How Twirling Brides Can Help Your Website

By Joshua on June 12 2008

Ah, the benefits of Twirling Brides. Just throw a few of them into your designs and you're sure to win accolades, increase return on investment, and become the most sought after designer in your industry. Well, maybe not, but it sure can't hurt.

The question you're probably asking yourself right now is, "What's all this business about Twirling Brides?" It's quite simple really.

What is a Twirling Bride?

It all comes of visiting the David's Bridal website with my fiancee to get ideas for wedding dresses. We were expecting something just like every other bridal website: relatively nice look, pictures that are nice but need more angles, etc. Instead what we got was a page full of Twirling Brides. (After getting through the interstitials, click on "Play Video" beneath one of the dresses.)

The concept is really simple. Instead of using static images that are limited at best, they've given their buyers a chance to see how the dress actually looks, not just on a posed human manikin, but in motion.

Unexpected Usefulness + Cool Factor = Twirling Bride

The first time I saw this, I thought to myself "Holy cow! Why doesn't every major bridal website have this?. This is actually useful!" Think about it. You're a (nervous/excited/exhausted/fill-in-the-blank) future bride and want to get an idea of what dresses you like without spending all day in the store. The Twirling Brides are a godsend.

It's not just unexpectedly useful, though. It's also amazingly cool. On my first visit, I accidentally clicked on the Play Video link and was instantly transfixed. (Granted, when I was younger and walked through a room with the television on I would rarely make it from one side to the other.)

Finding your own Twirling Brides

If you own a website, run a website, or design websites, finding your own Twirling Brides is a way to get a jump on the competition. So how can you do it?

Figure out where the pain points are

If you know where the pain is, you have a chance to make it better for your users, whether that is the public or your clients. For instance, I'm currently working on coding a Shopify site that will display a list of items available in retail stores as well as the items available online. Hacking the category system to allow the owner to manage all of her products in one place eliminates the huge pain of manually editing pages. And if she decides that she wants to start selling everything, the information is already there.

Provide better information

Are all your competitors providing the same basic information? Is there a way that you could provide better information? That's what Maki of Dosh Dosh does. Where most blogs feature short to medium length posts that barely scratch the surface of a subject, Maki writes lengthier posts that explore his subjects quite thoroughly. In a field dominated by "7 ways to…" posts, Dosh Dosh stands out.

Question the conventions

A lot of times when designers or owners are planning their sites, they just think something like, "A catalog site should have A, B, and C," and then proceed to develop a site with those characteristics. Now, it's quite likely that A, B, and C are there for a reason. But you should ask yourself what function they serve and if there is a way of providing for that function better.

Look at the likely suspects

In addition to the general guidelines above, there are also a few likely suspects that you should think about.

• Video – Though it is beginning to make inroads thanks to YouTube, it is still relatively unusual to see a mainstream website that takes full advantage of video like David's Bridal.
• Social Media – It may feel like social media is everywhere these days, but most of the people and companies who are trying to harness its power are failing. If you can come up with an approach that doesn't feel tacked on after the fact, you'll have a huge advantage.
• Blogs – This could be categorized under social media, but I think it deserves a bullet of its own. More businesses are trying to take advantage of blogs and blogging to promote themselves, but many of them still don't get it. If you get it, you've got an advantage right there.

Of course, none of these likely suspects is particularly obscure. (If they were then they wouldn't be likely suspects, would they?) And whether they will work for you depends on your context. If you're surrounded by competitors that load up their sites with YouTube videos, going for a straightforward text only approach might be a great differentiator. After all, if you do it right, simple can be cool.

Your thoughts on Twirling Brides

Have you seen something cool and unexpectedly useful lately? Suggestions for finding Twirling Brides appropriate for your site? Post them below!