“Every
frustration degrades the experience. It is a death of a thousand cuts
phenomenon.” - Jared Spool
Every
frustration , no matter how small, detracts from the user experience. Minor frustrations
are accumulative, leading to a larger and more damaging impact on your customer's
experience. I discussed this in an older post about how
shoppers walk wounded as they battle on against these minor site flaws, their
goodwill slowly being drained. The point at which they abandon is not
necessarily the main perpetrator but possibly the point at which their goodwill
is finally exhausted.
These
minor frustrations need to be eliminated.
In isolation these paper cuts may seem insignificant but every cut
increases the likelihood that your customer will not complete their task and abandon.
I'll
be posting, and possibly publishing, a series titled 'Death by 1000 Cuts' which will present these paper cuts along with real examples. These 'Cuts' will be compiled from your suggestions, and any 'Cuts' selected will be credited to the author (person who sent the tweet).
To suggest a 'Cut' please send a tweet in the format
[Title] : [Short Desc] #DB1000C.
For example:
Don't Make Me Feel Stupid: Errors messages are the final defence. Inform and guide customers so they don't make mistakes #DB1000C
Don't Make Me Think: People are cognitive misers. Every second a customer stops to think is an opportunity for them to drop-out #DB1000C.
Start tweeting...
We are currently designing the format and I'll post this as soon as we have the initial creative treatment. What I do know is that it we're designing it to support a print format, so it will consist of a supporting illustration (sketch) on the front, and the tweet & the authors name on the flip-side.
There are currently some great ideas being bounced about how the final output can be incorporated in to a fun playful site evaluation (think Top Trumps) - I'll keep you posted on this too.
Great idea, look forward the Hall of "Fame" examples to come!
Posted by: Mark Coleman | November 29, 2009 at 10:26 PM