As a professional website design company, our biggest source of new customers are referrals.  And to track the “referral health” of our business we started recording and analyzing our Net Promoter Score (NPS).  Developed by Fred Reichheld, of Bain & Company, NPS depends on one simple question for customers; How likely are you, on a scale from 0 (Not Likely) to 10 (Extremely Likely), to recommend our services to a colleague or friend?  0 to 6 are the “detractors”, 7 or 8 the “passives”, and 9 or 10 are the “promoters”.  Your company’s NPS is the percentage of promoters less the percentage of detractors.

Every website that we build, we will recommend the implementation of a post experience survey.  This will give you the data to track your NPS, and by asking the right questions the ability to modify your services/products and increase your NPR Score.  Customer feedback in the correct format is fundamental for this model to work.

Please contact me if you are interested.  We will help you create a custom survey and have it implemented as part of your website worfklow, so you can also start benefiting from your Net Promoter Score.

Daniel Burns

How many times have you sat in front of a loading screen, while it slowly came to life, wondering how long this process will take and how many clients you might be loosing along the way?  Clients hate it!  And as a professional website design company, that is the last think we want our sites to do.

But after a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, maybe that wait is not as bad as we think.  Customers find waiting more tolerable when they can see the work that is being done for them.  This also holds true if the progress that we see is only the “appearance of progress”, also known as “labor illusion”

One of the studies conducted by the Harvard Business Review compared user satisfaction after purchasing tickets from 2 different travel websites.  Both offered the same tickets, and the same prices.  The first website was lightning fast, displaying results immediately and efficiently.  The second website, showed a little animation while the websites “searched” different airlines for the “best rates”.  The second website took anywhere form 20 to 40 seconds to display the exact same results as website 1.  The majority of users preferred the transparency of the slower website!

The second question was, can labor illusion trump poor results?  To find out another study was conducted with the creation of a fictitious dating website.  Some users were presented with immediate results, and others were presented with a slower, transparent search.  And for both groups some results were very appealing (Very attractive “soul mates”, and some were very disappointing. (Less appealing prospects).  Users that had the long search time with appealing results, gave the site very high reviews.  Users that had the long wait with the disappointing results, gave the website very bad results.  This illustrated that labor illusion only has positive feedback when the outcome are great results.

Several examples of labor illusion are successfully being used on our day to day life.  Apple’s automated response hotline, plays a typing sound between prompts to give users the illusion that the virtual operator is “keeing” in your request.  ATM’s will show the animation of bills being counted, or a check being scanned when they are processing your deposit.    Starbucks required Baristas to steam the milk individually for each customer.  This slows down the process but allows customers to see what is going on.

Websites can definitely profit from transparency as part of the loading process.  Just something to think about!

Since TuneTree offers an extremely specialized service, it required an extremely specialized website. The company provides music licensing rights to film and TV producers, and it needed a “one stop shop” for its current and potential clients.

DBurns Design implemented a neat solution to help users find what they need in TuneTree’s huge catalog – a set of modifiers that can be selected to narrow a search down to exactly the type and style of music required. Searchers can even whittle down their search by key and tempo.

Another convenient and powerful feature we designed was a user-customizable radio player. The company’s music can be sampled and saved without limit on the player, and arranged in any order desired. Lastly, as with the catalog modifiers, we built a set of selections allowing users to customize and download a contract perfectly suited to their licensing needs.

Traditionally, music licensing has been a long and arduous process. TuneTree’s website makes that process much more efficient and painless, allowing movie and TV producers to concentrate on what they do best – producing the entertainment we love to watch!

Mark Steines has been the host of Entertainment Tonight for almost 14 years. When he first approached DBurns Design for his first official website, he wanted to tell the story of his career, it’s longevity, but also use the website as a platform to showcase his new book about the medical volunteer mission to Sierra Leone that he documented and made into a book called “See the Light: A Passage to Sierra Leone”.

In our first meeting, Mark explained that this website needed to show all sides of him, his photography, his volunteer mission, his family life, his beginnings as a young broadcaster, as well as his career as it stands today.

Through the use of interactive videos on the homepage, multiple photo galleries, and a video blog, along with great design aesthetics, DBurns Design created a new web presence that encompassed all of his goals and then some!

When DBurns Design was first approached to build Queen Latifah’s new website, we knew it had to be special and enduring.  There were several areas of her lengthy career with a unique story to depict…the actress, the singer, dancer, spokesperson and model.   Not to mention, the need to maintain and continue to build upon the Queen Latifah worldwide brand online.

Immediately the DBD team created a new placeholder page for the website with an audio player of her latest hit that premiered on American Idol, a link to itunes to download that song, and a fan page sign up while we were building the overall new presence.  As it turned out, the Queen Latifah team loved the essence of the placeholder page and asked us to expand that very design into the five dimensional career and brand of Queen Latifah that we all know and love!  DBurns Design nailed the perfect design carriage on the first try and we have been thrilled to be a part of fostering and maintaining the Queen Latifah brand online!

The Art Gallerist specializes in delivering accessible and incredible art online.  When coming to DBurns Design, The Art Gallerist conveyed their desire for the visitor to feel as if they were in a gallery in  downtown Soho.

The Art Gallerist is an inspiration for experiencing the best of strolling through an art gallery without leaving the comfort of your home.

Since they are an online art dealer specializing in professional, emerging and student artists across all mediums,
the visitor can actually peruse and purchase their finest centerpiece for the newly decorated living room at the click of their mouse.

Please feel free to browse and explore a fine Art Gallery meets a web 2.0 design.

Zen Arts LA is The leading entertainment performance company in Los Angeles.  Their presentations have been featured at major events all over the city and region!  The company successfully combines a fusion of aerialists, fire dancers,  burlesque performers, premier D.J.’s  and more.  Zen Arts LA can easily be likened to The Best of  Cirque du Soleil meets alternative revelry!

Zen Arts LA challenged the DBurns Design team with the desire to create an online web presence as exciting, innovative and unique as their entertainment performances.  Our Flash team set out to do just that.  As you navigate the site, be sure to notice the array of options that meet the eye as gracefully as a live show!

Hellenic Holidays, a premier travel and tour company came to DBurns Design for a website overhaul.  They needed to represent the magic of Greece immediately on the homepage and welcome the visitor with images of vacationing or honeymooning there.

Through stunning aesthetics and text we brought Hellenic Holidays into the Web 2.0 world while also depicting the unique and beautiful world of Greece.  As you view the site, trust in Hellenic Holidays to plan your dream getaway is affirmed over and over on every page.   There is no question when viewing this website, that Hellenic Holidays is the company of choice for magical memories made in Greece!

Famous Los Angeles  Art Dealer, Guy Hepner, came to DBurns Design to renew, refresh, and revive his old website .  The objective of the re-design was to bring his website, not only into the Web 2.0 realm, but to surpass it by giving his visitors a unique, interactive experience when viewing his various collections through video and portfolio galleries.  Guy’s website was created with a complete custom content management system where he can
add new artwork, change artwork and keep it updated at a moment’s notice!

Be sure to check out www.GuyHepner.com often for the latest art openings and
exhibits!