Usability, Web Logs, Competition, and the IPO
Oct 31 '99
I am going to give you a picture of Epinions.com that will open your eyes. I am going to heap on the praise. But, I am going to do my best to expose some warts. I’m going to be brutally honest.
My personal agenda is simple. I want you to see what Epinions is really about. While I am at it, I will show you some of their competition. I want you to see why Epinions should succeed. And, why it might fail.
SAMPLE USABILITY PROBLEMS
1) When I clicked on the “feedback” link at the bottom of the screen, it took me to the “Contact Us!” page. What gives? Why not have a feedback page that is solely used for feedback? Contacting someone is different than providing feedback. Also, the “Feedback” page has email links on it. This is not too bad, but it is not nearly as effective as having a feedback (or contact) form. Come on Epinions; let people click on a radio button and type in their feedback! Don’t force folks to use those pesky mailto: links.
2) Why doesn’t my profile page ( http://www.epinions.com/user-webword ) have a search bar on it? I spend a lot of time on that page to review my statistics and I am usually ready to search the site. I see that Epinions has a search bar on most pages, but there are plenty of places where it is missing.
3) The Epinions site has some strange labeling conventions. For example, if we look at the dark blue navigation bar at the top of this page and at the top of most pages, they have a link called “Top”. What is top? Top of the page? I asked two people what they thought and they both told me that it would take you to the top of the page. But, that's odd because you can only see the link "Top” when you are already at the top of the page. Argh! The “Top” link takes you to the home page. Bizarre! Why not just use the label “Home” instead?
4) Argh!! I just finished writing my epinion a minute ago. I previewed it and was told that it had many spelling mistakes. Here's the message: "We have found a large number of possible spelling errors in your epinion, and they are highlighted below. Please edit them before you submit your epinion." Guess what folks, it doesn't actually have mistakes. I proofed it about 5 times. However, I use "I'm" a lot and I use URLs. So, I they would not let me submit my epinion. I have to go through and make useless and time-wasting edits. I am very annoyed!!
I could go on, but they will have to hire me…
THE ROLE OF WEB LOGS
I think that web logs primarily drive Epinions. A web log is sort of a daily log driven by a single person. It is like a personal home page on crack. Most ‘bloggers are web designers, in their late twenties, and they tend to be critical and cynical. They are the perfect candidates for Epinions. They have an ax to grind, they are opinionated, and they tend to write well.
If you look at the list of top reviewers, it is populated by ‘bloggers. For example, check out these folks:
CamWorld ( http://www.epinions.com/user-camworld )
peterme (http://www.epinions.com/user-peterme )
jkottke ( http://www.epinions.com/user-jkottke )
Of course, I also have my WebWord.com web log. Almost all ‘bloggers send their readers to Epinions (if they write epinions and if they are registered). 'Bloggers like to show folks what they have written. They also like the traffic since they get paid when folks stop by. Well, they don’t always get paid since only registered users contribute to their royalties.
The Epinions folks actually hired peterme. Wise move. Now they have a butt kicking Creative Director. They recognize smart people.
By the way, I am not the only person that thinks that Epinions relies on web logs: http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/citation/wc991021.htm
THE COMPETITION
As you probably suspected, there are other web sites that are competing with Epinions. When I say “compete” I mean that there are sites that offer reviews on all kinds of things. I do not mean that they model Epinions.
Here is a small sample of competing sites:
1) CompareNet ( http://www.compare.net/ ) They offer product information, side-by-side charts, reviews, classifieds, shopping links and more. They are also “unbiased”. Overall this is an excellent site that helps folks decide what they ought to buy.
2) Active Buyers Guide ( http://www.activebuyersguide.com/ ) This is a very cool site. It teaches you about products, allows you to make judgments calls, and helps you understand the buying process. You need to spend 5-10 minutes answering a series of questions when you are searching for a product, but the results are outstanding. If you are serious about nailing down the perfect product, you can not go wrong. Also, the selection of products is very large.
3) Deja.com ( http://www.deja.com/ ) “682,645 user ratings of 28,395 products in 809 categories” This site has been around longer than Epinions, and has pretty good brand recognition. The reviews are pretty good, but the organization of material is not as good as Epinions’.
4) Consumer Reports (http://www.consumerreports.org/ ) It costs $3.95 per month to access the site. While this is a barrier, folks are very attached to their excellent information and their brand is highly valued offline. They will be able to leverage this online. If people are getting their information from Consumer Reports, they will not hit Epinions.
The above list of competitors is not complete. And, some people might say that these sites are not really competitors. Others might say that the market is large enough for these players and many, many more. These comments are probably all true. If there are niches, where does Epinions stand? Think about my web logging comments above. Who is really visiting Epinions? Who are they targeting? Do they know? Do they have the vision of their users?
The Web of Trust drives the Epinions advantage. They also pay reviewers. And, thus far, they have treated reviewers well. Lastly, the reviewers, for better or worse, are common folks. They are not professional reviewers so what you see is what you get.
Enough said.
MISCELLANEOUS STUFF
1) Epinions has partnered with Lycos
epinions.lycos.com
2) Why Epinons Might be the Next Amazon (CamWorld)
http://www.camworld.com/journal/rants/99/10/12.html
3) Writing Good Epinions
http://www.sabren.com/rants/1999/10/19991014a.php3
4) NY Times on Epinions (requires registration) http://www10.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/cyber/commerce/25commerce.html
5) “If I Ran Epinions” by Jen Kitchen (of Whim and Vinegar)
http://gooddeed.net/blog/opinion/
THE LAST COMMENT
I like Epinions. I have spent a lot of time here. I have used a lot of energy writing reviews and I have sent Epinions a lot of traffic from my web site. Right now I trust Epinions. And, I want to continue trusting them. So far, they have done a great job working with reviewers. I commend them on their efforts.
But I am worried…
On the home page of Epinions, this message is prominently displayed: “NEW! We're awarding over $1 MILLION for writing epinions and referring friends by the end of 1999!”
I simply do not know what this means. $1 million is a lot of money. Exactly how is that money going to dispersed to reviewers? How are reviewers going to get rewarded for driving the Epinions machine? When and how are reviewers going to get paid?
I suspect that Epinions will have an IPO as soon as it can. I hope that they reward loyal reviewers…
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Epinions.com ID:
webword
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Member: John Rhodes
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 89 members
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