deutschDoes your customer smile when (s)he is confronted with an error? No - why not?
I am not so happy with my web provider.
Seems, always when I want to post something, there happen problems - hm, or are there always problems? 
.
I just had this error 500 message:
“In case you have the opinion this is a failure due to the server, contact the webmaster.”
Of course they are right - there can be different reasons for this error, but still: at that moment I just want my task to be done.
If I email the webmaster, this will eventually take even longer. So I retry. And thank God: it works.
But how about, if you place yourself for one moment into your customer ?
E.g. Orkut seems having done this.
When there appears an error, it is told:
Bad, bad server. Today there are no sweets for you.
…
We apologize for the trouble and for the “ruthless” behaviour of our server
I liked this - I even smiled.
But the standard message from my provider is so sh.t.
The request I have to you: make me as customer happy. Even if it is only with an inventive error message. Or better: don’t let even such errors happen.
Erkan YILMAZ
at
[…] What you should know, before you read the article: Why I am writing on this issue ? This goes out to all software vendors: I am a potential customer who is not allowed to use the software and has to search for other ways to achieve his goal. If you want me to use your software in the future, please change some things. E.g. make a basic installer (like the REAL Alternative), so I can still succeed. Well, it is interesting that with free software you can do what the company itself is not able to But if someting does not work then at least give me a proper dialog: in a good translated version. Read also later: “Does your customer smile when (s)he is confronted with an error? No - why not?“ […]