I was trying to buy the Surface and went to the Microsoft Store website. I had prior knowledge about the difference between RT and Pro so I knew which one to click on (I have read accounts of most people who are already confused at this point. But that is not what this post is about). For me the confusion started when I saw the options for the RT one. As you can see in the image below, the default option that was checked on that page was the 32 GB with Black Touch Cover for $599. Hmm, ok. Then my eyes wandered down to the Popular Add-ons section. The White one was selected by default but that showed up as out of stock. So I clicked on the Red one, and that one was available.
This is when I then got confused. The price above includes a Black Touch Cover, so if I pick the Red one down here, do I end up with two covers? Is the Black Touch Cover the same accessory type as a Surface Touch Cover (Red)? That’s when I saw the link that said Touch vs. Type. Ah, too lazy too look back up, I assumed that the Red one I had selected was a Touch and the Black one I saw above has got to be the Type — only then would this one be offered as an add-on and there is really no other place on this page where the Type Cover is shown. Having accessories with long names really hurts recall and definitely affects the ability to contrast them.
No worries, I will click on that link and try to understand the difference between them and sort this out. So I clicked on the Touch vs. Type link and I ended up with the page scrolling itself down to this section below:
This page is all text and couldn’t be any more unfriendly. Check out the contents. It’s filled with marketing buzz words and nothing in these 4 paragraphs has absolutely any information that is relevant. Based on the contents here, I can conclude that the “Touch Cover is a thin and ultra-light dual keyboard cover” while the “Type Cover is a dual keyboard cover that lets you work the way you’re used to“. Wait, what? How are they different? Who wrote this copy? And how come there are no images of the two things. Am I really supposed to buy stuff without seeing what they look like? Not knowing the difference between the two is not my fault. And you have made no real attempt to apologize for and explain your confusing options.
I am not going to buy this online now because I still don’t know the difference between the two. And I refuse to look elsewhere. If your product website can’t explain it to me then you don’t deserve my money. Dear former company I worked for, try this: observe just one user walk through this website trying to buy the product; note down that user’s frustrations and fix the top 3 and you will see a 10% increase in online sales — duh!
