20 March, 2015

What Can Marketers Learn From Microsoft Canning Internet Explorer?

By B&T Magazine

Luke Kelly is the digital director at HBT Agency and says Microsoft’s recent announcement of the death of Internet Explorer (IE) had some developers across the globe fist pumping with gratitude; however, it doesn’t let digital practitioners off the hook.

IE pioneered developments like Ajax and JavaScript that has made the Internet what it is today. As the web evolved, IE became one of the “top browsers to download other browsers”, and unfortunately some organisations were slower than others to pick up new technology. What this resulted in is a number of clients keen to embrace digital innovations and campaigns; however on implementation, would find themselves hamstrung by an out of date browser, unable to deliver the best possible user experience.

Clients are often limited by software capabilities, due to organisational requirements or updates, and as marketers, it’s up to us to work within these restrictions to deliver a compelling, creative response.

So, what can marketers learn from Microsoft canning the software?

Educate and update

Marketing practitioners need to understand clients aren’t always interested in the finer, executional details of any given campaign. As experts, we need to educate them as to the latest developments – and in what ways these will benefit their brand or campaign.

It’s important to remind ourselves not every client is interested in the finer details; answering the ‘will this work’, ‘what message will this deliver’ and ‘will we reach our objectives’ questions is a great place to start.

Get creative with technical limitations

There’s a saying creativity thrives under limitations and I think the same is true for technical limitations. Every client is working with the best possible software they can; and it’s up to digital practitioners to deliver a result that ticks all the boxes – not just ‘this is the best we could do given the circumstances’ response.

Build customisation into your budget

The announcement that Microsoft is dropping IE will mean that developers will potentially be cutting their coding time down and clients will be saving their dollars too. Integrating functions for IE creates a massive drain on your time and your budget. Often this can mean building a whole new set of rules just for IE functionality and your client will always face an increased quote as a result.

Be upfront with your client about exactly what customising to their requirements could cost. Agencies – involve your digital / UX team in the very early discussion. This creates transparency, trust and gives your client the best possible chance of success.

Finally, before you pop open a bottle to celebrate, Microsoft is working on a new browser – codename Project Spartan, due to replace the infamous explorer. If the project name is anything to go by, let’s hope we’ll get an agile browser from Microsoft.

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