Why Virtual Floorspace?
Floorspace is a concept that is highly developed in retail stores, with big box retailers leading the way. Before a new display or product can take up costly space in the store, its probable return is analyzed using available data. Once implemented, its performance is tracked to determine how profitable it is compared with other store areas. Top performing displays are replicated and refined. Poor performing areas are improved through changing promotional tactics or changing products.
Web sites also have specifically delineated areas devoted to different features, functionality, and content. Similar to a retail environment, these areas comprise the web site’s offering. For commercial web sites, this offering is expected to bring some kind of financial return.
Many companies I consult with do not apply the kind of rigorous analysis to the space used on a web site that retailers apply to space used in their stores. The reason is simple: space on a web site costs very little money. E-retailers call the internet the “endless aisle.” What many site owners and sponsors fail to realize is that while space is virtually free and unlimited, customer attention is not. In test after test, I have witnessed the extremely selective attention that customers exhibit when using web sites, in comparison with the browsing behavior that is seen in physical retail outlets. Attention engineering is necessary to realize the full potential of the web site user experience design. Attention engineering can be accomplished using best practices, but a more reliable approach is to base it on customer data that is carefully collected and analyzed. Basing user experience design decisions on customer data is the premise of Virtual Floorspace.