Web Strategy - The Target Way

When developing a website, particularly one that will generate revenue, some fairly basic rules apply. Make sure your website is easy to use, make sure it is available to the widest possible audience and generate all the positive publicity you can muster. That way, you give your customers a satisfying online experience, encourage revenue from the biggest possible source and ensure that your brand identity remains a mark of excellence.

On the face of it, it couldn’t be more simple. The question is, how do you go about achieving your basic web strategy?

The Target Way

In Feburary 2006, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the NFB of California and a blind student called Bruce Sexton, filed a class action against Target.com. The course was referred to a federal court and assigned to Judge Marilyn Hall Patel.

Target moved to have the case dismissed on the grounds that the Americans with Disabilities Act, the California Unruh Civil Rights Act and the California Disabled Persons Act, did not apply to their online presence, only to their bricks and mortar stores. In September 2007, Judge Hall Patel ruled against Target, indicating that civil rights do apply on the Internet and that the original class action could continue against them.

The outcome of the class action remains to be seen, but Target’s approach to web strategy is worth looking at more closely.

Make sure your website is easy to use. A website that is frustrating and difficult to use prevents people from accomplishing their goals. People unable to accomplish their goals will quickly complain or simply move on to the next website. Ignoring complaints from customers experiencing difficulty on the website, or refusing to respond positively to those difficulties, may lead to a court case being brought against you.

Make sure your website is available to the widest possible audience. A website that closes its doors to any customer is a website that belongs to a company no longer interested in improving their profitability. Actively dismissing a share of the estimated $175 billion in discretionary spending power available to people with disabilities in the USA is not considered advisable.

Generate all the positive publicity you can muster. A website that people dislike or which fails to let them accomplish their goals, will not receive positive publicity. Nothing spreads more quickly than bad press and in the digital world that means around the world in a matter of seconds. But surely, any press is good press, right?

The Right Way

Make sure your website is easy to use. A website that is simple to use will help your customers accomplish their online goals. Customers who leave a website feeling happy and satisfied are far more likely to return with repeat business. Accessibility and usability both play a critical role in this area. Ensuring your website is user friendly and ensuring that it is user friendly to everyone will have a positive influence on the online user experience.

Make sure your website is available to the widest possible audience. A website that is open to the widest possible audience will almost certainly generate more income. Aside from people using assistive devices, people today access websites from mobile phones, PDAs and even old computers with dial up access. Ensuring that every one of them can use your website will only enhance your market share. Accessibility and usability are again critical factors in developing a website that can be used by anyone, anywhere and on any technology.

Generate all the positive publicity you can muster. A website that provides an exceptional user experience will need little in the way of publicity, it will publicise itself. Word of mouth advertising is advertising you can’t buy and a personal recommendation is worth all the press coverage you can find. Supporting people when they use your website, enabling them to purchase your goods without hassle or fuss, will generate all the positive publicity you need. But surely, any press is good press, right? Wrong.

Conclusion

Target has provided a user experience so poor, that some users have taken them to court over it. They’ve associated their brand with a cavalier disregard for civil rights. They’ve demonstrated an unwillingness to respond to the needs of their customers. Whether they win against the class action or not is irrelevant. The damage to their brand, to their reputation and quite possibly to their profitability, has been done.

In the UK, there is no doubt that a website is covered by the Disability Discrimination Act, a statutory code of practice from the Disability Rights Commission confirms it. We have yet to see any case law relating to websites under this legislation, but an action like that being brought against Target may well have an impact on people’s attitudes in the UK. The strategy is sound – more people, more satisfied customers, more profit, and better brand identity. Why would you do it any other way?