IT'S GOOD NEWS for parents and bad news for online businesses: Teens aren't quite the Web wizards you thought.
According to a recent study by Nielsen Norman Group, a Fremont, Calif., consulting firm, teenagers are able to complete "perfectly feasible" tasks on a Web site only 55% of the time. The rest of the time, teens either give up or incorrectly complete basic tasks, such as locating free copies of documents that a site provides for downloading.
Teens also often can't find a Web site's search tools. They don't know how to resize difficult-to-read results boxes after a search. And they frequently default to their Internet service provider's home page for search functions, rather than using a search engine like Google.
"Teenagers are not, in fact, superior Web geniuses who can use anything a site throws at them," the study concludes. Rather, there are "cognitive, developmental and behavioral differences" between adults and teenagers, which the report defines as people between the ages of 13 and 17. And those differences make teens less than expert when it comes to effective Web surfing.
For Web retailers, the study -- which is far from definitive -- suggests some rethinking may be in order. It indicates that many Web sites are either shooting over the heads of their intended teen targets or just aren't designed to suit teenage tastes -- with complex navigation tools, hard-to-find instructions and search options, and visually boring sites.
"E-commerce sites can easily waste huge amounts of money on misguided design chasing after stereotypical teens," says Jakob Nielsen, co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group and one of the study's authors.
Some people are questioning the study's findings. For example, when it comes to technology, teens are on the cutting edge, says Jack Myers, editor and publisher of the Jack Myers Report, a New York-based publication for the media and advertisement industries. He says, for instance, that teens were way ahead of the general public when it came to using instant messaging. And he says teens ignited the mobile-phone text-messaging craze in Europe.
Still, being early adopters of technology in general -- or proficient online gamers -- doesn't necessarily mean that teens are savvy Web users and shoppers. Mr. Nielsen argues that people's impression of teens is based too much on usage polls in which teens are surveyed -- but not actually observed -- while on the Internet. "It's important to observe teens using the Web sites," he says, "to watch them actually clicking."
Tech savvy or not, teenagers make up a large and growing sector of the online community. About 87% of teens use the Internet in the U.S., according to Amanda Lenhart, research specialist at the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Internet & American Life Project, a Pew Research Center initiative that studies the impact of the Internet on families, communities and other elements of daily life.
What's more, 49% of teenage males and 41% of teenage females have shopped online, dropping $82 on the average e-shopping trip last year, according to Rob Callender, trends director at Teenage Research Unlimited, a Northbrook, Ill., market-research firm.
But based on the Nielsen study, many Web sites
are not properly tapping into this market's potential because their Web sites
aren't designed to engage and retain teens' interest.
So what should retailers be doing? For one thing, according to the study, Web sites need to consider traits of the average teen -- lack of patience, short attention span, image consciousness and a lack of literary sophistication -- in designing a site's look and functions.
One of the study's suggestions is to make text fast and easy. "Ideally, you want a reading level one or two grade levels below the age of your actual target audience so that you accommodate the weaker readers in the group," says Mr. Nielsen. "In general, though, shorter words and sentences are better."
Mr. Callender agrees. Teenagers like information in "frenetic little bits," he says. "They don't like you to speak in complete sentences."
As a guideline, Mr. Nielsen recommends simplified site navigation and a prominent search box to limit the need for instructions. Pepsi.com, for example, is cited in the study for its clearly labeled boxes that make it easy for users to understand what clicking each box will do.
It's important to accommodate experts and novices alike, says John Vail, director of the interactive marketing group at Pepsi-Cola North America, a division of PepsiCo Inc., the snack and beverage company based in Purchase, N.Y. To do so, he recommends a clean and uncluttered approach that makes navigation straightforward, along with search and help buttons that are easy to find.
Home-page links to additional information for teens can be a winner too, provided the linked information is sharply targeted to teens. A good balance between text and graphics also appeals to teens.
The study also cites the need to be flexible. Web sites must be able to change and bend with temperamental teenagers and their fast-moving fads. For instance, currently Pepsi.com offers winners of a bottle-cap promotion a free song from iTunes, Apple Computer Inc.'s music-download service. But other perks may be more alluring to teens in six or nine months' time.
Also, these fickle adolescents sometimes want to be seen as trend-setting teens, while at other times they'd rather be identified with adults. So sites promoting merchandise to teens need to figure out how teens want to be identified with a particular product category, rather than just assuming that teens always either like to be identified with products targeted at teens or at adults.
For instance, Mr. Callender points out, teens may crave the latest music device that all the businessmen use during the morning commute, but they won't be caught dead wearing the same outfit as the young mom on the block.
Online quizzes, message boards and voting also are very popular with teens, along with the option to leave anonymous questions that they can return to see posted and answered later. . . . And What Doesn't
While simplicity is key, talking down to teens won't work. For instance, the Nielsen study found that childish design elements -- such as noises that sound off as a user moves his or her mouse over different graphics on the Web page -- are an instant turn-off for teens.
Frequently, Web sites are too staid or too extreme. "The two most common mistakes are opposites," says Mr. Nielsen. "Either too boring or too flashy."
Sites that use multimedia files should make sure those files work flawlessly. "When a video doesn't play automatically or requires complex user input -- teens lose patience and blame the Web site," the study says.
Plenty of teenagers have old computers and outdated software, the study notes. So if a site won't work across a wide range of equipment, it should expect to lose those teens.
In addition, teens can be price sensitive. Often, if they don't see a price, they assume that something is too expensive. That means retail sites should list prices at the first mention of any product, the study says. A wish-list feature -- where teens can list what they'd like to receive, say, as a birthday or graduation gift -- can be a great retail tool for teen-influenced but parent-funded purchases.
And if you're going to use a teen spokesperson to market your site, make sure you've got the real deal. It may be easier than you expect for young customers to spot an older marketer masquerading as a teen. "Identifying what is real and what is fake is something teens are very good at," says Mr. Nielsen.
For authentic feedback on what does and doesn't work, Mr. Nielsen recommends going to the source. You may want to bring a group of teens in once a year for market feedback, he says. But using teens more frequently might make them too loyal to your brand and skew the value of their feedback.
"You have to continue evolving your brand to retain their interest," says Mr. Callender. "But not so fast that you confuse them -- they are a very challenging group."
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Ms. Borzo writes about technology and the Internet from California.