Best Practices and/or Examples of Search Results for Mixing Password Protected (members-only) content and Public Content

I'm interested if anyone has any thoughts (or examples) of mixing password-protected (member-only) content and public content in search results.

I have a couple of projects for associations serving a mixed audience of members and the general public. Some articles/pages on the site are available to the public and some are only available to members. One thought we're exploring is allowing non-members to search the site and see both public and private results, but only be able to click through to public content. Private content might not have a link or the link might connect to an explanation page (e.g. "you could see this content if you were a member" ). This way the search results are complete and would serve as a sales tool.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
jerry

Jerry,

If you go to http://www.tasteofhome.com and search for butterscotch bars, you can see what we did. The second actual result ("Gooey Butterscotch Bars" ) is subscriber only (the admittedly ugly "plus" sign next to the name). When you click on it, you are taken to a page to subscribe or sign in if you are a subscriber. You can also link your magazine subscription to your online account. You can use this page to explain the benefits of becoming a member (probably better than we did, but I wasn't in charge of the content on this site at all). Or you can just use the page to explain that the content is member-only, depending on your audience.

If you are going to show member only content in search results, you need to clearly show them why they can't view it, and making it so there is no link for those results doesn't do that. In fact, it is probably more likely to lead to support issues, with users unable to figure out why they can't view certain results. My advice is to either not show the results that a user can't view, or give them a page to explain the situation to them.

Posted from the new ixda.org
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Hi Jerry,

Wall Street Journal ( http://europe.wsj.com ) present search results, which are subscription based, using a small key icon display adjacent to the result and a speech pop-up on hover. The user can see the standard search detail and is permitted to read a short review before arriving at the password 'gate'.

SERP example:
http://europe.wsj.com/public /search /page /3 _0466.html?KEYWORDS=digital &mod=DNH _S Screen grab: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774 /4081384610 _588ce790f5 _o.png

Hope that helps?

-- Rob

2009/11/5 Jerry Gennaria jerry at gennaria.com

I'm interested if anyone has any thoughts (or examples) of mixing password-protected (member-only) content and public content in search results. I have a couple of projects for associations serving a mixed audience of members and the general public. Some articles/pages on the site are available to the public and some are only available to members. One thought we're exploring is allowing non-members to search the site and see both public and private results, but only be able to click through to public content. Private content might not have a link or the link might connect to an explanation [trim]

-- // Rob Enslin
robenslin.com
twitter.com/robenslin
0759 052 8890
//

Sorry, that screen grab link doesn't work - try this one: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774 /4081384610 _e33bc86c7c _o.png

-- Rob

Posted from the new ixda.org
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It's a great idea to surface "teaser" content from behind your paywall so (a) users can get a feel for what they'd be getting if they pay-up, and (b) for SEO.

It's all about setting user expectations. Make sure the teaser content is clearly marked, just like the screengrab rob posted from WSJ (in fact, you could make it more prominent).

good luck

Harry

-- Dr. Harry Brignull
User Experience Consultant
http://www.90percentofeverything.com
+ 44 (0)7920 474784

On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 12:41 PM, Rob Enslin robenslin at gmail.com wrote:

Sorry, that screen grab link doesn't work - try this one: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774 /4081384610 _e33bc86c7c _o.png — Rob Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47242 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list . discuss at ixda.org Unsubscribe .... http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help http://www.ixda.org/help

Hi Charles (and all)

In the gallery type search result page, I don't find the same plus icon to identify that the same 'Gooey Butterscotch Bars' is a subscriber only link.
I was wondering if that was left intentional that way for gallery type search results or if there were any other reasons for the way it is : )

I have read that the plus icon can mean different in different context. In this case, it clearly shows the difference, but I liked the key icon and its interaction in Rob's example more.

I would like to ask a continued question in this thread: When user arrives at the subscription page after clicking through a 'only for members' link, showing 'Subscribers Visiting For The First Time' info box first or 'Returning Subscribers Login Here' FIRST is better? If the later seem more important to show first (scanning left to right), does it mean that there are more users who forget to log in to the website or there are less number of users interested to subscribe as first-timers. Or is this a situation similar to the OK, CANCEL positions?

Posted from the new ixda.org
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I worked on a project with similar requirements, except that typically there would be just a handful of search results available to the public but hundreds available on the members-only site. The solution I proposed (which the client decided not to implement) was to group the public results together, then list out the first 10 or 20 results from the members-only site with a lock icon. The list would be preceded by copy explaining that these were results available on the members-only site, along with a link to learn more about becoming a member. There would also be an option to expand the password-protected results, but the results themselves would not be hyperlinked if the user was not logged into the site. It was a little clunky, but I think it would have been effective.

The reason I went with that approach rather than the more straightforward one shown in the WSJ screenshot was that membership wasn't a single product or a straightforward process, and you couldn't become a member online. Partly for that reason, the client opted not to show the results from the member site at all, which avoids any potential confusion but also misses an opportunity to sell the benefits of membership.

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Shivan,

Good point about the gallery view - I'm guessing the designers just left it off for look and feel purposes, not for any valid reason (I wasn't involved in that aspect at all).

As for the plus icon, the reason we used that is purely for branding. The site (and magazine) has used the concept of "Taste of Home Plus" as additional web content for magazine subscribers. I personally would have loved to use something more clear, like you said, but again, it was purely a branding decision.

Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47242