The Seven Deadly Sins of UX – Wrath
Recently, I listened to an album that led me to look at the Seven Deadly Sins within UX. The Deadly Sins I will discuss are: Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. In a previous post, I already talked about Gluttony, Lust, Greed, and Sloth. This time we’ll look at Wrath. The other Deadly Sins will be discussed in future posts.
Just to be clear: everyone is guilty of these, it’s human. Probably not to the extreme degree I describe here. It’s not meant to bring down specific people or companies. It’s more of a reminder, for when it’s needed.
Wrath
The next sin is Wrath, where we look more at user frustration. Sources of frustration that I often encounter are error messages and lack of feedback in general.
Let’s start with error messages. The fact that there are error messages is not a problem in itself. Of course, we try to prevent them, but something can always go wrong. This error message must then be useful and say something about a potential solution. Nothing is more annoying than receiving an error message that only says: “Something went wrong” or “404 not found.” These messages do not provide me with more information and do not tell me how to solve the problem.
In my opinion, an error message should meet the following points:
- Use the user’s language. The user must be able to understand the problem and the solution;
- Use no more than 20 words. If there is a 60-page story, the error message will no longer be read;
- Focus on the result. What needs to be done to achieve the desired result;
- Avoid denial. These do not cause confusion;
- Divide and conquer. Is the form very long and does it address multiple topics? Then consider whether it is more convenient to split the form.
If you are more interested in error messages and how to make them good, visit this link: The Problem with Bad Error Messages and How to Fix Them.
Then we have the problem of feedback that is not well described or no feedback at all. It is very annoying when you want to save something, but you have no idea if anything is happening. There is no message, the screen does not change, and you are not redirected to the next screen. The only way to find out if your changes have been made is to reload the screen, only to find out that nothing has been done due to an error that occurred.
Always ensure that there is something that provides feedback. Has something been saved? Redirect the user to the logical next page and show a message that your action has been successfully completed. Did it not work? Then show why not (see the text above). Are you still busy? Show it with a wait icon. Show that the user can spend this time usefully by getting some coffee.
By Jasper Blikman, Consultant and UX specialist