“Who could do that to a Jag?”

My wife and I were at a red light when we saw the nice Jaguar covered in ads for a Realtor. “Who could do that to a Jag?” Yes who. No one would make that comment about a truck with a sign on it for a construction company, or a van with a sign for a lock-smith. So why the problem with the Jaguar?

Obviously, the owner of the car was a Realtor, and they were just wanting to get their name out, however in doing so they lessened the perceived value of their (expensive) car. As individuals, we often place perceived values onto items, and associate actions with certain monetary values. When they two conflict we try to sort it out, and determine what value we should place on what we see.

Likewise, we have certain expectations when shopping at different stores. Just as you don’t expect to see a personal shopper helping you at Wal-Mart, you  have expectations of smelling oil and grease when entering a auto parts store, and carpet in a luxury goods store. If those expectations are not met, you begin to question the legitimacy of the store you are in.

Whether you know it or not, we perceive websites in a similar manner. While we can’t use all of our senses as we like when we walk through  a store, we have certain expectations based upon the type of site we visit. Within seconds of viewing  the first page, we start making judgments upon the site. If we know the site is going to sell us something expensive, we don’t want to see disrupting banners and flashing signs pointing out other great deals. Likewise, when buying a expensive item, we are on the lookout for a deal that is too good of a deal. We can’t trust the site, if it doesn’t meet our expectations.

The price, product, and delivery of that product through the web page must all match the expectations that our shoppers expect. When we fail to meet those expectations our users may leave, never to return.

So figure out what your user’s expectations are, meet them, and your sales will increase.