soulsight®

I once got lost riding my bike when I was seven. I was new to our neighborhood, took a wrong turn at some point, and lost track of how to get back. It was confusing and scary. And then I saw a familiar landmark (a Dairy Queen sign) and it guided me back to a street that I felt comfortable and safe on. It was a great feeling to have all of the uncertainty wiped away with a simple, familiar sign that let me know that I actually wasn't too far from home.

I thought of that moment when I found myself on a 404 Error page that looked like nothing like the vacation travel site I was on. Suddenly, I felt the "Uh-Oh" of that wrong turn. Did I just venture off of that safe site and into the scary world of identity theft and credit card fraud?! I had no idea where I was and, more importantly, with whom I was with. Was this the 404 page of the legitimate travel company I was trying to book my anniversary trip or proof that I should have never trusted that banner ad? I quit my browser, emptied my cache, deleted the cookies and sprayed Lysol all over my keyboard. I didn't want anything to do with that site anymore. The fun-in-the-sun loving image they lured me in with was shattered by this strange, generic 404 Error page. It just didn't jive as authentic.

Why is it that just as I am cruising along on a cool site I invariably find my way to one of these error pages? I mean, really, what did I click on that you weren't ready for? The worst is when, like I described, it is a suspiciously generic page with a weird computer font that just states the obvious "Error 404, Page Not Found" without any clue that you're still on the same site. The best, and the point of this blog entry (ah, yes, there is always a point, young grasshopper) is when the 404 page gets treated just like every other page on the website you're visiting. The concept is simple but overlooked by many. Every touchpoint to your consumer must come from the personality and voice of your brand. Now, if you happen to run a brand that is black and white and boring all over, one in which every employee speaks in a robot voice and uses OCRA fonts, then the generic page will suit you well -- Go on and play with your friends by the mimeograph machine.

As for the rest of us...

Let's talk about smart design and the importance of a continuous and consistent brand voice.

From the literal voice that answers your phone to the recorded one that guides callers through your messaging service, from the promotional events that you put on for your consumers to the buttons you leave behind for them, there needs to be consistency. They all need to be from your brand voice, without exception. This includes most definitely your company Facebook pages, Linkedin accounts, tweets and yes, oh god yes, all your website pages. They all need to be consistent. But why you ask? Because you must assume that any one of these will be the only point of contact someone might have with your brand. A brand cannot assume that a consumer will do his or her due diligence to vigilantly research the brands they are considering at all times. It's widely accepted that the first impression is the lasting one. So then, your first impression with a consumer must be strategically thought out to communicate exactly what your brand is all about, specific to the limitations of the opportunity, of course. For instance, a back panel on your package will most likely include more of a brand story than a tweet. But, they both, in a vacuum of first impressions, must be specific to the personality of the brand. Again, one can't assume the discovery patterns of a consumer to a brand. We can't know for certain the path that every consumer will take to get to our brands so the experience along the way, no matter which way they go, must include a consistent brand personality.

A great example of this is Campbell's brand Spaghettios. Now, I know the folks that work on Spaghettios, and they are awesome and cool and fun, just like their brand. So maybe it's no coincidence that even the lowly 404 Error page has a lot of that going on. But, even if THEY weren't fun and youthful, their BRAND is, so there you go. They get it, and not only do I love that I came across it, but it was also a huge comfort to see that familiar can on their well designed, true to the brand, 404 page.

Of course, this is the extreme corner of the consumer neighborhood. A dark, confusing, mysterious place rarely visited by even the smallest consumer segment and always found by accidentally taking a wrong turn. And that's the exact time your consumer needs to know you're still there.

More well designed 404 pages that have the holistic brand experience in mind