Engaging sounds on the web – what you can learn from the 3% that do it well, and the 97% that don't

Reported in today's Financial Times, Sound Strategies has examined over 450 websites, focusing on global corporate, brand and product sites, plus international travel, leisure, entertainment and media sites.  Intriguingly, Andrew Peggie found that less than 3% of companies are using sound effectively on the web.  These findings are now informing the development of AddMusicToYourWebsite.com, as a learning resource for the other 97%, plus the bespoke consultancy that Sound Strategies offers to its corporate clients.

"The one thing that we don't normally associate with the web is sound, even though it is a vital part of everyday communication.  As musician Andrew Peggie puts it: "the web is a silent place.

...Only 12 sites showed excellent examples of 'considered and effective' usage.  He believes sound is often an afterthought on websites:  "Web designers have very strong visual backgrounds, so they don't have the same awareness of how music can work as they do with the visual elements."

FT journalist, Kim Thomas posed the question: Does sound matter?  Web users commonly want to find information quickly. Does adding sound to a website increase its appeal or get in the way? What do you think?

Among other findings from the research, some 47% of the sites examined included audio of some sort. However, only 27% used integrated sound or easy-to-find audio and video.

We found that effective use of sound (music, speech, sound effects) on a website:

• ‘humanises’ the product, brand or organisation by increasing the visitor’s emotional engagement with the site
• ensures visitors spend longer on a page than they would if it had no audio elements
• converts convergent users (looking for specific information) to divergent users (willing to explore other areas of the site).

People remember sites with sound more easily than those without and well-designed and synchronised audio can turn people on to a site and its message or contents. But they also remember the bad experiences more clearly…

We also found that almost 60% of the music used fell into a bland techno-ambient category which had little connection with the site contents or more importantly the corporate image.

In designing the research, we developed a multi-strand qualitative assessment tool for evaluating all types of audio on websites, enabling aspects such as musical originality, audio quality, fit with images, enhancement of the brand/company image, accessibility and visitor experience to be weighted into an overall web audio rating score.

Comments

[Warren Whitlock]

Measuring effectiveness with sound sounds subjective.

We measure ROI from adding a voice with relevant information. No doubt very effective. Not just any sound

[Peter Cook]

Appeared today as FT Letter to the Editor: "Make sure you pick the right music." Sir, Your article "Sound argument for ending the internet’s silence” (February 4) makes perfect sense.
The philosopher Emmanuel Kant said music is the language of the emotions. Madonna pointed out that music makes the people come together – the very same point, except Madonna’s version makes people buy soft drinks!
Certainly music touches many of us at a much deeper level than a Powerpoint presentation, reaching our head, heart and soul, evoking powerful memories and connections and so on when used well. When we have a meeting at work, we do not rely just on graphics and minutes – we need an oral interpreter. Why therefore do most internet sites attempt to put across complex information about their products and services in just one of the three primary modes in which we think?
However, I must offer a warning from my own research into the impact of music on the mind. It is vital to pick the right music to reach your intended audience and convey your intended message carefully – this is not always the same as the preferred choice of marketing directors or their children!
Website designers should also be minded of the need to make it very easy to opt in or out of audio, lest their choice of “audio branding” is not music to every customer’s ears.
Peter Cook,
Gillingham, Kent, UK

[Michael Spencer]

Thanks for your contributions Luke, Tom and Chris and sorry for the delay in responding. No excuse other than I have just spent the last 24 hours on airplanes and am now in Tokyo. I am going to answer each of your comments in sequence if you will permit me

Luke:
Can’t release names for the moment, but what I can tell you is that they include banks, car companies, corporate accountants, heavy industry and retailers.

Not intending to be too secretive but it is our intention to first position this work to be of the maximum help to the companies who are interested first. Better to give them the opportunity to consider the evidence before going public.

Tom:
I don’t disagree. Personal choice is one of the key elements that has to be considered in any sound strategy. Where a company does decide to use sound it has to be for a whole range of reasons including context and purpose, and if not used well can quite easily have the opposite effect from that for which it was intended.

As for sound on the web, the FT approached us purely because we looked at corporate websites which have a completely different dynamic from the more readily accepted social networking sites.

Chris:
Times are a-changing! We have been involved in a piece of research looking at how people use music in the workplace and there is a slow but perceptible move towards the use of earphones largely to enable workers to create their own more private environments within the open plan office scenario.

As for designers and why they don’t consider the use of sound, there are a number of reasons, one of which is that the traditional make-up of any creative team includes someone to write the copy, and someone to create the design within which it sits. Seldom does it include anyone with musical knowledge. The use of sound is very much an afterthought and rarely blends in with the core aims or needs of the site. This accounts for web users’ reaction against the use of sound...and frankly who can blame them.

Thanks for your comments and keep them coming.

Best
M

[weaverluke]

It would be fascinating to visit those 3% of sites that do use sound effectively and hear what they are doing that works so well. No idea of the URLs, I suppose..?

[Tom Mattey]

I'm going to answer as a seasoned internet user, not as a webdesigner, "The web is silent"!? I think the massive popularity of sites like Youtube, Flickr and 4OD would beg to differ. When I look at flash driven film or music sites that play sound effects or music I usually turn them off as they are irritating and intrusive.
There is no limit to what you can put on a site but the key to pleasing visitors is giving them simple, easy access to all the options and the choice as to whether or not use them, in a world where a user can instantly visit 20 alternatives to your brand, aggressive marketting (and playing sound clips will be viewed as this) simply forces a potential visitor away.
By all means utilise the new technologys of streaming audio & video and posting downloadable clips and podcasts but give the user the option, dont throw it at them.

[Chris Hambly]

"Web designers have very strong visual backgrounds, so they don't have the same awareness of how music can work as they do with the visual elements."

Well that is a certainty.

What this post doesn’t point out in my humble opinion is perhaps why designers do not focus on the audio/music. I think if research was carried out on who had the capability, or possibility, to have audio on their desktops we might find those results equally comparative.

The point being, why be overly concerned with audio and music on your website when 80% (total guess prove me wrong please) do not have speakers/headphones switched on? Take the average Wendy working in a 9 to 5, likely no audio allowed in the office.

That being said I agree 100% in the power of emotional bonding through the use of audio. On one of my sites we produce a weekly (very informal) radio show, which is switchonable if the user should wish to listen, “opt-in audio”. Of course on the show we use a regular brand ident, and we’ve found the show does improve brand memory.