The Bastardization of the Customer Experience

Posted by Scott Shamberg / April 28, 2009 3:30 pm

If you have read any of my previous posts, you know that I am a huge sports fan. As such, I have a tendency to post about ESPN a lot. As they are the self-proclaimed world-wide leader in sports, its kind of hard not too. BTW, “world-wide” is a bit much, as no one in Europe watches ESPN and last time I checked they are a big part of the world.

This morning I went to the site as I always do and went to look for the headlines. Of late I have been disappointed that this section had been shrinking and I was only getting a small amount of them. Here is what it looks like today:

espn_no-headlines1

So when the page loads I get absolutely zero headlines. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. In other words, I get the same amount of news headlines as the Calgary Flames get second round home games (there, I built the one jab in that I said I would in the CBC radio interview.) I have to scroll down the page to get the information I want.

As loyal ESPN.com user, I’m pissed. They have continually bastardized their site in an effort to make more room for ads and thus drive more ad sales. I keep coming back because even because the content they have is second to none. This last move, however, is a tough pill to swallow.

Now, to their defense, if you do scroll down you get 15 top headlines. That is three times the amount you got before. Also, it is possible that the Mac ad running their now is only temporary and they will go back to the old format.

For today’s consumer, nothing is more important than the experience. Regardless of where it happens, they have to really enjoy how they get their information and entertainment because if they don’t there are hundreds, literally, of other places they can get it. My buddy Fred is a junkie, as I am. He is also a good example of what happens when you forget the customer and think only of ad revenue.

When he complained the other day that there were not enough headlines on the site, I agreed. So this morning I told him there were more but he had to deal with more ads. His response? “ESPN sucks now. I don’t go there nearly as often as I used too.”

Right said, Fred. I know that isn’t good grammar but it gave me a chance to link out to “I’m Too Sexy”, and you know you are going to click through.

The point here is that I know ESPN wants to drive ad revenue and I understand and appreciate that. But if they continue to make decisions based on ad revenue and not the customer, eventually it won’t matter. People like Fred will stop going to the site all together and get their information from another site or an iPhone application. If this happens, traffic goes down, CPM’s go down and they will need more ad units to drive the same amount of revenue. More ad units means less content. It’s a viscous circle.

http://www.jasondorn.com Jason Dorn

Excellent point here about driving customers/visitors away with redesigns like this. Ever since cbc.ca redesigned their site I’ve ended up relying more on their RSS feeds for headlines as oppose to actually visiting the site.

Previously the front page of CBC.ca was easy to scan the day’s new headlines, but now it seems to be more promo space for their television programming, and as a result I’d rather see the clean RSS feed, and if I don’t see any stories I’m interested in than I don’t visit the site at all. And thus, none of their ads are served to me. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before they start inserting ad space into the RSS feeds though.
http://www.personalinjurydefenders.com LLB

Sometimes, contents are compromised to give way to ads. At first, you’ll be irritated to find that the site discusses a little about what you want while half of the page are all about ads on how to flatten your stomach and other products. But come to think of it, in this tough time one should find ways to stay on top or stay on the game at least including ad placements.
Tucker

Did you have impact?

I just went to ESPN and the headlines were in the top right corner and there were no ads above the fold.

It may have been coincidence but it’s fun to think that your voice was heard.
AG

I very much dislike the ESPN site format. It used to be news centric and now it’s ad centric. It’s even worse on my mobile. I too can’t stand that I have to scroll down for headlines.
AG

One more thing… Going to ESPN is all about getting news fast and easy. The new format slows down that experience.
Scott

I used to go to ESPN.com probably 5-10 times a day (this was at least two major design overhauls ago). Now, I just have their breaking news in my RSS reader, which stays open all day. It’s slightly annoying that they don’t allow the full story in their feed, but obviously that’s due to ad revenue as well. I’ll be happy to give them their inside page ad revenue to avoid going to their hideous front page. If a headline comes up that’s interesting to me, the story is a click away. I would say I visit their homepage maybe once or twice a month at most, but I probably generate 20-40 pageviews a day for them.

It would be interesting to see the analytics on their homepage from the past 10 years to see how much the % of total pageviews has dropped as RSS has gotten more prevalent.
south loop

It appears that too often sites dismiss the powerful nature of their online properties. If I desired being forced to sit through commercial disruption in order to get to the content I initially sought (for example, sports information) in the first place…I would merely turn to ESPN’s cable network and the push tactics that come with television viewing.

I agree with you. Revenue is important. But ESPN, along with so many other brands, miss altogether the experiential nature of digital. Creativity and content can be leveraged in such a way as to provide the user exactly what they want while also harnessing the effectiveness of revenue generation…and allowing the user to mandate their experience.

I bet there is a close correlation between the ratio (and size) of ads versus content and ultimately, user frustration.

To your point…ad units versus content can create a vicious circle. With an acute understanding of the medium and the user, it doesn’t have to though.
pjaustin

“It’s a viscous circle.” Hmm, spell check let this one get away.
I’m sure you meant “vicious cycle”.
Not sure what viscosity has to do with circles.
http://www.smallfarmdesign.com/blog/2009/05/01/links-for-2009-05-01/ Small Farm Design » Blog Archive » links for 2009-05-01

[...] The Bastardization of the Customer Experience at Experience Matters I know ESPN wants to drive ad revenue and I understand and appreciate that. But if they continue to make decisions based on ad revenue and not the customer, eventually it won’t matter. (tags: marketing userexperience) [...]
jmac

I could not agree more Scott. Incredible experiences are usually lost when these so called “money makers” are placed on brilliantly designed pages. There really should be some kind of measurement for opportunity cost of this ad space in relation to the projected customer impact related to a given campaign by previous traffic driven to similar sites without these kinds of ads.

Its absolutely maddening!
jmac

I wonder if google has already figured out how this will impact their adsense application and how to correct the issues in relation to this…
http://www.thenewgroup.com/blogs/derekphillips Derek Phillips

While I sympathize with the desire to increase revenues by increasing ad space, what happens if Shamberg (and the millions like him) get so tired of the awful UE that they simply find a better place to get their sports news? It’s not like ESPN is the only game in town (hey-o!) and there are comers getting in every day. Media companies better be very careful how they balance their priorities right now.

People WILL find the right content with the right user experience. ESPN might want to think twice about giving an otherwise loyal readership reason to look elsewhere.

A short-term stop gap on revenue could turn into a flood of users leaving your site–for good.

Nice post, Scott.
Larry

Ok, lots of decent points but zero specifics on what you’d do better. How would you run and P&L (make money) and provide fans with what they want?

Everyone is a critic but nobody has ideas that will solve 100% of how people want to consume media.

Let em rip.
http://www.thenewgroup.com/blogs/derekphillips Derek Phillips

I don’t think increasing ad space (at the expense of the user experience) is the answer.

There are content syndication schemes that have, and do, work well. Leverage the brand recognition of ESPN to syndicate content, at a premium, to third parties. All Music Guide does this well. Better known media companies need to understand that the value is in their content, not the space surrounding it.

But this isn’t the end of display ads so instead of increasing the space, how about serve up paid messaging as relevant content? Contextual advergaming is an option.

I could go on and on but I don’t work at CM anymore so this is no longer in my job description!