Week Three

1) This week we are looking at Digital Design. Look at the Powerpoint presentation and explore some of the links. I recommend spending a good deal of time looking at 'Web Pages That Suck'



2) Listen to the podcast or read the transcript Digital Design on the Digital Enterprise page.



Questions

1. In two paragraphs explain why a customer centric Web site design is so important, yet so difficult to accomplish

Customer-centric design is design centered around what the customer wants (as opposed to what the company wants).  To do this, you have to always keep in mind why the customer came to your site and make it as easy as possible for them to accomplish their goals. In the end it is the customer are the users of web site. If the customer find it difficult to use or provides a frustrating experience then it is unlikely the customer will continue with the purchase or use the website. Since the switching cost of the using another competitor's website is so low and convenient it is essential for the website to be customer centric. T

It is hard to accomplish the customer centric focus because there is so many elements that must come together and work well together. Many company design their website without consulting the end user, if that is the case websites are unlikely to be customer centric. There is five basic element for an website to be effective at servicing the customer's needs; facilitate the evaluation of competing business and products; able to easily select the product and make a transaction; ability to get help; provide avenue for customer to provide feedback; and the last element is to keep customer informed and offer them incentives to come back. There is many ways a websites that can approach those 5 elements and what works well for one website may not work to well in another. Furthermore websites are continually evolving and improving the customer experience delivered, therefore the notion of customer centric website is a moving goal post. This further complicate companies who want to build a customer centric website as what is considered to be customer centric website maybe outdated by the time it goes live.

Source: Rappa M. (2005). Digital Design. Retrieved on April 20, 2012 from: http://digitalenterprise.org/transcripts/design_tr.html

2. Define the term 'presence'. Write an additional paragraph that describes why firms that do business on the Web should be more concerned about presence than firms that operate in the physical world.

Presence is defined as ‘the impression that something is present’. Web presence is the digital impression of the an entity achieved through interactions in the digital environment. A business start its web presence through the creation of a web site, thus represented in the Internet. However, without an audience or people who visit the website, it will have no function and its presence will not be realised.

Web based business are concerned with presence as it is made up of customer interactions, which without would mean there is no customer visiting the site or having known of its existence. Web presence requires not only the existence of the web site, it also requires site visitors for it to be present. However attracting the visitors is the first hard step of an online business. The physical business can build "physical" presence and attract customers through strong advertisement and big physical footprint to indicate its size. This can also drive customers through to the physical business's website. Online only business on the other  has no such luxury, they must build their presence through links, web banner, search engines and any traditional advertising methods. Those are the only way do drive the customers to their website, so naturally they are more concerned with presence than physical business.

3. Write three paragraphs to briefly describe the things that Real Estate Agents can best accomplish through (1) their web sites (2) Mass media advertising (3) Personal contact

Website is a great two way platform that for Real Estate Agents to reach a large sections of the audience with out been limited by location barrier. It can display, categories and index a large amount of information regarding the properties in the Agents' portfolio and the Agents themselves. It allows interested party to obtain information through browsing and search, which often answers many of questions they may have. This in turn saves time, better inform the potential customers, reduce misunderstanding and generally provides a better customer experience. Furthermore agents don't have deal with each and every potential buyers personally. It can act as a filtering process that reduce the number of interested parties to only those who are serious about buying the property. Furthermore website allows the agents to reach out by buyers irrespective of his/her location. For example an investor in China could view what property in the Agent's portfolio. Also website can have the function or give instruction for the audience to contact the agents regarding properties. Thus, allowing the two parties to engage each other according their own convenience. Lastly website can be easily updated so the most current information is available, thus reducing the potential for wasting customers' time and causing confusion.

Mass media advertising - great for communicating to a large group of targeted audience a short and important information. Due to is one way nature, cost and length, it agents will usually use it to advertise themselves or a major offer or promotion to attract lots of interests in a short amount of time. For example they have a major new developments with large number of land blocks to be release to the market. It may choose to perform mass media advertising to attract as many potential buyer as possible in a short amount of time.

Personal contact due to its nature is best saved for those one-on-one negotiations with the most serious buyer and sellers. It is the most effective way to build trust and rapport between individuals. Also it is usually the fastest way to answer any questions that the seller and buyer may have. The personal contact helps to assures the party and are critical in engaging in such a large financial and emotional transaction between the involved parties.