Gigi Griffis

How to Write Your Homepage, Part I

Writing Your Homepage for Your Goals

When grocery stores first started implementing self-checkouts, I thought that it was a fabulous idea. And it probably still is, but now a problem has arisen:

No one is thinking through the language and presentation behind these systems.

The first problem is that the language and presentation often don’t fit with the rest of the brand. For example, reading the banners, flyers or ads for a Safeway store leaves you with an impression that they are friendly, clean and affordable. The self-checkout machine comes across more as loud and passive-aggressive when it asks, in a higher volume, “HAVE YOU SCANNED YOUR SAFEWAY CARD?”

This bugs me because: A) it’s so loud and B) the machine knows I haven’t scanned my Safeway card–asking the question is just a weak way of reminding me. Please, machine, man up and just remind me.

Think about it, Safeway: if you were standing in line and the cashier asked you “have you paid for your groceries yet?” as you were rummaging through your wallet, wouldn’t you feel strange? The cashier knows you haven’t paid–why wouldn’t they just either A) wait or B) jump start you by saying something along the lines of “your total is XXX.”

You need to think of your self-checkouts as cashiers. Automated ones, yes, but cashiers all the same. Your brand and presentation should be just as clear in the machine (if not more clear) than in your cashiers, who are presumably trained not to say bizarre things to customers.

King Soopers, which has won me over due to its endlessly better machines, takes a different approach. Not only does the volume of the machine reflect the average person’s hearing capabilities, but the machine very politely asks the user to “If you have a King Soopers card, please scan it now.” It’s not passive-aggressive. It doesn’t blow your eardrums out. And the tone feels friendly and inviting–it’s reminding you that you could save money.

When we think about content and brand in our organizations, we need to think of it as more than a website, a few brochures and some banner advertisements. It’s the way employees present themselves. It’s the spoken word. It’s the user experience of every system you have–be it online or otherwise.

Your self-checkout system is your content. Your employee presentation is your content.

It doesn’t mean you have to be static or sacrifice authenticity. But it does mean that you have to think about all your assets as a part of the bigger whole.