[caption id="attachment_268" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Qantas booking process error"]
[/caption]Epic. Fail.
Some things to think about:
- They probably mean they couldn't find flights, but they don't say that
- They have the means to flag that while I am planning my trip (saving me time)
- The error effectively ends my experience. No links elsewhere, it just dies.
- If this was the last experience someone had with your brand, product or service, how would you feel?
- If Qantas had some basic Google alerts setup, they'd know about this post just a couple seconds after I post it...we'll find out if they do.
Here is a quirky way of treating the problem by a small local Melbourne business. When you know they care that you can't find what you're looking for then you at least feel like you're in it together.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rentoid.com/404.html
You are spot on, although they have put a bright red, underlined 'Help' link next to the error message...
ReplyDeleteMichelle - love Rentoid's solution, it is perfect for a small business, and the same idea could be carried through to a large scale enterprise.
ReplyDeleteMatt - I know I know, I should have flagged that. When you click Help it opens a pop-up window and shows you a mock-up of what is displayed on the page,a long with explanations of what's what. Unfortunately for me, none of that was displayed - if it had been would have had to think of something else to write about today :)
I love the rentoid picture, poor steve. I wish someone would compile the best error windows.
ReplyDelete@Julian http://www.plinko.net/404/area404.asp
ReplyDeleteError pages are a hugely important marketing tool though and right up my alley. I might blog about it soon... Meantime, check out the list above.