Green buttons. Coming soon to a website near you. I bet.

Slightly random post this, as I was looking at a beta version of a new product vertical that we’re launching on Monday.

Where have all the green buttons come from?

It’s been a little while since I haven’t had to be 100% hands on with all the bells & whistles in terms of getting a new vertical in front of the customer. I’ve forgot that it can be a real buzz getting granular with final tweaks and fixes, to make sure that the online product experience is top-notch. Seeing the first results too, and tweaking and advising a team on what needs to be done to improve those – is worth the wait too.

When I was doing this today, I spent some time taking a Head of Product through some of those improvements that I’d like to see him pushing through with one of our platform partners. One of those improvements was a greater definition of “call to action” buttons. ie: the ultimate thing that our business is based around in terms of this product. All effort is wasted if those buttons don’t get hit, and the product doesn’t step up and deliver.

And when I was looking at certain “call to action” buttons – I started to get deja vu, or AKA “are we following or leading” AKA “is the same designer moonlighting at ALL the big online gaming firms?”.

Why?

Green action buttons. That’s why.

Here’s the thing. The web has commoditised many services. Online betting is one. Price (odds) can remain a constant across multiple Operators (see oddschecker for examples). Online gambling operators with different business models, in regulated and unregualted markets, with different brand attributes can carry similar prices – but is there any reason why the green button has become the norm?

There’s no specific web design standard that specifies it. There’s no “button design” police. There’s no official umbrella organisation that enforces design standards – but there are a whole host of companies doing it. (Or one GUI designer that has a lot of jobs…)

See for yourself...

Ladbrokes:

Sports Interaction:

William Hill:

Betfair:

Here’s the tip. Maybe if everyone is starting to do it – why haven’t you? Go green, do it now. I’m converted.