CyberJournalist.net

---

What media sites can learn from the airline industry Posted: 05 May 2011 08:38 AM PDT What if media organizations could upsell their audience on a better customer experience, the same way airlines charge more for Business class? Oliver Reichenstein, from the design agency Information Architects, proposes that news sites should do just that, rather than focus primarily on pay walls and charging for information. In other words, what he means is that they should try upsell their readers to a better experience, not to more or better information. Reading news online feels like flying Economy. Loud distracting banners, cheap stock picture material, sloppy typography, a lot of useless comment noise, machine generated reading tips, no human service, and a claustrophobic information design make the reading experience a torture…. To be clear: content pay walls are not what we are suggesting. Remember, whether you fly Economy or Business: the result is the same (you travel from a to b), and only the experience differs. And likewise Business Class and Economy class seats on news sites should deliver the same content. The idea of creating a business class for online news where is not about buying information, but buying better experience, it's about service and customer experience.