Although it makes tiny cars, Mini USA’s site is big on features – and challenges to other Web designers.
When Forrester Research took a look at the best – and worst – the Web has
to offer, it came away less than thrilled with the various automaker sites out
there.
Most used dull graphics, lackluster copy and dead-end design pitfalls,
including too little copy in too much white space and rollover menus that
functioned more like dexterity tests (see Four Web design errors to avoid).
Still, one automaker’s site rose to the fore: Mini
USA, the site for the Mini
Cooper line of tiny cars. According to Forrester, the main attraction of the
site is that it is built using Flash, a technology that enables it to go beyond
the boring page metaphor of most sites and become a real model for the best
practices in Web design.
The site excels in allowing the reader to visualize essential content, as
well as in streamlining configuration and optimizing the use of space. But where
it really stands above other sites is in 5 key areas:
* Use of Flash. Because the site is based on Flash, it’s
highly accessible to the reader. In addition to supporting one-screen display
for all interactions, plus audio and video playback, the Flash player renders
images that are “so crisp they almost carry a tactile quality,” Forrester
said.
* Brings offline style online. Carmakers are known for
their ads in other mediums – why should the Web be any different? The Mini site
plays up the size of the car by packing a lot of features in a small space. Plus
the “speed, unusual product views, and wry error messages reflect the racy,
fresh, urban style of the vehicle,” Forrester said.
* Perceived speed. The site seems fast because
it leverages Flash’s ability to parse logic, data and content so that the
user gets immediate feedback. Once users become accustomed to sites like Mini
USA’s, other sites will begin to appear unbearably slow.
* Distinctive style. The site not only offers the
functions users need (for example, building a car to order right on the site),
but it does it with style, playing up the idea of the car via innovative text
and nearly instantaneous feedback.
* Cross-channel coordination. Mini Cooper buyers
sometimes need to wait weeks for their car to arrive. The company blends the
features of the site with an offline sales and marketing program designed to
keep buyers interested and maintain momentum. Mini Cooper says 25% of
prospective buyers have been converted to sales as a
result.
Web Design 
