Just saw a seminar on e-commerce usability by Carolyn Snyder. Fairly interesting, I especially respect her for staring down a room for of New York CHI geeks and stating that the old Boo.com site “did some innovative things that came close to working.” On another occasion she flat out contradicted a guideline of Jakob Nielson, whose company sponsered the study. Perhaps the venue – the main conference room at Razorfish – inspires moxie.
On the topic of Boo, I found it interesting that even people who liked the site didn’t like Miss Boo, finding her annoying. Like the Microsoft Office paper clip, I continue to wonder why people hate animated avatars. Perhaps they insult our intelligence, expecting us to treat a cartoon character like an intelligent entity.
This makes me wonder how people would react to an anthropomorphized version of the usual web/windows interface. Imagine a mandatory text box that pleads, “Hey, don’t forget to fill me out!” Or a Buy Now button that seductively winks at you and purrs.