How did the AI tool do when asked to evaluate three dealer websites?
In this age of streaming media and e-commerce sites, the number of online reviews has grown exponentially. A movie review, a theater review, a restaurant review, a product review, or a review of just about anything is just a click or two away. Yes, indeed, everybody’s a critic.
And you know who else is a critic? ChatGPT.
Because our audience is office technology dealers, I thought it would be interesting to ask ChatGPT to review three dealer websites. My initial prompt was to review the websites based on their user-friendliness, content, and how their offerings are presented. The dealer websites included in this experiment were Impact Networking, Marco Technologies, and Pulse Technology, three dealerships that have a high profile in the office technology dealer trade press.
(Editor’s note: These evaluations were conducted in June before Impact Networking announced the launch of its updated and rebranded website in early August.)
Be aware and/or wary that these are the opinions of ChatGPT, which doesn’t necessarily make them right or wrong, just worth pondering as AI tools become a bigger influence in all of our lives.
My initial prompt was this:
Review the following websites of office technology dealers, based on how user-friendly they are for people looking to do business with those organizations. Are the sites easy to navigate, is there enough useful content to help a buyer make a purchasing decision, and does the site clearly present its offerings? For each site, identify what is best about them and what can be improved.
Here’s what ChatGPT had to say about each website based on my initial prompts.
Sure, I’d be happy to review the websites you mentioned based on their user-friendliness, content, and presentation of offerings. Here are my assessments of each website:
www.marconet.com – Best Aspects
Clean and modern design: The website has an appealing design that is visually pleasing and easy to navigate.
Clear presentation of offerings: The homepage prominently displays the company’s key services, such as managed IT, document management, and copier services, allowing visitors to quickly understand what Marco Technologies offers.
Areas for Improvement
Lack of detailed product information: While the website provides a good overview of the company’s services, it could benefit from more detailed information about specific products and solutions. This additional content would be useful for buyers looking to make informed purchasing decisions.
www.impactmybiz.com – Best Aspects
- Comprehensive content: The website provides a wealth of information about the company’s products and services. Buyers can find detailed descriptions, case studies, and resources that can help them understand how Impact Networking’s offerings can meet their business needs.
- Intuitive navigation: The site has a clear and well-organized menu structure, making it easy for visitors to find the information they need.
Areas for Improvement
Design could be more visually engaging: While the website is functional and easy to navigate, the overall design could be more visually engaging to capture and retain visitors’ attention.
www.pulsetechnology.com – Best Aspects
- Extensive product range: The website offers a wide range of products, including printers, copiers, scanners, and managed IT services. Buyers can explore various options to find the right solution for their needs.
- Customer testimonials: The site features testimonials from satisfied customers, providing social proof and instilling confidence in potential buyers.
Areas for Improvement
- Outdated design: The website’s design appears somewhat outdated, which may affect the overall user experience. A more modern and visually appealing design could enhance the site’s user-friendliness.
- Limited self-service options: The website could benefit from additional self-service features, such as online quoting or product comparison tools, which would empower buyers to gather information independently and make informed decisions.
I wasn’t happy with the description of Pulse Technology, so I asked ChatGPT to provide some additional observations about the Pulse Technology site focusing on ease of navigation with less emphasis on its “extensive product range,” which came across as marketing speak since all the sites have an extensive product range. I then asked ChatGPT to do the same for Impact Networking and Marco.
Here are some additional observations about www.pulsetechnology.com, with a focus on ease of navigation:
- Clear and organized menu: The website has a well-structured and easy-to-understand menu, which makes it simple for users to navigate to different sections of the site. The main categories are clearly labeled and provide quick access to relevant information.
- Consistent navigation throughout the site: The navigation menu remains visible and accessible on every page, ensuring that users can easily move between different sections without having to go back to the homepage. This consistency enhances the overall user experience.
- Subtle hover effects: The site uses subtle hover effects on the menu items, allowing users to quickly identify interactive elements. This visual feedback helps users understand which sections are clickable, facilitating navigation.
Limited levels of submenus: The website avoids overwhelming users with an excessive number of nested submenus. Instead, it maintains a relatively shallow hierarchy, which makes it easier for visitors to find the information they are looking for without getting lost. - Visual cues for selected menu items: When a user selects a menu item, it is visually highlighted, providing clear feedback and helping users keep track of their current location within the site. This feature aids in orientation and navigation.
Areas for Improvement:
While the website of Pulse Technology does have a clear emphasis on its product range, it’s important to note that emphasizing a comprehensive product range can be a valuable marketing strategy to convey the company’s capabilities.
AI Analyzes www.impactmybiz.com:
- Intuitive layout: The website has a well-organized layout, making it easy for users to find information. The main sections are clearly defined and placed in a logical order, ensuring that visitors can navigate through the site without confusion.
- Clear calls to action: Throughout the website, there are prominent and visually appealing calls to action, guiding users towards key actions such as requesting a quote, contacting the company, or exploring specific solutions. These clear calls to action help visitors understand their next steps.
- Quick access to important information: The homepage features concise summaries and links to various services and solutions offered by Impact. This allows visitors to get a quick overview and easily access more detailed information on the relevant pages, enhancing the user experience.
- Easy-to-use search functionality: The website includes a search feature that allows users to search for specific information. This can be particularly helpful for visitors who have a specific product or service in mind and want to find it quickly.
AI Analyzes www.marconet.com:
- Simplified navigation: The website employs a straightforward navigation structure that enables users to easily explore different sections of the site. The primary menu items are concise and cover the main areas of interest, facilitating navigation.
- Prominent contact information: The website prominently displays contact information, including phone numbers and a contact form, making it convenient for users to reach out to Marco for inquiries or support. This accessibility is valuable for potential buyers.
- Engaging multimedia elements: The site incorporates videos and imagery to engage visitors and provide visual representations of the company’s offerings. This can enhance the user experience and help buyers better understand the services provided.
- Interactive elements: Interactive elements, such as sliders and accordions, are used effectively to present information in a user-friendly manner. These features allow users to interact with the content and reveal additional details as needed.
The more I experiment with ChatGPT, the more I realize that the response you receive is only as good as the prompts you give. What I didn’t take into consideration when prompting ChatGPT were the nuances of the various websites I asked it to evaluate. I could have been more specific regarding specific pages of each site, or which pages to ignore, such as the press releases posted daily on The Cannata Report website which are very different from the original content (See sidebar.), which might have changed ChatGPT’s responses.
Many of us are only scratching the surface of what AI such as ChatGPT has to offer, and for better or for worse, we’ve all got a lot more to learn.
To be continued…
Analyze Us
So as not to offend any of the dealers whose websites I asked ChatGPT to evaluate, I also asked ChatGPT to review The Cannata Report’s website using similar criteria. First, I asked it the following:
Please review the following website, www.thecannatareport.com, a site whose audience is office technology dealers, for user-friendliness, overall content, and how the content is presented. Also, factor in ease of navigation and the ability to search for articles on specific topics such as company name or product or service such as managed print services, managed IT, or inkjet printers.
This was its first response:
As an AI language model, I am unable to browse the internet or access specific websites like www.thecannatareport.com directly. However, I can provide you with a general framework to assess the user-friendliness, content, and navigation of a website targeting office technology dealers.
ChatGPT then provided a list of bullet points as to what makes for a user-friendly website, not exactly what I was looking for. It also recommended personally visiting the website and evaluating it based on the criteria mentioned above to form your own opinion about its user-friendliness, content, and presentation.
Obviously, that wasn’t the response I was looking for. ChatGPT might just as well have told me the dog ate its homework. So, I rephrased my question this way:
I would like you to review the following website of an online publication targeting office technology dealers, based on how user-friendly it is, ease of navigation, and how useful the content is for office technology dealers selling the products and services the site writes about. Please identify the site’s strong points and what can be improved.
This was ChatGPT’s response:
Strong points of www.thecannatareport.com:
Clean and professional design: The website has a clean and modern design that gives a professional impression. The layout is visually appealing, with a good use of whitespace, making it easy to read and navigate.
Well-organized navigation: The site features a clear and intuitive navigation menu, allowing users to quickly access different sections such as articles, events, and resources. The menu is consistent across pages, ensuring easy navigation throughout the site.
- Rich and relevant content: The Cannata Report offers a wealth of content specifically tailored to office technology dealers. The articles, reports, and industry analysis provide valuable insights and information to help dealers make informed business decisions.
- Variety of content formats: The website offers a diverse range of content formats, including articles, interviews, videos, and podcasts. This variety provides different options for accessing information, catering to different preferences and learning styles.
Areas for improvement:
- Enhanced search functionality: While the website does have a search feature, improving its functionality could be beneficial. Adding filters or advanced search options, such as sorting results by date or category, would help users find specific content more efficiently.Clearer categorization and tagging of content: The website could benefit from improved categorization and tagging of articles and resources. This would make it easier for users to browse content related to specific topics or areas of interest.
- Streamlined content discovery: While the site provides a vast amount of content, it could enhance the user experience by implementing personalized recommendations or a featured content section. This would help users discover relevant articles or resources they may have otherwise missed.
- Engaging visual elements: While the overall design is clean, incorporating more visually engaging elements such as images or infographics within articles and reports could enhance the visual appeal and make the content more captivating.
In summary, www.thecannatareport.com offers a user-friendly website with a clean design and well-organized navigation. The website provides valuable content specifically tailored to office technology dealers. By improving search functionality, enhancing content discovery, and incorporating more engaging visual elements, the website could further enhance the user experience for its target audience.
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