What is your opinion on having a sound jingle when starting the website or the app?
Imagine hearing the brand name spelled out or sung out just once (5 seconds).
The intention would be:
I know about the bad memories and misused effects of sound on websites... but I'm looking for objective opinions from UX-specialists (branding, emotions, etc.).
Don't do it.
A lot of people (myself included) open many new tabs rather than browse in a single one. If I suddenly have a noise coming from a tab:
There is no good reason to do on a website. In an app, I would still argue against this, but seeing as someone would know where the noise is coming from, it's less of an issue.
Don't do this!
Jacob Nielsen listed this in his article "Readers' Comments on the new Top-10 Design Mistakes" where it is being called "intrusive" and "highly annoying".
Answer this first: Is the user expecting it?
To cite some actual recommendations rather than opinions, the punkchip article Autoplay is bad for all users is 3 years old but as valid as ever.
The article should be read in it's entirety, but quotes the W3C’s specification for accessibility (WCAG 2.0).
There is a small note in one of the audio criterion, that really should be applied to all multimedia:
Note: Playing audio automatically when landing on a page may affect a screen reader user’s ability to find the mechanism to stop it because they navigate by listening and automatically started sounds might interfere with that navigation. Therefore, we discourage the practice of automatically starting sounds (especially if they last more than 3 seconds), and encourage that the sound be started by an action initiated by the user after they reach the page, rather than requiring that the sound be stopped by an action of the user after they land on the page.
‘Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.2 [Audio Control]‘
While I concur with all the others who recommend not doing this, there are some (few) products where start-up sounds makes sense:
Hardware boot, where the Mac startup chime and the IBM POST beep codes both signify that nothing has gone wrong with the hardware (or, alternatively, that something has gone wrong with the hardware). Depending on the hardware issue, the audible alert may be the only indication of the problem. In the days before Mac OS X (when rebooting a Mac was a fairly common occurrence), the startup chime also solved another, somewhat novel purpose:
Turning the Mac on is one thing, but being forced to reboot from a crash is a totally different experience. I wanted to avoid a sound that would be associated with the crash. I wanted it to sound more like a palette cleanser.
The Operating System (especially 3+ years ago), which took so long to start up that the chime notified people that it was worth bothering to come back to the computer from, e.g., making a coffee. Microsoft commissioned Brian Eno to create the Windows 95 startup sound:
…he received a brief from Microsoft with “about 150 adjectives” to describe the desired noise. “The piece of music should be inspirational, sexy, driving, provocative, nostalgic, sentimental…” said Eno.
They changed the sound in Windows Vista (the same sound carried over to Windows 7):
Ball is the first to admit that the percussive beeps in past Windows versions could be jarring enough to bother nearby workers or interrupt others in a meeting. With the number of intrusive sounds from cell phones, handheld devices and other gadgets only increasing, that's something Ball and his colleagues were keen to avoid with Vista.
If you're keen, here's a blog with all the Windows Startup Sounds from 3.1 to 7.
An application which automatically connects to the Internet, to notify the user that it has done so in the background (e.g. instant messaging apps).
It's all about expectation and convention / consensus, also in some respect it's about courtesy to your user, and not irritating them.
The experience of opening web page which plays a sound, is widely accepted as negative. You will be hard pressed to find a popular web page/app that does this, Generally this consensus has been formed due to early abuses/over-use when Flash based web sites and poorly conceived web ads were a common experience.
Sometimes thought of as a possible exception, is a game destination page, however, due to the overwhelmingly negative reaction that most people have with unsolicited sound/music, it's better to roll the attract mode / jingles etc, after the user has entered through a static welcoming motif. In other words, just as with video playback, have the user interact with the game before playing sounds at them.
It goes without saying, but always, always, make sound optional, it really doesn't matter how much production value has gone into audio, it's still very much unwelcome on the web.
Consensus is the master here, and unsolicited audio ranks higher than spam as an annoyance, in more polls than I care to mention.
Even if your web app is for specifically playing music, a play button is always the way to go. Note high profile music sites, such as Mixcloud.com, Soundcloud.com and of course, iTunes.
A very well produced, very short jingle on opening ident page, may sound like a nice idea, but after a couple of startups it'll get annoying.
However, if app startup is well managed, ie. app state is saved and restored in it's usual operation, so the user will generally avoid a full startup/ident cycle most of the time, it's not such a problem.
Of course always provide a mute / sound off button.
Startup sounds, music and jingles are relatively common practice among games and children's educational apps.
The user must always have immediate and obvious access to mute / sound off functions, link to any mute buttons / volume controls the device may have, but provide in game controls too, because...
Many people enjoy listening to their own choice of audio as they play games, so check the device and respect any audio that's already playing, if the device will allow you to play audio without interrupting the other channel, be smart and don't play music, just play the environmentals and spot effects.
If you aren't able to play sound without interrupting an existing channel, DON'T PLAY IT.
If your app / game does have sound on startup, be careful to make sure your users have a place to feedback and vent, check the consensus among your users, you'll soon know if you have found a sweet spot, or if you're making peoples toes curl.
I'll answer the question from a slightly different angle...
The intention would be - evoking emotions on the user - make the brandname "stick"
I think that's what needs the focus. There's two issues here:
evoke emotion
Sound can certainly evoke emotion. However, in the context of a user trying to accomplish a task, what are the emotions they'd typically have when encountering sounds? I think in terms of using software, sounds other than alerts would evoke an emotion of annoyance/anger/frustration.
make the brandname "stick"
There's 'sticky' and then there's 'obnoxious earworms'. ;)
I don't want my fridge to sing "Frigidaire" every time I open it nor do I want my TV to say "Brought to you by Sharp" every time I turn it on.
But, we are talking about software, and one could argue that's slightly different.
MOST software is blissfully silent upon startup. But there are exceptions. Lots of gaming apps will have a 'studio bug' animation/sound upon startup. Is that annoying? Well, I seem to tolerate it. But, then again, the task at hand is entertainment--typically a game, so I'm already prepped to deal with sound. If it were, say, accounting software, that'd be a different story.
In the end, I think for you to achieve your goals of 'brand stickiness' and 'evoking emotion' the 'startup sound' approach is too risky. I'd suggest putting your efforts into the visual side of things and overal user experience.
The goal of this sound is to associate the brand with the listener's experience on the site. The risks of this going wrong seem to outweigh the benefits.
First, the person ended up on your site hopefully through a conscious decision. So you aren't giving the user any new, useful information by playing a sound.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of scenarios where an unexpected sound could be unpleasant or even dangerous.
Frankly this sounds like an attempt to impose the will of the site owner by adding another channel to the user's experience. Since people won't know to expect the sound or likely have a way to impact the sound before it plays, I suspect more anger and dismay would result than pleasant associations. Surprise is great for horror, where you want the experience to cause someone anxiety. I don't think it makes for a great brand augmentation.
As much as I generally hate About.com, I must prescribe to the opinions here: Pros and Cons of Adding Sound to Web Pages. Even if it is a little dated with its 'Invalid HTML 4.01' commentary!
"You should always be careful when you use sound on web pages. After intrusive advertising, sound that turns on automatically and cannot be turned off is one of the most annoying aspects of poorly designed web pages."
It's something that has bad associations already, mainly because it reminds users of a time when site builders liked to throw everything but the kitchen sink on a site, just because they could! If you're going for cheesy, then by all means go for it.
Also, I believe that a jingle in-of-itself is too easily associated with advertising, and some users will dismiss the tab/page on this basis.
"Music is a very personal choice. What you like may not be to your audience’s preference. Don’t risk alienating readers with sound on your site. Use sound intelligently."
How true. What you may find groovy and awesome, may sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to others. It's the aural equivalent of using garish imagery all over the place. Musical taste is very subjective; you never know what emotional response it will garner.
Music that "just comes out from nowhere" is especially problematic. What if the user is in a situation where noise may be a disturbance to others? You run the risk of completely turning them off. And they may never return.
It was once believed that music added something to a web site that would make it stand out from other sites. The truth is that music or other noisy distractions add nothing of value unless your site has a basis in music. Even then, the decision whether to play music or other sounds should always be left to the user.
As an example, it makes perfect sense for Pandora.com to play the song that was playing during your last visit. The purpose of visiting a site such as Pandora is purely to listen to music.
Lastly, any music that is used in a scenario should only kick in upon a definite call to action, and the fact that music is coming should be forewarned. The best way to achieve this is with video, since video and audio have a historical association.
Personally, I immediately close and navigate away from sites with music ... with only one exception.
Music web sites ...
If I go to a site for a band, musician or artists it's THE ONLY time I expect to hear music playing from my browser when I haven't explicitly asked it to.
On high traffic web sites it invariably gets the nuts squished out of it through audio and data compression as well leaving behind the audio equivalent of a wet fart.
Don't do it ...
Sound is an important design element, but it's very difficult to get it right.
In general, users will find such sound elements annoying.
A subtle notification can, however, be part of the branding you're after.
The Windows Skype client is one example of an application with a noticeable startup/login sound.
This sound is neither annoying nor intrusive and it's definitely building the brand.
(It can be argued, though, whether this sound is an audible notification or a startup branding sound...)
A few other examples of non-annoying startup notifications:
You'll find a nice example of how sound can affect the mood by opening both of these webpages:
As I said: Sound is a very fragile area, and you must get it right.
I think @Bazzz and @JohnGB hit the nail on the head. I would also encourage you to not try to sell them once they are on your site. Instead help them buy. They are already there, and unless they see something that interest them, a nice jingle won't get them to come back. Jacob Nielsen put this best when he said the following;
Even though it does little good to run ads on other sites, there are many ways in which the Web can be used fruitfully in marketing. Most important are corporate websites where an entire site can be devoted to promote a company's products. Such sites should not be sales-driven but should focus on customer support and service, including detailed product specs and supporting information to facilitate the buying process. In other words: help customers buy; don't try a hard sell.
I would encourage you to read his entire article on advertising here.
There are so many ways this can go wrong. The expectation on the web is that sound and video is something you initialize yourself, unless the sole purpose of the page is to display the video or play that sound. Even then it is good practice to provide an indication on any link to that page informing the user that it will trigger media playback.
You would also need to consider what happens on browser restart. Imagine several tabs with this page open, I bet that choir would evoke all kinds of emotions.
only if you have a really really awesome sound and a neutral to great site or app OR you have a really really awesome and/or popular and/or indispensable and/or addictive site and a very very SHORT or unobtrusive sound and some ACTUAL REASON the sound needs to exist OTHER than to tell everyone else the user's business.
like (and i use some analogy here, be forewarned)
--there needs to be startup chimes to my laptop for diagnostic purposes. --my favorite dance songs may have long intros so i can make it to the dance floor in time for the first verse. --my coffee machine is allowed to be loud --firefox plugin downthemall has a sweet sweet ending chime because it is so awesome and indispensable
unlike:
--cigarette lighters that play sounds and flash colors --mac osx screen capture program SnapZ (great program, hate the vegas style sound.) --dumbass myspace: music on load is perverse noise pollution by definition. --especially unlike when a site was opened in a background tab..... grrrrrrrr. does every site like that assume you have no other audio input you value?
some of us value silence, or ambient environmental sounds, or the soft sound of our keyboards or our lovers or pets sleeping, or the trains off in the distance. some of us want to be apprised of air raid sirens when they go off, or damsels in distress, or our own thoughts.
sound upon open is as bad as advertising i didn't ask specifically for. which is very very very bad.
Please never ever do this unless you have a solid reason for do so(For example its part of your branding and you wants to make it more popular and recognizable). In that case Please fade it out after few seconds or may be you can just have a play and stop controls with initially set at stop status so whoever wants to listen it can play it. Users love maximum control over the things they wanted to experience.
Web:
For almost all user, it will result pure annoyance.
App:
It is okay, or sometimes it's necesssary for example, edu. apps for kids, games ... etc. But if the main userbase is not kids, NEVER do this.
I think the most obvious reason not to do it is, can you name one big website that does it?
Think of companies like amazon, ebay, none of them do it. Those companies spend a fortune every year on R&D, there must be a reason none of them are doing it.
The best practice answer to this is 'No' always... except, if the reason they came to your site is to hear the jingle.
If you have to do it... reduce said jingle to just the hook portion... i.e. for Red Robin they would just play 'Yummmm'
Also, get and abide by the users volume settings. Do not set volumne to 100%, because you have no idea what their speakers are turned up to.
No need for sound when entering (or exiting) the site.
a) no need from an informational perspective
b) sound less effective than visual for branding on a visual display.
