Everyone hates taxes right?! Especially anything resembling a tax on internet use. However, the tax we’ll be discussing here is a tax most ecommerce merchants will welcome. That is because the tax is imposed by the merchants, for the merchant’s own sanity!
Let us explain. What merchant here hasn’t been ever steady in using high quality developers and designers to keep their store sites up to date? And up to date doesn’t just mean a refresh here and there, but over a few year’s span, it could mean a huge difference in the site’s look and feel. But to maximize the investment in development and design, it’s a given that customers should at least be able to use the site. Well, shoppers who use IE7 to browse your slick new site are probably missing a lot. In fact, you’ve probably pulled your hair out over this very issue a number of times, because:
- Customers write in complaining that they can’t use your site.
- You have to go far beyond the extra mile to accommodate shoppers using IE7 (or any other outdated browsers).
- Extra design and development to address IE7 compatibility issues are costing your business way too much time and money.
What’s the solution? Well, IE7 obviously won’t change, so perhaps it’s time to turn to the customers to change. Begging won’t work. That’s been tried, and it’s not an effective persuasion tactic. However, something like charging shoppers taxes seem to get their attention every time. At this point you may feel we’re joking, and you’re bracing for the punchline or thinking in your head, This better be going somewhere.
Does Kogan.com ring a bell? This Aussie ecommerce juggernaut just put it’s foot down on shoppers using IE7 to browse it’s super sweet (and very modern, IE7 incompatible) store site. In a lighthearted, witty manner, Kogan.com suggests that shoppers use an updated browser or pay a special penalty tax. Likely, no shopper will ever pay the IE7 browser tax, but they will take a few minutes to shuffle browsers. Still don’t believe us? Here it is in full color below:
What do you think about this: Would you ever use this strategy to nudge your customers in the “right” direction?
A nod to Tech Guide for first flagging this case for discussion.
