[Sigia-l] the point-of-whatever-ness

[Matthew deStwolinski]

One thing you may want to consider is what the user's goals are.  Is she
just trying to get a quote or find out what information will be required
to apply?  Or is she actually applying for a mortgage?  I imagine the
threshold for the former will tend to be much lower than for the latter.

For someone just trying to get some information and not actually conduct
a transaction, is there a way you can provide an answer or at least a
partial answer without asking all the questions or asking for personal
information?  This is the place where streamlining could have the
greatest benefit.  For example, I drop into whatever-mode immediately if
a site asks for personal information that I don't think is necessary for
what I'm trying to do, (e.g. reading the New York Times website.)  

For those applying, they should be willing to put up with a bit more and
expect to give RELEVANT personal information.  If I was subscribing to
the New York Times, for instance, I would expect to give them some
personal information, and I certainly wouldn't start typing "C" in any
important fields.

So you may want to tailor the process to what the person is trying to
accomplish, targeting two different thresholds of whatever-ness.  But if
she takes the shorter path first, and then decides to go for the whole
thing, don't make her enter anything a second time.

Of course, you have to temper all this with the organization's goals as
well.  For instance, does the org place such a high value of gathering
prospective client information that they're willing to accept some
people dropping into whatever-ness or dropping out completely, as long
as they get personal/contact information from most?