I came across an interesting case study recently which had a lot of lessons to be learned from it.

It involved a web site hosting company out of the U.K. which had recently updated their web site.

This company specializes in hosting business web sites. They recently overhauled their site to take advantage of the many optional services that they offered their customers.

They allowed their customers to pick specifically the features and options that they needed. As they added them to their package, the cost was reflected instantly in their shopping cart for them to order.

The concept was simple enough.

Allow customers to get exactly the services they want without having to pay for unnecessary "bells and whistles".

It took 4 months to get this complex system in place. Everyone at the company agreed it was a great system and they anxiously awaited the results.

The Results

Well, to put it mildly the results were terrible.

Once the new format was up and running, the company at first wrote off the drop in sales to a possible slow period.

It soon became evident that there was something wrong. They were still receiving the same amount of visits to their site but sales were off. Way off, by 50-60% or more.

Considering nothing else had changed with the site, they soon realized it was the changes they had made. They then went into "recovery mode".

What's Wrong?

The hosting company contacted the customers that had signed up during the slow period. They wanted their feedback as to what they thought of the system.

The feedback they received included:

• the whole ordering process was much too complicated
• Many weren't sure all of the things that they were needed and they were overwhelmed by the options
• It took far too many steps to complete the ordering process (9 steps!)
• The overwhelming opinion was that people did not like the "shopping cart" type ordering system

It became obvious that the company was too close to their own site in order to evaluate things objectively. That is not an uncommon situation!

The Fix

Having all of that feedback was very powerful information. It helped them redesign and simplify things greatly.

• Instead of 9 clicks to place an order, they narrowed it down to 2.
• Technical information was provided for people looking to have the information explained but this was done on a separate page. Basically it is there if they need it, otherwise it is not distracting them from ordering.
• They got rid of the "a la cart" approach and offered predesigned packages. It is still mentioned that they are very flexible with their packages if someone wants to work out a particular package, but the average visitor is not distracted by the choices.

The New Results?

Business is better now than it ever had been. Not only have orders increased, but contacts from prospective customers is up also.

It was a hard lesson to learn but it paid off in the end.

Some points to consider:

• Change isn't always a good thing
• Don't make things more complex, simplify them
• Limit the number of steps it takes to make an order
• Give customers suggested packages so they can make easy, quick decisions
• Provide plenty of information for those that want it but include it on a site in a way that doesn't distract the average visitor with it. If they need it, they can click somewhere to find out more information
• If something is wrong with your site, ask for feedback

These are some lessons learned the hard way but they are better for it now. Definitely some things for others to learn from as well.

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