Why Is There So Little Information Online about Products and Services?
You’re on Amazon and you find something you want that might look okay, yet the description and photos are lacking. Your only hope is if another user provided the necessary detail or photos in the reviews section. The online “experience” (getting the right informational at the right time) is of paramount importance to the online shopper.
Clear product images are the number one area for improving the user shopping experience. We all know the role great photography plays in communicating (in fact we all have a very good camera on our smartphones) yet photography continues to be an afterthought in the online experience planning.
You can see by the chart that the navigation requirements are rated lower which is more than likely tied to increased efforts by companies to improve search, navigation, and payment experience. Check-out still seems to need some work.
Product Descriptions, Product Reviews and Photography are the top areas of interest and it makes sense, before you buy something you want as much information as possible. It all comes down to not taking for granted the fundamentals of communication in the online world: good photography, good writing, and empathy for the user.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.