Nano-ero-cat

Nano-Ero-Cat. Web Designer Knowledge Base

Printed 2002-10-20

I'll tell you a story. My buddies once made a game for social networks. I don't remember what kind of game it was - perhaps from the category of hidden object or something like that. The bottom line is that in their attempts to recreate the name of the game, they were repelled by crude, thoughtless cliches. From statistics that have not been considered.

They took it and with the help of A / B tests began to check which words in the name attract people and which do not. The result of this thoughtful analysis is in the title of the chapter. When you add the word “cat” to the name, people often click on the game icon; The word “nano” has the same effect - what can we say about “ero.”

That's just the whole trash. There were a lot of people who clicked on the name of the game not to play - they just wondered what kind of garbage it was. This is garbage traffic, because these people then are not involved in the process. But for the rest it would be preferable to see in the title at least some hint about what the game itself is and what happens there.

What does this all have to do with design? ... The most direct. When you follow some standard recommendations and cliches, you should never do it blindly and thoughtlessly. In 100% of cases, you don't need to do a leaflet list on the page at the top. It's not necessary to do a “how we work” block on each landing, even if the scheme boils down to “you call, we answer, you buy”. Yes, according to some studies, the drawn “work scheme” improves the conversion of the landing page. But you need to add it meaningfully, so that it is really useful! The name "nano-ero-cat" should be really useful so that it brings effect. Make a truly individual website design , not a designer from marketing templates!

I will not list in your course these “10 terms of cool landing" and related research. All this must be trusted with great care. I just want to warn you against blindly, thoughtlessly following these patterns. They can be repelled from them, as from a base, each time asking a question - is it really necessary? Will it be useful for the visitor?