Dennys.com: Whose Turn Was it to Watch the Web Guy?
Denny’s has a lot to be proud of. The publicly traded company has 1,546 locations across the country, a brand name that’s been around for eons, and demographics that include loyal late-night-snacking Gen-Y’ers and Grandmas alike. Yet, this 24/7 powerhouse apparently failed to invest in a credible marketing and web team.
As I was preparing to speak at the Tampa AMA’s Digital Marketing Conference last week, I decided to refresh my examples of not-so-usable web sites. Little did I know that Denny’s would become my new poster child of bad web design, development and content.
How bad is it? I have a list…
#1 Involuntary Noise Pollution: Imagine you’re at work and want to take a peek at their menu before you head out. After a pleasant Flash of some yummy looking omelets, Dennys.com makes sure your coworkers are treated to a clamoring Denny’s video spot from over the cube. Better yet, you’ll be listening to your iTunes and it will blow your eardrums out. Each time I show the site to someone new, I struggle to hit “mute” before the spot starts.
Moral of the story: Don’t auto-play video, unless you’re a TV Network, YouTube or an entity where the user expects to see video front and center. Auto-play video (and audio for that matter) may tick off the user and cause them to retreat, rather than scramble for the “off” switch. If Denny’s is lucky, some will stick around, but only be irritated.
Denny’s customers have too many choices of where to eat. They shouldn’t be irritated before they get there.
#2 Navigation Roulette: Try finding the navigation to Denny’s food menu. Really, go to Dennys.comand try. The average web visitor won’t try as hard as you will. Yup, the folks at Denny’s want you to have fun with the order spinner in the lower right corner to find the correct illegible ticket that holds the navigation.Surely, the spinner includes rollovers that display the navigation items in legible text, right? No… it’s more fun to spin, click and see where you land.Even better, once when you land on the resulting page, the spinner is even smaller and there’s no clear way to get home.
#3 Disjointed, Self-Serving Content: The golden rule of the web? Make it all about the visitor and avoid the classic mistake of regurgitating traditional marketing materials and dumping them online. Denny’s includes links to their TV spots and a “Kid Zone” page that is obviously a scan of their print ad. I have to work hard to find any content of value.
#4 Lack of User Controls: I have to give Denny’s some credit for including a Restaurant Locator on their home page. Enter a ZIP code and you’ll arrive on a map page, complete with the listings in your area below. What’s so bad about that? The trick is finding the scroll bar layered beneath your browsers scroll bar. Ouch.
So, if Denny’s does have a full-time web guy on staff, what in world is he working on? Check out DennysAllNighter.com. Aha! That explains it!
