How to sell soap

E-marketing is for companies a modern way to promote their brands. Mostly trendy brands use these new electronic media to reach their target groups. But what if you simply try to sell... soap?

Watch the video below to learn that even simply staple goods can be marketed via internet.

CU Online! Where?!

When opening the CU Online page of the CU portal we were wondering the information overload. Our attention was not only drawn to a website error, but also to an image, several links, different menus, not to mention all the different fonts used on the page. This does not look user friendly at all. Some links on this page are hyperlinks to external web pages, where by a whole new page opens in a new window.

What follows next are some of our recommendations which will turn the design around to be more user friendly and efficient in usage. At the end, students have to feel comfortable and like to use CU Online in favour of their courses.

First we will talk about the information architecture. Obviously, there are a lot of things Coventry University wants the students to look at. They chose not to stick all the information on one page which is an excellent choice. It would take too long to load and students would not find what they need easily.(Nielsen, 2009) That is why the hierarchy of the offered information should be perfectly clear. This means that the general information concerning all students should be find very easy, without much effort. Searching for more specific info about a certain subject or course must be present on sub pages. A good navigation structure will ease this searching process. The CU Online page already tried to split up information and provided ways for students to find their way through all the offered info. But although they split it up, it still looks like a chaos. (Williams R., 2005)


Navigation on this page is also a crucial working point. Different types of navigation are currently used. We have left navigation which is very useful as we read from left to right in the UK. There’s also two top navigations. The advantage is this leaves more room for content and other relevant information in the centre of the page. Even on the right we find navigation possibilities under “Links”. These are all quick links to general information. But if we combine all these different navigation options, it starts to look too complex. Students often do not have the patience or time to discover and learn all the different navigation. Complicated and difficult to use navigation often makes users feel uneasy. Instead, it should be instinctive, easy to use and instantly clickable. (Mardiros Internet Marketing, 2009)

The titles of navigation are kept short and descriptive. This makes it easy to understand where every link leads to. The primary navigation, on the left hand side, should be no more than seven links. It should only include the most important links. The rest should be mentioned in the secondary navigation. The primary navigation should also stand out by using graphics and a different link style. On every page there should only be a fair number of links, less then 10. The best approach is to group similar links in categories. (Hunt, 2009) This means when clicking on a link in the main navigation, a sub menu with other related links appear. Because of this, the searched subject or information can be find much more easily and it is less time consuming . A used link should also be coloured differently, so it is clear the link is already used. The colour should stay in line and match with the web page design. In short, website navigation has to be kept simple and clean. (Bland V., 2009)


A good tip when redesigning the portal page of CU Online, let it be tested and pre-used by some students. Listen to their feedback and if possible correct important minors. Finally, they have to use CU Online frequently and the tool is especially developed for them to obtain course information much easier. They are the target, feedback from them can never do any harm. That is why it would be a good idea to give students an online possibility to suggest improvements or argue the user friendliness or usage efficiency of CU Online. In longer term, when redesigning the page, all these remarks could be kept in mind. (Bland V., 2009)


Knowing the CU Online page is used by all Coventry University students, why not offering them the possibility to gather in a online social community? Actually, the name says it all. CU Online, this application has to make sure it is well presented online. For example, all students who join the Coventry University network, or other Coventry University networks on Facebook, have the unique opportunity to join the CU Online group and/or fan page. Or, why only limit to those networks? Let’s make it available for all Facebook users! People and students who feel connected with CU Online will soon join this online group. By this support information and updates can be announced, there is the possibility to start discussions on several CU Online related topics, participants have the chance to give feedback and talk about their experiences with each others and with people responsible for this learning platform or users can pose questions. After developing this tool, it should be announced on the CU Online page so students are aware of this community tool. At the end, it will create a younger and a more involved image of CU Online, which hopefully results in a more pleasant use of the CU Online page, if major improvements are made!



References
Bland V. (2009) 'Website development: avoiding the traps.' NZB 23, 52-55

Hunt B. (n. d.) Web Design from scratch [online] available from [5 April 2009]

Nielsen J. (n. d.) Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design [online] available from [5 April 2009]

Unknown (n. d.) Mardiros Internet Marketing [online] available from [5 April 2009]

Williams R. (n. d.) Good Design Features [online] available from [25 February 2005]