Talking to my barber made me see my website in a whole new way

I was getting a haircut yesterday and my barber, Mike, asked what I do. I said 'digital strategy' and he just nodded. Then he said, 'So you're the guy who makes websites that make me click the back button, right?' He wasn't being mean, he just said most business sites feel like a maze. It hit me that I spend all day on keywords and funnels, but if the person landing there gets lost in two clicks, none of it matters. Has anyone else had a simple comment from a non-expert completely reframe a project you were working on?

3 comments

3 Comments

alice_reed472mo ago

Oh man, that's so true. I read this thing once about how a grandma tested a website by trying to find a phone number. She just clicked around getting more and more mad. The designers were all about the cool features, but she just wanted one simple thing and couldn't get it. That barber hit the nail on the head. We get so caught up in the fancy tech stuff that we forget if a normal person can't use it, it's broken. It's a good wake up call to just try and use your own stuff like you've never seen it before.

ben4362mo ago

It's like every new smart gadget needs a PhD to work the coffee maker.

anthony_fox901mo ago

Hold on, are we really blaming the tech here @alice_reed47? I feel like we're acting like learning basic tech is some impossible task. A coffee maker that connects to your phone is a luxury, not a necessity. If you can't figure out the app, just use the manual button on the machine, it still makes coffee. The whole "grandma test" thing is pretty overblown too, not everything has to be designed for the lowest common denominator. Some of us actually like having extra features and don't mind spending 10 minutes setting things up once. Maybe the real problem is that people expect everything to be instant and brainless, not that the gadgets are too complicated.