Shock and aww

So I was engaged in a conversation earlier today about User Experience, UX for short. This, along with User Interface (UI) design, are the hot button topics of web design now. Suddenly, companies care about their users now that the web has evolved and flattened so that users have a say in how they interact with their brands.

So it got me thinking and spelunking on the web. But the answer was in one of my Evernote folders. The author of an article that I clipped spoke about the user experience and echoed something that I have been speaking about all along: the designer and the brand must take into account what the user’s expectations are when landing on the site.

This user expectation is what drives Google and other search engines. When I search for something, I expect that the page that I land on will give me (some of ) the information that I am looking for. If it doesn’t, then I bounce and am off to the next option.

Trust me, I am going somewhere with this. So let’s say that you have a touch point with a prospective customer. And let’s say for example that this touch point is not a digital channel. You handed them a card, a flyer or they saw your ad on TV. What do you think that their expectation would be once they got to your site?

Of course you know the answer. They expect to recognize something in the web space that they saw or experienced in that other channel. If they don’t that is a disconnect (shock) and that is bad, because users usually react negatively to shocks online (aww).

But even if you have everything aligned and symmetrical between your channels? Well, you still have this: The New Room Effect.

As you might expect, the New Room Effect is derived from the experience from entering a room that you have never been in before. The momentary confusion when confronting something new (and let’s not forget that confusion = fear and hesitation) is alleviated when one locates familiar objects. Ah, that’s actually a window. Oh, the toilet is over HERE. Anticipating and compensating for this confusion is the essence of UX and UI design. Here is a snippet from the article by Shawn Borsky for Anthem Design Group:

The main focus of interfaces should not be avoid all confusion, because that’s not practical. Its too easy to confuse a user. It is much better focus on how to handle confusion or hesitation. Consider this situation. When you walk into a room or building in which you have never been, you will be initially confused.

Why? Naturally, you must become familiar with the new information before you can interact with it. I like to call this the “New Room” effect. Your main focus as a designer should be to anticipate this stage of analysis and confusion and then dispel it quickly by creating familiar cues, anticipated guides, and goal oriented design.

So okay. When you are asking people to perform a task, say, BUY NOW!, this is not the time to make your user spend valuable time and cognitive energy trying to determine if this object is or isn’t the proper button to click. Not to make too dramatic a point, NOTHING should stand in the way of your user accomplishing the goal you’ve set for them and you should do whatever you can to help them decide that your goal is their goal. That’s digital’s contribution to a solid, cross-channel, brand-nourishing, customer-centric creative strategy.

We hope you find this interesting.