Forum Moderators: buckworks
i'm toying with the idea of putting a talking avatar on my eshop ie either for an introduction and/or faq's.
anyone know what the general opinion is on this?
In my humble opinion, the only animations that should be on an ecommerce site are banners advertising special deals on items sold on the site. And even those should be minimal.
i sell toys & get loads of kids visiting my site.
the avatar (animated & lip synched) would answer questions from a drop down or be used to promote special offers etc.
personally i think it adds a bit of 'life' to a site & can be informative provided it is properly used.
as i said kids mostly visit my site so the avatar might have potential novelty value as well as contributing to the sites general functionality.
also the avatar is only activated on request otherwise, it just sits there moving around a little just to let you know its there if required.
also the avatar is only activated on request otherwise, it just sits there moving around a little just to let you know its there if required.
Wow, sounds annoying. Can't see anyone activating it. Do you have another avatar to explain how to activate it?
Microsoft's Paper Clip Man has been discontinued as of this year. Since 2003 it was turned off by default. Most people, I read, hated it.
Alas, it does appear that "talking avatars" (sounds like a bird) are making a minor comeback this year.
Having said that we never followed through on the idea. I guess it just looked to amateur-ish, in part because it resembles a cartoon, or out there even though it seemed like a neat idea.
But to level the field, it's important to remember rampzoid's site is for toy sales. Although the children aren't the ones spending the money, they seem to have a hypnotic influence over their parents' wallets. :-) And if these widgets keep the kids' interest, it's possible such a thing **could** generate conversions.
I too find them annoying - but in the context of your niche, you'd probably want to gather a little more info on whether such things work in your field, and run some pre-testing on shoppers. It's been forever since I looked at a toy site, how's toys R' us doing, is that giraffe still doing well? :-)
I'm also here reporting a siting of the MS Office paper clip at a client's location today, it was . . . horrifying . . . . it's still alive and well.
to jsinger:
"Wow, sounds annoying. Can't see anyone activating it. Do you have another avatar to explain how to activate it?"
yeah you're right - forgot about that - i would require an infinite number of avatars each requiring to activate the other - must be some way around that like a 'request button' or something?
btw sorry about your obsession with the 'paper clip man'.
however i don't understand your "cheap tricks" comment particulaly when it comes to making money.
i operate one of europes top, let me say, specialist sports entertainment toy websites.
personally, i don't think its a 'cheap trick' to have an animated avatar providing details of special offers etc - only on request.
as i've said & as you have kindly appreciated, my site sells toys - 'plain & quick' is fine for say an online banking service etc but when kids are involved i'm not sure - will try it & obtain some feedback as suggested.
But they don't talk. If they did they would look like a cheap gimmick on a financial page, although the idea might work on a toy site.
btw sorry about your obsession with the 'paper clip man'.
Born in '97, quickly stunted, then killed off at age 10. (no doubt a well-researched execution by a pretty smart company)
My interest stems from sitting within earshot of our head bookkeeper who groaned whenever Clippy encroached on HER screen. Like most offices, we learned how to subdue the reviled little fellow.
I should add that our main office is in a rare area that isn't served by a hi speed connection. There, we access the web by phone line. Loading speed still matters to me and to the 5% of our customers who use telephone connections.
I think it may be **okay** for a toy site. However shoppers, ESPECIALLY KIDS, are now pretty ecommerce savvy. And an infrequently visited website isn't comparable to Microsoft applications, often used continually.
As for branding, the same justification has been made for every briefly-cute web vexation since Day One.
The question isn't whether some bank (as in sub-prime lender and Pfishing LOL) uses a babbling avatar but whether Amazon, Wal-Mart.com and other successful commerce sites do.
Give it a test and report back. You didn't say, at first, that you sold toys. The subject is interesting.
As a general rule of thumb though, I always advise to stay away from those talking avatars. People order from many different locations and at all times of the day. There's nothing more annoying than a talking avatar from the cubicle or on a laptop when your wife is sleeping.
