Having just walked through airport security I was given a unique opportunity to witness my fellow man behaving in some interesting ways. I recently learned that patience can be defined as those things you tell yourself while you are waiting for something. Perhaps the airport would have been better served to have announced that principle over the intercom instead of the continual reminders that even though you have twenty more minutes to wait in line at security, your flight is leaving now. My principle might have offered a different perspective than the one they were providing.

It’s interesting to watch the way stress can affect people. Screaming children who simply don’t understand what’s happening or why they feel so stressed. Screaming adults who don’t understand why their unique needs don’t supersede those of the several hundred other people with whom they are standing in line. As the time of flight departures grew closer and closer, I watched people leave line to go to the security personnel, hopeful that by explaining their individual schedule problem they will get preferential treatment. And of course, when the security people refused to let them simply walk through, the passenger was left even more unhappy, still behind schedule and now filled with the thought that the security people were uncaring.

Uncaring? Really?

Really cool photo of what your stuff looks like when it goes through an x-ray machine.

I find it ironic that these people who were working diligently to keep us safe and move us through as quickly as possible were being vilified. How dare they do their jobs! The situation was unfortunate and I empathize with those people who now had to scramble and sprint to their gates (which is actually pretty funny to watch), but in all of this I was struck with an insight that I think can be applied to our business life and to the websites that we design.
Communication is about the receiver. The security personnel were polite, professional, efficient, and consistent – qualities their supervisors demand of their workers would love to promote. But is that the message our frantic air travelers took with them as they dashed to their planes? Fair or not, at the end of the day their impression of airport security was most certainly a negative one. Of course, those security folks are going to go to sleep tonight largely unconcerned about an individual passenger’s overreaction to a stressful situation. They realize one simple truth – the passenger leaving today is returning tomorrow and has prepaid. That’s job security.

Can your company make a similar claim? If a person visits your site and it is difficult to navigate how long will they stay before the go dashing off to your competition? If the site is dull or unappealing will it send the same message about you? If you have spelling errors, factual errors, or your page hasn’t been updated since the Bush administration (the first one), how likely is it that these people will take the next step and become a customer who recommends your site to others? Intentional or not, you must design and maintain your site with your intended audience in mind. And if that audience member is someone you hope to build a long term relationship with you must take care that your first impression is your best impression because if you fail it will be your only impression. Of course a site that is well organized, easy to navigate is critical to grow your business. Make sure important features can be found quickly and easily so that questions can be answered and needs met with minimal stress on your visitors.

Remember, just like at the airport, planning ahead will help make the process easier and more beneficial.