How can I convince a client that audio on a website is a bad idea?

Question

I have a client that wants audio to play while the user is browsing the website. Besides the fact that audio is annoying when it starts automatically and plays when you are browsing, I thought of the following technical struggles.

Having to use frames to allow audio to play uninterrupted. SEO issues with using frames

Having to use ajax to allow audio to play uninterrupted. SEO issues with all ajax site

Pop-up to allow audio to play in another window JS pop-up blockers won't allow this

Does anyone else have other technical hurdles that I can use in my defense?

Answer 1

If the client is unwilling to see how bad of an idea that playing music can be, try to meet in the middle. Maybe add a music player options so users can choose to toggle between on or off. That's the best attempt and what my strategy would be.

Answer 2

I might site precedent to make my case. Identify his space or niche in the internet. Look at other site owners who are very successful in his space. Do they play music? Is it working for them?

Answer 3

It doesn't matter what you or s/he thinks. All that matters is how the customer reacts.

1. Easy way: see if they'll agree to asking 10 random strangers (who are representative of the visitors you get) and playing music in the background (you can just mock this up) and abiding by their opinion.

2. Hard way: If the client won't agree to #1, try the one below (and once they realize #1 costs $30 and #2 costs $300 to do they'll then opt for #1)

How about some objective metrics with an A/B split test: Randomly assign half the visitors to hear music, the other half not to. Then compare conversion rates (or abandonment rates).

Answer 4

Nothing you've listed is a reason to avoid playing audio on their website.

To you and I (and many others I suppose), auto audio is really annoying.

My suggestion is that you explain your feeling to your client.

If your client still insists on having audio, then do what they want. The client is your customer, and the customer is always right.

As an aside, many photographers I know have audio, and while many poo-poo this, they all swear that their clients love it. So I guess to each their own.

Answer 5

If someone is viewing your client's web site at work, the music could cause them to click away immediately. That's what happens when audio starts playing on a site I'm browsing at work.

Answer 6

Music on your website is a terrible idea

• All who are against music vote for this answer
• All who are for music vote for the other answer

Answer 7

Suggest against it, because most internet users actively dislike it. Make a comparison to the blink tags of ten years ago, which also made sites seem less professional to the larger audience.

And if they still want it, do it, because it'll make them happy, and happy customers with terrible work beats unhappy customers with the Best Site Ever. Just leave the site out of any portfolio of your work you put together.

Or, as the genius above already added, add a toggle for music on/off.

Answer 8

Put it on the website and wait for complaints to come in.

Answer 9

See if you can figure out why, from your client's perspective, they want this feature. See if they can give you good reasons. Then you can begin seeing how to meet their goals without necessarily using their methods.

That might help with convincing them, as opposed to resorting to technical concerns. Going technical makes it sound like you don't want to do your job. That's not the case at all -- I'm sure you want their site to be awesome and you will do what it takes to make that happen. It's just that "what it takes" may not be exactly what the client asked for the first time.

Answer 10

I had this issue with a client. I solved it by doing an Ajax site, but in order to workaround SEO downfalls of Ajax, all the navigation links literally linked to another page. Search engines saw a completely normal site, where navigation links were normal and only the content paragraphs for that one page were loaded in the HTML.

The JavaScript then progressively enhances the page by overriding the link behavior to load the content for the new page. So users with JavaScript got a great Ajax experience, with audio, and only the content div loaded new content.

You can even get around back/forward button issues by marking #pagename in the URL for each page. Upon page load you should check to see if a #pagename is there, and then load the content for that page.

Hope that's clear enough - let me know if you need more details.

Answer 11

Losing customers in the effort to prove a point isn't going to win any brownie points with the client, so I would avoid putting music on without the ability to turn it off. Furthermore, you risk frustrating your user base by defaulting the music to on/loud.

However, in this scenario, you will probably find that most people never turn on the music because they don't realise it's there.

You could ask your users what they prefer the first time they load the page up:

Do you mind if we play music during your visit to our site?

• Sure, go ahead, I love music

• Actually, I'd rather you didn't

  [X]Never ask me this again

You'll likely find that most of the users say no, and they'll appreciate you not harassing them on every visit to your site. Likewise, those that want to listen to the music can appreciate it without your whole user base being irritated by it.

Answer 12

Store designs, notes, and specs for client's approval on your own web site. Add music to these pages. Make sure it's music he doesn't like.

Answer 13

This comes down to one of the primary rules of usability: do what the user expects.

The only way I'd consider putting auto-playing music on a website is if it's for a band website with an integrated Flash music player. The reason is simply that the user will expect it. Any other time it's just annoying.

Answer 14

There is nothing like a practical demonstration. Find a suitably annoying midi file and loop it endlessly. If the client can stay in the same room for 30 minutes without their head exploding then they have won the right to put music on the site.

Answer 15

Another point - many users open many tabs/windows at once, so if music starts playing, you don't actually know which site is doing it, which is intensely annoying!

Answer 16

Every time you call the client, blare music in the background and say you just opened some website that started playing it automatically.

Answer 17

Hmm, this is a tough issue because there really is no clear, definitive answer. I like to look at issues like this:

Technical:

If a client wants a feature (in this case sound) perform the due diligence to research if browsers can support that feature, and which ones will not. Come up with numbers to show the client. X feature is only supported in X browser and most people use "this" browser so I would / wouldn't use this feature.

Psychological:

Specifically for sound, study the psychological effects, usability of this feature as it concerns the end user. I will immediacy leave a website if a video or sound starts playing without my permission. I expect a choice, and when that choice is taken away I leave. And at the point where I leave, I'm mad, I hate any user experience where I am left out.

Client is not always right:

So most of us have heard that the client is ALWAYS right. Well to be quite honest, no no they are not ALWAYS right. It does not matter whether your selling websites, or magazines, or working on cars, you have to be there for your client. Obviously if you do good work people will refer you. However sometimes you have to stand your ground with a client. My suggestion is to make sure you do that at the beggining of a project, rather than later. I've turned down projects, or agreed to handle only certain aspects of a site design because I wouldn't be associated with certain features. For example I don't do Flash sites. Not that flash is bad I just don't do it. I give those projects to friends. And they return the favor. If you tell a client upfront that you won't / can't deliver that's a good thing. Don't say yes and then come up with an excusse later in the project, that's where the client will become frustrated with you, and if they complain they are right to do so, and you will loose business.

At the end of the day communication, deciding upfront what you will and will not do will save your lots of headaches.

And as for sound, it has it's time and place. Bands, Flashsites especially those highend national ad campaings for cell phones, or movies can get away with sound. The best option at the beginning of a project is to tell (don't ask) the client that they can have sound, and if it does auto play you will set he volume to low, and have a visable player that the user can control, meaning they can TURN IT OFF, OR LOWER THE VOLUME, these features are not negotiable. If they have a hard time with that, then walk away from the project because they will have a hard time with anything. And don't be afraid to turn down work. For every 3 sites I work on I turn down one.

I recently took on a project that requires sound. I'm kinda in a pickle with my client (he's not mad) but he told me he wanted sound and I offered to use a player, and give control to the end user. He was ok with that. Recently, after checking out the sound player feature he says "No, I wanted a sound to play when you rollover the navigation. The pickle is that he never said that, and I've stood my ground with him about adding that feature. So he's a little upset with me, but we are working it out. He's mostly upset that I want to charge for the extra feature, and I'm not budging. It will all work it. Just an example.

Sorry for the long reply, Good luck!

Answer 18

The business stakeholders do not care your technical worries. So I advice you not to waste time telling them or seek more.

The business stakeholders do care about money- and that is the major reason why you were hired and a "currency" you can use to "talk" to them. Explain to them things like:

1. How adding audio can reduce an ability for customers to stumble upon their site via a Google or bing search (SEO)

2. How audio can be distruptive and make them more likely to go to the competition (which is only a click or two away) (this is your pop-up issues)

3. The current state of technology and users' expectation will not make this site pretty and give a poor return of investments (Ajax problem you mentioned)

Notice each of these focus on the buttonline (profit-$$$) and does not bore the business stakeholders with technical details which is not their problem (but yours.) Speak to them in their language, be frank and realistic and these guys can be wonderful. A demo of an extremely bad site can help if you feel that it helps your cause (but be careful because this can also hurt you.)

Answer 19

Create a video presentation introducing the prototype site. Make sure the volume is very low (as it is on too many videos) so he has to turn up the volume to hear it. At the end of the presentation, give the URL to the prototype site so he can try it out for himself, normal-volume (now blasting since he cranked up the volume) audio included.

Answer 20

Obligatory XKCD.

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