What's the motivation...

It's difficult to successfully complete a task if you don't know what you are supposed to be doing. 

Web surfers are people and typically not very tolerant of poorly designed web sites. In fact, the evidence indicates that most surfers spend 80% of their time on 20% of the sites they visit. Four out of five web sites get little more than a cursory look before they disappear behind the "back" button.

Each section of your web site design must have an obvious purpose that is easily and quickly understood by the site visitor. No one wants to be confused. While a certain percentage of the web population are incurable problem solvers and will take the time to try to figure out why a section exists, most site visitors will simply click the back button.

As we go through our site design process we look at every section of the site and define it's primary purpose. We use this purpose to guide the development of content for the section.

Understanding the motivation of each site section allows us to concentrate site content on what the section is supposed to accomplish. This enables us to focus each section on defining the preferred action of the visitor. 

If your web site design is not creating action it cannot be effective.

Clearly defined purpose and preferred action helps visitors know what to expect and provides a logical and emotional progression to the entire site.

This simplicity makes it easier for site visitors to make the appropriate decisions. It also means less confusion which leads to fewer abandoned visits.