Visitors arrive at your website with a lot of baggage. They bring with them not only a mind focused on the very specific problem or goal that drove them to you in the first place, but also a whole lifetime of experiences, beliefs, communication styles and behavioral patterns.

How realistic is it to expect them to abandon all of that and instantly start doing things your way?

I say 'your way' because most web sites present information and options based on one view (the marketers') of what's important, how it should be expressed. And everything from bounce rates (the number of people who leave after looking at only one page) to conversion rates (the number of people who buy or achieve the primary goal) is screaming that 'your way' is not the right way.

I spent most of this past week with the minds behind Persuasion Architecture, including Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg as well as John Quarto-vonTividar and Holly Buchanan. The essence of Persuasion Architecture is the idea that your communications have to anticipate and then meet the needs (and personalities and communication preferences and even belief systems) of those you want to take specific actions (including purchasing something) on your website.

This isn't easy. In fact, it is quite difficult. It requires a tremendous amount of effort (and training and experience before the effort even begins) because it forces you to:

1. Determine and then understand the typical customers that you need to address
2. Anticipate the situation they may be in when they approach your business
3. Restructure the marketing materials that drive people to your site and just about the entirety of the website and its content in order to meet and satisfy these very individual needs.

But is there really any alternative? About 2% of our visitors seem willing to perservere through processes not customized for them, but what about everyone else? Is there something we can do to get them to put their personalities and needs aside for just long enough to order or sign up or download (or whatever it is we're trying to get them to do?)

An interesting new Forbes article by Jack Trout suggests not. The article talks about the efforts of MTV, Dell, Xerox, and others to change market perceptions and then ends by saying:

So my advice to you marketing experts out there? If your assignment is to change people's minds, don't accept the assignment.

So it's time to embrace the baggage. Pretending it's not there isn't working, and it's never going to.