UsedBoats.com Website Design Review

ARTICLE SNIPPET - Website Design Critique of UsedBoats.com Reveals Functional Design Lacking Personality and Appeals to Loyalty Beyond the Dollar

Whether or not you're interested in used boats, a website design critique of UsedBoats.com reveals numerous important lessons.

The commercial success of UsedBoats.com can be gauged by the claim that the site listed 87,058 searchable used boats, calculated from the total number of boats listed on the site, based on adding the total number of boats listed in the various categories. On the day I visited, I counted 25,000 boat listings.The primary concern, of course, is whether or not a website design critique of UsedBoats.com reveals lost opportunities—and, if so—what role does design play in creating barriers to a pleasurable and efficient user experience?

• The website's intent is immediately obvious from the homepage title, "Used Boats for Sale: A Boat Trader Directory by Used Boats" and the site's motto: "Thousands of boats. Millions of buyers."
• Given the pleasure orientation of boating, even a generic 30 or 60 second video clip of a boat on a beautiful day, or a melody of the sounds that often accompany boating, would add to the site's emotional resonance with visitor
• Navigation in this website design is logical and persistent—beginning with the "big three" on the homepage, and assisted by primary and secondary navigation links, the site can be efficiently utilized from the first visit
• The persistence of the assessment pop-up, every time I revisited the homepage, was very irritating—perhaps the pop-up disappears when you take the assessment, but it irritated me so much I refused to give in
• The website design is "all business" to a fault. It is surprising that there is no attempt to communicate even a touch of the "pleasure" or "recreation" that boating provides for male bonding or family enjoyment

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