In a similar vein to the last newsletter which was thinking about 'before' people get to your site, we have also been thinking about the first few seconds after they arrive. This is when they click though at some referring site or other and alight, for the first time, on the page on your site. Let's call this page the landing page.

To continue our conversation right on from Google, Usability and Thin-Slicing, users have pitched up on your landing page having selected your listing to click through over all others in a nearly instant judgement. Cognitively, they have been primed with the wording from your ad and, to a lesser extent, the others around it. It is almost as if they had voiced a question out loud, and received a barrage of replies immediately and all at once. But they can only pick one of these possible conversations to continue with. So they decided in a flash, in a blink: "OK, you ... you go ahead!"

the landing page may be the beginning of a substantial conversation. Or not.

And if this interaction with Google constitutes the question that users pose, then the next thing, the landing page, may be the beginning of a substantial conversation. Or not.

OK, here is an example from the real world, just to show this is not all some cognitive twaddle. See what you think. I have taken screengrabs from the four sites that clickthough from the top four placed entries on Google, the top three sponsored and the top natural entry

So, take a look at the listings here, quickly, glancing at what they say, then click though below. I've written a commentary to tell you what I think.

It seems to me that the order in which they are presented on Google in this case appears to determine the relevance of the conversation. The first one, the BA landing page is absolutely awful. Having attracted interest by providing a price and offering online services, the landing page conversation is about something else entirely and asks the user to choose which global site! Don't BA know that this conversation is about flights to Barcelona, and the conversation is in English?! This landing page is rude and irrelevant - it's like talking to a global idiot!

The Thomsonfly landing page is better - at least the conversation carries on in the same general area, which is about flights, but there is little about Barcelona on the page, and on the current live page, the usability constraints are such that a 'from' is required before a 'to' can be input. This tripped me up, and remember, the conversation is about Barcelona not the start point, so the user will be primed to be wanting to carry on the conversation about 'Barcelona' not about (in my case for example) Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds. This landing page is better, but its a little like it lost its memory ... it is a quite a dumb sales assistant, but not rude at least.

With Opodo, we start getting it together. It is a simple page, with Barcelona pre-filled, so that the conversation might move on to where from, which is now relevant, and dates and types of flights. This is best so far, courteous and, importantly, keeping to the point.

But I like Cheapflights the best. Why? Because it carries on the conversation perfectly. It asks you one thing, and one thing only "where do you want to go from" and offers you the available options. In my case, I live in Manchester and typically fly from Manchester or Liverpool. And I'd much rather be offered these as options rather than type them into Thomsonfly and be disappointed. This is a good conversation, Cheapflights, well done. I am very impressed, you listened, you didn't ignore me!

We think that these kinds of interactions or conversations, provide massive opportunities for businesses to get right, where they currently get it wrong, like BA. And getting the right kind of conversation will benefit both business and the consumer.