web site's appearance matters

Everything to do with using your own website to advertise your rental property. Design, usability, hosting, getting listed on the search engines, optimising your site, pay-per-click, etc, etc.
A-two
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web site's appearance matters

Post by A-two »

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/0 ... index.html

According to the article, research shows:-

1. Males assign higher ratings to pages designed by men, and females prefer sites made by women.
2. Women like pages with more color in the background and typeface.
3. Women favor informal rather than posed pictures.
4. Men respond better to dark colors and straight, horizontal lines across a page. They like a 3D look and images of "self-propelling" rather than stationary objects.

The research is being published in European journals on consumer behavior and marketing.
Waves from America
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

Hmmm... so now the question is, is the population of people who browse property websites and make inquiries biased toward men or women?
Brooke
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Renaud
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Post by Renaud »

Judging from who we most correspond with by e-mail re enquiries and then actual bookings its mostly women. At a guess I would say 75% women.
So I'm just off for a website redesign to add more brightly coloured backgrounds, informal pictures etc.
Actually, on re-reading point 1, the wifes going to have to do it!

p.s. Joanna, can you check that link? I get "page not found".
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Alan Knighting
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Post by Alan Knighting »

Delete the dot (.) after "html" at the end of the address and you will get the webpage.
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Sue Dyer
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Post by Sue Dyer »

I always seem to have to make the decision on vacations, my husband (and no doubt plenty of others) know they can't be held accountable then if it goes wrong. :) I do get full credit for good choices though, which is about every holiday we've ever had.
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

What a fascinating topic. I find myself totally absorbed by the findings of that survey on male vs female perceptions of good design, but then also intrigued by the follow up on who books the holiday.

Looking back through my records, I concur that over 3/4 of the enquiries (and bookings) came from women. But then when I looked at what I call dead enquiries (unconverted enquiries), and in fairness I don't have that many, I found that only 10% of the enquiries that were not converted came from men.

Do others have similar or different stats and what is this telling us ?

I have a very unscientific hypothesis that men fire off less enquiries at a time, but rather send off an enquiry, and if suitable will accept or reject before going on to the next enquiry. Also, men may not "shop around" as much. What do you think ? And does it help us at all ?
A-two
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Post by A-two »

The sample for the report and article was very small and not specific to holiday rentals, but I still find the topic interesting, hence posting it.

Perhaps we buck the trend, but this year, I have 60% bookings from men and only 40% women. For the last two years, multiple week bookings have been 100% men and repeat bookings have been 100% men.

ETA: If you look at my site, you'll see that I have no colored backgrounds, understated type and no informal photos. I do have horizontal lines, also a speedboat in one of the beach photos, so maybe it really does appeal more to men than women.
Waves from America
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

This year we're 45% women, 55% men. I think that's consistent with even numbers.

Maybe it's because I don't have many candid photos, but I do have colored backgrounds. ;)
Brooke
Christine Kenyon
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Post by Christine Kenyon »

Wow, this is fascinating. We have just sold one of our cottages, complete with website and domain name. The new couple (or rather the chap) has made some significant changes to the site. And guess what, they correspond to the male "likes" listed above! Eerie :roll: .
vacationinvest
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Post by vacationinvest »

Web sites are commonly the most "skimped" upon item in a business. Most people think they can get away with a Microsoft Frontpage special, when in reality it takes a real web designer. It doesnt need to cost that much to get a professional looking web site either. Just shop around on the net. Often local developers with brick and mortar shops are far more expensive than need be.
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