational intro like that often puts me in the right mood for a post 🙂
@Kimberly Maybe a little bit — against myself 🙂
[…] I picked the chapter about usability because I had just stopped by Ruuds short but sweet post entitled “Semantics: Call It User Friendly“. […]