e.politics has a new blog post evaluating the current crop of Republican presidential campaign sites, and they have some great feedback for site builders:

• “People HATE email-gathering splash screens, which are now standard-issue on most campaign sites. In fact, some users (older ones in particular) found them so confusing that they tried to leave the sites entirely.”
• “Strikingly, once users got past the splash screens, the sites frequently did a terrible job of collecting email addresses on internal pages (I’m lookin’ at you, Mitt). C’mon kids — nonprofits have known to put a clear email signup form or button on every page for years.”
• “Testers often noticed Obama2008-style imagery and features and pointed them out. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but there’s a difference between covering a song and committing plagiarism. Turns out, people can spot it.”

There’s much more in their article and full report. Check it out:

• Republican Presidential Sites (Largely) Fail Usability Test