Hand holding as a web design approach

To create a successful web page about a product, try hand holding. In addition to saying what product you have, help the reader start using it: explain, guide, convince, clarify, warn.

Let’s say you are a bank and a you have a page about your savings account options. There are people who don’t know what deposits are or why they might want one. Others are afraid of having large amounts of cash on them and don’t want to go to the bank with it. Or they are just unsure which office to go to, what documents to have and how long the thing will take. Your job is to alleviate their anxiety, to raise their self-confidence and to help them make an informed choice. To get clients, help people become clients by hand holding. Explain why a deposit may be useful. Visualise the interest rate. Say how to transfer the money online from another bank. Show the nearest office on the map (include the business hours). Publish the contract with useful comments on the margins. Acquaint the reader with your managers.

Or suppose you install windows and you have a page with options for fittings and glass coating. Well, most people have no idea on how windows are installed. Or even what elements they consist of. What should I consider before ordering windows? How to gauge a window opening? Who will disassemble the old windows? How long will it take to do the whole house? Can this be done in winter? What if a new window does not fit? Can I pay with a Visa? To get clients, help people become clients by hand holding. Explain the whole process from step one to step done. Connect the options to real-life cases (the inner windowsill for kitchen could be made of a heat-resistant material). Say in advance what can go wrong and how to avoid it. Publish the contract with useful comments on the margins. Acquaint the reader with your managers.

Or maybe you are a web hosting provider and you have a page that lists services, plans and options. This may be good for an experienced web administrator. But if someone makes their first website, they probably don’t even know that a domain name and web hosting are separate services. They have no idea if they need CGI, SSL or mod_whatever. They have no clue how to make email work. To get clients, help people become clients by hand holding. Help them figure out which set of services will fit them depending on why they came. Explain what steps are necessary from subscribing to a hosting service to opening the website. Help understand and configure DNS, choose and set up an FTP-client. Publish the contract with useful comments on the margins. Acquaint the reader with your support team.

Yes, the answers can be found online. But if you rely on that, you didn’t do your job well. Your website should work like an experienced and attentive manager, not like an indifferent price tag.

Many people suffer from professional deformation: they think everybody understand their technical terms and work principles. I’ve even heard an opinion that such “hand holding” shows disrespect to a client by treating them like a child.

This is an error. Everybody likes feeling taken care of. If your hand holding feels patronising, your are just not caring sincerely enough.