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Similarly, I hate it when vendors organize their site according to what they expect their customer's line of business to be, rather than the features that actua

Similarly, I hate it when vendors organize their site according to what they expect their customer's line of business to be, rather than the features that actually distinguish their own product or service lines. For example, AppliedMicro divides its products page into "data center", "carrier", and "embedded". So instead of browsing (or - dare I dream? - parametrically filtering) the product lines to find something with the features I need, I have to decide which hat I'm supposed to be wearing to be sold the right thing.

donatj 9y ago
Yes. I particularly hate when I am in none of the categories yet want the product or service. Makes me feel like they have no interest in selling to me right off the bat.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  > when I am in none of the categories Or, equally annoying - when you're in more than one at the same time.
valine 9y ago
Dell is guilty of this sort of thing. Trying to price compare between “business” and “home” computers is a nightmare.
- Stephen304 9y ago
  I experienced this just yesterday, I'm pretty sure it was exacerbated by a website bug, but selecting "All Laptops" took me to just Home laptops, where the XPS line couldn't be found at all. I ended up forgoing trying to compare all their lines and just selected the XPS section directly.
gk1 9y ago
Because they're selling outcomes, not features.
snowwrestler 9y ago
I think there is a disconnect between what people think personae are for (improving usability for everybody) vs. what they are actually for (focusing resources on the few most important market segments). Focusing means that usability may actually go down for people who don't fit into those segments. And of course like anything else, even if personae are conceptually sound, a company can still screw up in the execution.
EdwardDiego 9y ago
Did I want the "Datacentre" or the "Agile Datacentre"? Fucked if I know, all I know is that my servers aren't responding and your phone tree is fucking confusing.

donatj 9y ago

Yes. I particularly hate when I am in none of the categories yet want the product or service. Makes me feel like they have no interest in selling to me right off the bat.

TeMPOraL 9y ago
> when I am in none of the categories Or, equally annoying - when you're in more than one at the same time.

valine 9y ago

Dell is guilty of this sort of thing. Trying to price compare between “business” and “home” computers is a nightmare.

Stephen304 9y ago
I experienced this just yesterday, I'm pretty sure it was exacerbated by a website bug, but selecting "All Laptops" took me to just Home laptops, where the XPS line couldn't be found at all. I ended up forgoing trying to compare all their lines and just selected the XPS section directly.

gk1 9y ago

Because they're selling outcomes, not features.

snowwrestler 9y ago

I think there is a disconnect between what people think personae are for (improving usability for everybody) vs. what they are actually for (focusing resources on the few most important market segments). Focusing means that usability may actually go down for people who don't fit into those segments. And of course like anything else, even if personae are conceptually sound, a company can still screw up in the execution.

EdwardDiego 9y ago

Did I want the "Datacentre" or the "Agile Datacentre"? Fucked if I know, all I know is that my servers aren't responding and your phone tree is fucking confusing.