Yu Centrik

One of the most frustrating online experiences is, without a doubt, completing an online transaction without knowing for sure whether the transaction has been properly concluded. Our team had this frustrating experience twice in one morning this week. I tried to buy a book online (traditional paper format) and Joëlle tried to buy an electronic document. We went to two different sites and followed two different processes, but we got the same result: lack of data confirming the transaction.

This type of experience is frustrating because it’s a clear task with a clear goal and a result the user expects; all the more so because it’s a financial transaction. In Brazil, they say that our pockets are the most sensitive parts of our bodies ;=)

An online purchase involves a significant number of variables, meaning that the possibility for errors is great. Further, this is not the type of experience that ends on the site when the user clicks the last button: the transaction is not truly concluded until the product is received. If something doesn’t work like it should, the user feels powerless; not knowing to whom to turn for help (Site administrators? The bank? The credit card company? The mail company?)

Error management and recovery is one of the most important usability criteria. In e-commerce, it is absolutely crucial.

On-screen instructions are key, but instructions should also always be sent by email. Your screens may disappear but an email continues to exist in the user’s inbox. A clear email is one easy way to improve the user’s experience.

Ten years after the birth of the Web, many e-commerce sites communicate well, but not to the best of their abilities. They work well and manage the most obvious errors, but they have not evolved to deal with new situations arising from contemporary Web use.

Here are two examples:

Anti-spam products have become more and more aggressive. If your site doesn’t send a well-written message, with an especially clear title, it could easily find itself in the Bulk bin along with the flood of unsolicited messages.

The multiplicity of systems and technical incompatibilities (Windows vs Mac, IE vs Firefox, PC vs handheld units,…) can cause a transaction to be interrupted. Users should be informed of such errors and have the ability to pick up the transaction where they left off, simply by clicking on a link in an email for example.

In any case, you should plan for situations arising from the reality of the new Internet. Only then will your users be able to work with your site without the usual stress, frustration or anxiety.

We heard Transports Québec is considering updating highway traffic signs. This may also be a good time to take a look at the city’s street signs. Maybe you’ve caught yourself wondering about their usefulness and asking yourself “Just how easy are these signs to understand?”

Imagine the following scenario: It’s Monday morning at 8 am. You’re driving to work on a two-way, four-lane street. Let’s say Sherbrooke St. in Montréal. You’re heading east and traffic is heavy. You want to turn left at the next intersection. However, at that intersection, you spot a street sign below the street lights. You have only a few seconds to read and understand the sign.

Do you think you have the right to turn left?
Let’s try to understand this sign: It says that drivers must go straight or turn right from Monday to Friday, between 3 pm and 6 pm.

So, can you turn left? OF COURSE! What this sign says is that left turns are prohibited from Monday to Friday, between 3 pm and 6 pm. So you do have the right to turn left at 8 am.
Does that mean that, at times other than those indicated on the sign, going straight and turning right are prohibited?

Who was this sign made for?
Certainly not for drivers who wish to go straight or to turn right, because this is permitted at any time. This sign must then have been made for drivers who wish to turn left.

Let’s take a quick look at the task involved here:
In the space of a couple of seconds, the driver must perform some serious mental acrobatics. While simultaneously scanning the road ahead, holding the wheel and working the pedals, the driver must:

• ­ notice the sign;
• ­ watch how close the vehicle behind is getting in the rear-view mirror;
• ­ apply to brake to slow down enough to read the sign;
• ­ read the sign;
• ­ understand the sign;
• ­ remember what day of the week it is;
• ­ check the time on her watch, on the car’s dash or guess it;
• ­ deduce the following: “If I’m supposed to go straight or turn right, from Monday to Friday, between 3 pm and 6 pm, that means turning left is prohibited during those hours, but, as it is only 8 in the morning, I’m in the right”;
• ­ decide to turn left;
• ­ scan the road ahead, to the right and the left;
• ­ check the rear-view mirror;
• ­ if it is necessary to change lanes, signal for the lane change;
• ­ get into the left-hand turning lane; and,
• ­ turn left.

Would it be possible to simplify this sign?
Well, we could possibly create a sign directed at the end user - the driver who wishes to turn left instead of those who are going straight or turning right – and tell him that turning left from Monday to Friday, between 3 pm and 6 pm, is prohibited.

In the above situation, which of the two signs would be easiest for you to decode? The mandatory action or the prohibited action?