This blog is an opinion about my purely personal preferences regarding the need for websites to be more useful to users. While it is true that not all users are the same, I think the trend is that more and more users are looking for websites that make their lives easier.
Websites in Panama, for the most part, are outdated and do not offer the information that users need. In this post, I present my opinion on the subject.
#.Why this post?
It all starts with a Post on Twitter that a user wrote on the social network that said the following:
Hopefully in 2019 web page designers will understand that when we click on “contact us” we want to see the phone number and the address of the site and not fill out a form.
— Felipe Serrano (@felipeserranop) January 2, 2019
In the Trisfera group (Facebook), where many Panamanian developers meet, a conversation began on this topic and it was actually fruitful.
I also made a comment about it:
Old fashioned, as I put it on Twitter. A better resolution would be to ask that businesses have truly informative pages and encourage that contact is not even necessary (or even live contact).
It’s as absurd as the “price and information in the inbox”.
The truth is that I don’t just want an up-to-date (and usable) contact page. I want the sites and technology available in 2019 to be used and the benefits that can be obtained from them be taken from them.
#.The website is not History, Mission, Vision and Contact
After more than 18 years making sites (throw away your ID), clients still keep telling me “I want to put the story, mission, vision and contact” and I say, there is nothing wrong with this, in the end a corporate site may have this too, but… we forget that in reality the website is a tool for the user who will use my site, not only for me, as a marketing tool.
We must return to priorities and offer our users a site, first, useful. In Panama we have not yet grown in this and I really believe that the user is the one who must pressure and aim more and more so that companies invest to make life easier for us, their buyers.
#.Reality: Searching for an article for 2 months
Likewise, in the same post I commented on the following anecdote:> Rafael we are talking about the same thing, it seems to me. It is not just asking them to “give the telephone numbers and address”, it is asking them to please use technology with all its possibilities.
Most of the time, the questions you have that you need to contact them about could be things about their products, services, and so on that might be online.
I’ll tell you an anecdote. I spent 2 months looking for an article in Panama. I went to stores: from Costa del Este to Costa Verde. The sites of all the stores did not have information or a catalog of all their products.
I spent too much time looking for the item, which would be too burdensome to bring by air, because when I called them they said “you have to come to the store” or they never answered the phone/mail.
What is the point of having the phone and email in contact then? After 2 months, I got fed up, I searched the Internet, in 15 minutes I had bought it at a retailer (similar to the stores I visited in Panama) where they told me the EXACT product, the quantities in each of their stores, EVERYTHING.
I appeal for that experience, more than just demanding “they have an email and telephone.”
I have seen many stores in Panama that have started the process of using technology well, such as Novey, Do it Center or Paneco. These sites are not only informative, they make life easy and happy for their users.
Gentlemen, I don’t just want to have updated contact information, I don’t even want to have to call you to find out if you have a product in stock or know the price of the product. I don’t want to visit you to make sure that you don’t have the product for which I called you 2 hours ago (and for which I spent 45 minutes in traffic).
For months I have been buying (almost everything) online; Not only because it is cheaper, since in many cases it is not, but because it is much simpler, more comfortable and faster. I can check it at any time of the day, even when they are closed, and I can easily compare prices.
Just like me, many other Panamanians have been opting for that alternative for years.