CU*Online Newsletter
November 2001 

CU*ONLINE is the Web Design & Maintenance division of Alonzi Technical Consulting.
All Rights Reserved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If Your Membership Is Aging or Ethnically Diverse...

Web-design guru Jakob Nielsen has a few tips for Web sites: Make them easier to use for foreigners and people with visual impairments.

Nielsen, co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group consulting firm, recently released data suggesting that sites published in the United States are nearly 50 percent harder for foreigners to use than for Americans, and about three times as hard for visually impaired people than for sighted users. Based on his firm's studies, Nielsen develop guidelines for making Web sites easier for visually impaired people, including many elderly folks. Fifty million visually impaired Internet users could benefit from simple site tweaks, such as putting fewer items on home pages and using special text to describe images. Most of these recommendations for the visually impaired would help everyone, Nielsen said, because people accomplish more at sites that are uncluttered and can load quickly.

Nielsen said a key reason for these Web site errors is that companies, even very large ones, don't do user testing. Why not? Nielsen's theory is that the department required to pay for it -- information technology -- is generally not the one that reaps the rewards.

<< Back to Top

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Email Marketing

Have you ever considered using email as a marketing tool? You can link directly to stories and applications on your Web site. All a reader has to do is have internet access and click the hyperlink -- and you've got them! It's a great marketing tool for your Credit Union, especially if you can link directly to online banking services and new membership applications.

HTML newsletters allow you to insert graphics, background images, and different fonts through your email. Very cool, except when the reader doesn't have support for HTML newsletters. Unless you're in the fortunate situation where you can talk to the MIS department for your field of membership and actually verify that all have support for HTML newsletters, you should stick with text emails like this one or offer subscribers a choice between formats.

Collecting a list of email addresses may not be as difficult as you think. Contact the IS staff for a company where potential members work, and ask if they'd be willing to allow you to send a financial newsletter via email to their employees, with an opt-in option for future mailings.

If you're interested in undertaking such a project, feel free to contact me for assistance and ideas. The only thing you have to lose is future members!

<< Back to Top

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Site Search]    [Who We Are]    [Our Services]    [Referrals]    [Privacy]   [Home]

Copyright © 2001, CU*ONLINE. All rights reserved. To contact Karen Alonzi at CU*ONLINE, call or write to Alonzi Technical Consulting's new address at: