[IxDA Discuss] Online brochure vs. PDF download

[Alexander Baxevanis]

Hi Marianne,

I don't think that replicating a printed product catalogue is the best
way of presenting a collection of products online. If this is the
primary interface of your website, I think that you will alienate a
large percentage of online shoppers who are used to searching for
products, copying and pasting product details & descriptions into an
e-mail, comparing products side by side, and lots of similar tasks
that are not adequately supported by the "online brochure" concept.

If your online brochure is only a secondary method of displaying your
products, I would go with a downloadable PDF, as I think that most
people should be quite familiar with manipulating this kind of
content. However, I doubt anyone would have the patience to print a
big brochure. For people who like the feeling of looking at something
in paper, why not provide the option to request a brochure to be
mailed to them? It may cost something to the company, but it also
helps build a stronger link with the customer.

Regards,

Alex

On Jan 22, 2008 12:21 PM, Marianne Jensen <marianne.jensen at themilk.net> wrote:
> Does anyone have any recommendations/ preferences with regard to online
> brochures?
> We have the option of providing a downloadable pdf that users can view/print
> out for reading later, and/or going with a zmags.com solution that takes the
> print brochure(s) and displays it rather sleekly in it's own window (Ikea
> applies this solution). There is a link to download the brochure from the
> zmag approach, but I don't think it's immediately evident to the user. Are
> there any stats/suggestions? Right now the thinking is to display radio
> buttons with the two options (pdf or online) and let people choose, but
> we're duplicting the brochure names in the footer as well and prefer to
> default to the option here that is most prefered for the user.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Mhv,
> Marianne
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