No doubt today the marketing folks at XM are talking about this article (every internet marketing professional reads ClickZ). They do a simple test of grabbing two people who are theoretically in the market for satellite radio, and get their input for surfing on XM's website.

The result is none-too-pleasing and worse... it's dead on.

XM's user interface leaves a bit to be desired as we figured out earlier this year, and not to mention that the look-and-feel has largely been unchanged since launch. But what the ClickZ article didn't touch on is Sirius' website (I suspect that'll be "Part 2"). I'd like dive a bit deeper into XM's homepage, and take a poke at Sirius' while we're at it.

First, while I think the big Flash banner on XM's homepage was a step in the right direction from the previous design, it takes up too much real estate to deliver too small of a message. Yes, the slides automatically rotate but there's too little information.

I much prefer Sirius' approach (below) where the promotional slideshow, the music neighborhoods, and a receiver spotlight are all above the fold and readily available. XM wastes a lot of real estate there, even the navbar is a bit wasteful.

Sirius also has two simply calls-to-action: "Get SIRIUS Now" and "Listen for Free." Done. Simple. XM's call-to-action are a bit all over the place: "Shop XM Radio," "Listen Now," "Get An XM Radio," "Sign up for a free trial" ... too much stuff.

Another thing that Sirius does is show their key content offerings right in the upper-left corner. Guess what everyone talks about when they talk about Sirius' content? You got it: Howard Stern, NFL, Martha Stewart. Sirius reinforces this. XM instead makes you scroll down to see their key offerings (or wait for the slideshow to rotate).

Speaking from a subscriber's point of view, XM also has a big glaring problem. It's hard to figure out where to manage your account. If I want to update my profile, the LAST thing I'll think of is to go to Customer Service - that's left for when I'm having problems with my account. Sirius puts the Manage Account link exactly where you expect it. On the flip side, I much prefer XM Radio Online to SIRIUS Internet Radio.

Honestly, I much prefer Sirius' website overall to XM's, though I have to say the flashy animations get annoying. Give us a way to turn that off easily please Sirius?

(Oh, and just so I'm not such a negative-Nancy, I'm quite impressed with XM's Exclusive Music section. It's a better look. Simple and clean.)

I could go on and on about this, but I'd rather hear what you all have to say. What was your impression before you subscribed to either service about their websites? What about as a subscriber what problems/benefits do you encounter?

[ClickZ]