1)
Kayak is effective in my opinion because it
allows you to do so much, but it is really easy to get started. You can make it
as easy or as complicated as you want to, do as much or as little analysis as
you are interested in. Also, it is focused
on helping you get what you want for as cheap as possible if that’s what you’re
interested in.
2)
Its design follows its concept really well. They don’t clutter the page with too much
random info or exciting tools, they just stick to making it easy for you to see
your options in the way you want. It
also repeats things nicely throughout. There’s a header that stays on each page
that identifies that you can go back to the home page, or check out their other
options, like hotels or car rentals in addition to flights. Their depth of content also seems
appropriate. You don’t get much until
you put in your parameters, but then you get as much as you want, you can dig
as deep as you want. And yet, you’re not
plunged into an abyss immediately either.
3)
It provides a service that is very helpful to
me. It gives me entre into a wide
variety of airline web sites and also shows me which flights are the cheapest
and best options for what I want. I like
that it gives me the option to create a price alert, which reminds me about
selecting a flight every day and draws me back to their site every so often.
4)
They give me pop-up windows from these other
search sites. It’s kind of
annoying. I wish they didn’t have that
and that more airlines were included in the search function.
1)
Bank of America’s site is effective because it
allows me to see information I want to see about my finances easily. It also lets me do things I want to do, like
transfer money between accounts and pay bills electronically.
2)
They use contrast well, with a lot of white but
then red to make things pop. Their
alignment is good. It makes it easy to
follow what’s going on despite the fact that they have a lot on their
pages. The proximity also helps with
that—it enables me to skip over whole sections of content because I know that’s
not what I’m looking for. Nothing’s “hidden”
in the wrong group. They also handle
navigation well, especially considering how much there is to navigate within
the site. It manages not to be too
overwhelming.
3)
Just like Kayak, I come back again and again
because the site provides a service that I need and find valuable. It’s available in real time, the information
is trustworthy, and it’s very personal to my life. I also go back often to check in on pay
day. They also remind me of their web
site every time I get an email saying my statement is ready and I can check it online.
4)
I tried to use a function recently that I hadn’t
used in a while and it wasn’t really working.
They really need to have everything working all the time. I’ve also tried to log in and the web site
has been down. These days your site
needs to be fully operational all the time in order to be considered fully
successful. Having the site or a portion
of the site down makes your company look unprofessional.
I have never used Kayak, but I have used BOA website. I would agree completely with your first point. I think their online bill-pay and ability to transfer funds was one of the best features. It was so clear, nice big buttons, far better than other banks.
ReplyDeleteAlso I agree with your fourth statement. I do remember the site itself being down quite a lot, which didn't exactly instill confidence that it was secure.
I just went and check out Kayak. It was really very good! I went to see how much hotels were in Ireland and was very impressed. It was super fast and lots of options. I agree with your third point.