Zoomf Blog - UK Property Blog.

A study on 2,500 people has proved that it’s not just traffic jams and screaming babies on planes that can drive us into a manic rage, apparently the internet can too. Rackspace Managed Hosting were not content with just polling internet users, they wired them up for physiological tests to find out the real effects of a badly designed web page. They examined brainwaves, heart-rate fluctuations, muscle tension and skin conductivity whilst asking their participants to try and complete a range of tasks on various websites.

Their conclusions?

Poorly designed and badly hosted websites cause stress and anger or, as the researchers themselves called it, ‘Mouse Rage’.

Apparently the top 5 things that make internet users fly off the handle were the following:

• Slow loading pages.
• Poor navigation/confusing layouts.
• Excessive pop-ups.
• Unnecessary advertising.
• Site unavailability.

“Ultimately it appears that internet users want all websites to have the same speed, function and accuracy as Google,” the researchers commented. Well, that’s certainly what we strive towards here at Zoomf. We try and keep things simple so you don’t end up with heart palpitations and a sweaty brow, and we’re pretty confident that we don’t do any of the naughty five listed above.

It’s interesting to note that people don’t seem to mind advertising, it’s unnecessary advertising that drives people wild. And that makes a lot of sense really, because adverts targeted at something you’ve already shown an interest in on the site can be pretty helpful (as long as their not popping and dancing about which will really induce mouse rage!).

So next time you find yourself bashing your mouse on the desk because of a rubbishy website just take a step back and relax. The best way to avoid the pain is to leave the page! As offending websites see a fall in their traffic, they will have to start considering usability to survive. And perhaps then ‘mouse rage’ can be a feeling of the past.

At Zoomf we’re obsessed. We’re obsessed with Zoomf because it’s our baby, and just like your parents always wanted you to be a doctor, marry a good person and have 5 kids and a golden retriever…we want Zoomf to grow up to be a big success too. Loving your product is important, but being able to step back is important too.

So, last night we stepped back and let other people do the talking…as Calvin Coolidge said over 100 years ago “no man ever listened himself out of a job.”

We held a consumer features workshop and we learnt some very interesting things about online property search. Some things were obvious, no-one wants to go grey waiting for a page to load. But some things were not so obvious, like how the colour scheme of a page can really change peoples user experience.

We’ve now got a nice long list of features that people would like to see on Zoomf, and the good news is that having already met with the tech team this morning…they can all be implemented fairly painlessly.

A big thank-you goes out to those who attended as well as to Mark Hopwood who made the evening particularly magical and kept discussion on track.

I knew I was going to enjoy myself last night (I had purchased three large packs of salt and pepper kettle chips especially for the event) but I was pleased to see everybody else enjoy themselves also. Look out for the new features on Zoomf, they’ll popping up here, there and everywhere!

According to a recent report from Forrester, marketers will continue to use tried and tested methods of reaching consumers online like search and email. But interestingly enough….

• 50 percent use or plan to use blogs or social networks
• 47 percent use or plan to use RSS
• 43 percent go or have gone mobile

Then you’ve got Goldman Sachs saying over 700,000 iPhones have been picked up by consumers and the National Association of Real Estate Editors’ annual conference saying that it’s time for real estate agents to start blogging.

So the question to UK estate agents is ; are you doing enough online?

Do you blog? Do you take advantage of RSS? Are you planning for the mobile internet? Do you use Google Adwords?
It’s already a fact that 80% of your potential customers are online. Is 80% of your marketing effort thus allocated? The returns will be real and palpable to your bottom line. In a very aggressive manner Zoomf will continue to innovate so that you are empowered as an estate agent and we will see if the portals can keep pace.

Go go gadget Zoomf.