How to improve the product experience in response to user operational errors?

Editor's note: Users may inevitably make mistakes when operating and using products, and mistakes may reduce user experience and lead to user loss. Therefore, effective prompts are very important. Through prompts, products can prevent user operation errors to a certain extent. How should we design and improve user experience? The author of this article has sorted out the design strategies for preventing user operation errors. Let's take a look.

A good product or a good functional design can let users know at a glance what it can do, where to do it and how to do it, and give users timely feedback.

But during the operation process, users don’t understand the product as well as we do. Zhang Xiaolong, the father of WeChat, once half-jokingly said that it took Steve Jobs 1 second to quickly become a novice user, while Ma Huateng took about 3 seconds and he took about 5 seconds.

In our daily product design, sometimes we cannot achieve 100% universality. Some small tips may reduce user operation errors and prevent errors. Although they cannot add points to the users, they can at least avoid deductions. Good design may add points to the user's impression of the product during the experience process, but sometimes some tips are also used to promote the growth of commercial interests. This depends on what kind of demands each different product has to meet.

When operating for users, how to give good prompts to help users achieve their goals can be done through suggestions, restrictions, etc. However, the specific design varies depending on each product and usage scenario. Here are some ways to prevent user operation errors for reference.

Pop-up reminder

Pop-up reminders are a slightly heavier reminder method and are generally used with caution and only when necessary. Therefore, when users are entering or confirming important information, they will choose to have a pop-up window for further reminders to avoid unnecessary costs caused by incorrect information. With the widespread use of pop-up windows, many platforms now also use them to retain users when they exit or return.

When we register our account information and enter important information, we need to confirm it again. Also, when we use WeChat to post a Moments and then click to delete, the system will automatically pull up a pop-up window to remind you whether to confirm the deletion of the Moments.

We can often see this kind of recovery reminder in the Pinduoduo APP, for example: "When you choose to return when placing an order on Pinduoduo but have not paid, the system will pull a pop-up window to guide you to continue paying." When we experience various APPs, the system will also give a pop-up prompt when we click to exit.

Long press to identify and verify

The most widely used long press recognition now is fingerprint recognition, which was first used in unlocking scenarios, and then many APP applications began to use it for login and payment verification.

In addition to fingerprint recognition, it is also widely used on current game platforms. For example, "In the game Honor of Kings that we are familiar with, when controlling the direction, we are in the direction area. Long pressing up means going forward, long pressing to the left means going left, and when we release our fingers, the character in the game moves."

Long pressing can enter an immersive experience, because when you long press the screen, the user's attention is locked on the screen. It is generally used in more important operation scenarios, such as: "WeChat voice, you need to long press to record the speaker's voice, and it ends when you release it."

There is also the WeChat Reading that we are more familiar with. When you stay on a page in a book and press it for a long time, you can copy or mark the content of the long-pressed position. If we just click on the page content in the book, the introduction of the book and the entrance to comment ideas will be displayed from the top and bottom.

Slide verification

When a call comes in, we can answer it by sliding. This is more familiar to Apple phones. Sometimes you can answer the call by clicking, but sometimes you have to slide. When our phone is in a black screen and not in use, when a call comes in, the screen will slide to answer it.

If the phone is in your pocket, you only need to click to answer the call, but you may accidentally touch the answer button. When you are using the phone, if a call comes in, two buttons will appear on the screen, answer and reject. This is because you may be disturbed at this time. The phone owner can choose to reject or answer the call. It mainly depends on the user's scenario. When the phone is not in use, the sliding solution can prevent user errors.

This sliding method should be widespread, and many platforms will also use it to verify when new users register accounts. Some of them are mainly used to prevent users from malicious verification behavior and avoid incurring unnecessary costs to the platform.

Secondary verification

Secondary verification should be used with caution because it may backfire if it brings a bad experience to users, causing users to give up using the product.

However, many platforms now offer a second verification option when registering. For example, "12306 previously launched a second image verification to prevent scalpers from fraudulently posting tickets. Many other platforms also require pattern verification or calculation of arithmetic in the image after entering the verification code."

Some platforms use more rigorous operating procedures. When we choose to unbind the bank card account bound to the payment platform, or bind the account, secondary verification is required. This is for security reasons. If the user makes a mistake, the risk cost is high.

Constraints through conditions

Restricting users through conditions is not necessarily a good thing, but some operations can help users prevent errors through restrictions, which is beneficial to improving the product experience.

For example, now that railways are so developed, we buy tickets during festivals or business trips. Many conditions are mandatory, and some people choose round trips when buying tickets. The most basic condition for round trips is that the return time must not be earlier than the departure time, so there will be constraints on the choice of return time.

The above picture shows that when choosing to purchase a round-trip ticket on the 12306 official website, the user is restricted from clicking on the return time by graying out the early time to avoid operational errors.

Related reminders

The application scenarios of associated reminders are very wide. The most common one is that when we actively search for a keyword, the corresponding associated words will be displayed. This can quickly help us find the content we want. In particular, the longer the keyword to be searched, the more helpful the associated reminder will be for the user's active search.

However, in addition to the keyword associations displayed when users search, many e-commerce platforms now also use this function as a promotional tool when users place orders, for example: "If you purchase a projector, a projector stand will be recommended."

There is a strange set of related sales data in Walmart. It was found that diapers and beer always appeared on the same shopping list, which was very confusing. After investigation, it was found that male customers always bought some beer when buying diapers for their children. So they put beer and diapers together, and promoted the sales of beer through diapers.

We often use the Baidu search function. When searching for a keyword, some associated words related to the keyword will appear. This helps users quickly find the content they want and avoids entering the keyword multiple times before finding the content they want, and each search is an operational error.

When you choose a projector on JD.com, the system will recommend matching products, such as projection screens, projector stands, etc., to promote the sales of peripheral products and increase the amount of a single order.

Default value reminder

Default words are generally used in search boxes to provide basic reminders, with the aim of enabling users to quickly find the content they want. Some platforms also use them for marketing, for example: "Current e-commerce trading platforms will default to providing promotional activities on the platform in the input box, with the aim of encouraging users to search and display promotional activity pages or products, in order to achieve the purpose of activity exposure and product sales."

When we enter the 12306 official website to choose to refund or change tickets, we need to check and verify the tickets first. When entering the keyword column, the default word prompt helps users lock the search scope in advance to avoid operational errors caused by entering irrelevant content.

When entering the JD.com platform, the search box will default to "default keyword content, in order to achieve the purpose of promoting platform promotions."

When using Alipay top-up service to top up, when you enter the top-up page, the "default phone number" will be displayed where the phone number is entered. This can reduce the user's operation steps and prevent the user from entering the wrong phone number.

Space Layout

When the content is dense or there is a lot of identical content, regular spaces can help users improve their reading experience and help them quickly understand the content and avoid reading errors.

We have had such a scenario before. When faced with very dense content points, it is particularly difficult to count, so sometimes we will divide 10 or xx people into a team, which makes it much easier to count.

When you use WeChat Pay to bind a bank card, in addition to the prompt that the bank card is supported, when you enter the bank card account number, the system will automatically help you space out the numbers in groups of 4 to better identify the specific numbers when reading.

Automatic identification

Automatic recognition means that after the user enters a part of the content, the system can determine what the user has entered and give some prompts to the user. This can improve the user experience, identify errors in advance, and avoid repetitive operations.

When we use payment to bind a bank card, when we enter the 10-digit number, the system will automatically identify the card type, effectively helping users to identify in advance whether the bound bank is correct, without having to wait until the entire account number is entered before making a judgment. In this way, if it is wrong, you have to start over again.

Positioning reminder

I once did something particularly embarrassing when I bought groceries on Xtuan. I had just moved to a new place and had lived there for a while. I had used Xtuan to buy groceries several times before. This time, I was taking the subway on my way home from get off work and opened Xtuan to buy groceries. It happened to be close to where I used to live, so the system directly located my old address. When I placed the order, the previous delivery address was used by default, resulting in the goods arriving but I didn't live there.

Positioning reminders are based on the mobile phone's GPS positioning system. Helping users identify their geographic location in advance for confirmation reminders can effectively avoid users browsing corresponding services. Sometimes, they find that the city is wrong at the last stage and have to go back and select the city again, which increases the user's usage cost.

Positioning system life service platforms are particularly widely used. When we enter the Alipay homepage, if the city we are in is not the city located by the system, the system will automatically display a switch reminder on the page. This effectively helps users choose local city services, thereby improving the user experience and avoiding usage errors.

Sequential Principle

The sequential principle is now widely used. Many platforms also use it when logging in and entering information to provide step-by-step guidance. If we do not complete the first step, we cannot proceed to the second step, thus guiding users to complete the correct actions.

When we log in and enter our account and password, or enter the correct value, the login and confirmation buttons will change from gray to bright. However, not all buttons will automatically change to bright colors after entering an absolute value, for example: "When entering a password, it will generally light up after entering 1 digit, because if you enter exactly 6 digits, the 6-digit password will be easily leaked."

When logging into the Mafengwo APP, the system automatically verifies the 11-digit mobile phone number, and then the button for obtaining the verification code changes from gray to a bright yellow and clickable button.

Automatic principle

The automatic principle can also be understood as automatic verification or automatic filling. If our verification code is too long and needs to be entered in 6 digits, sometimes it will be a little inconvenient to operate a device. When the system automatically fills in the verification code, the user only needs to click to confirm, which can greatly improve the user experience and help users save the time and steps of entering and viewing the verification code, and can also avoid the scenario where verification fails due to input errors.

However, many application platforms now directly use the local phone number to verify the login, or use a third-party social platform to verify the login, eliminating the intermediate input step.

When we enter the Aihuishou application platform, the default login method is to log in with the local phone number, while Zhuanzhuan defaults to WeChat login.

Isolation Principle

The isolation principle can also be described in two other ways: clear page hierarchy and clear area division, with the same content in one place. Different content is isolated by color contrast or area division to avoid user errors during operation.

This method is now widely used, and many platforms also use it to guide clicks. For some important information or buttons, the color is deepened to make the buttons more distinct, so as to achieve an eye-catching effect and ultimately encourage users to take the next step.

When we use the Xiangha Recipe APP to log in to our account and agree to the privacy information, the button for agreeing and the button for disagreeing are clearly distinguished.

Summarize

We try to provide push notifications when users are operating. Reminders can only be used as a bottom-line strategy for the product, because push notifications are given at the product level when the user is fully or halfway through an action, which helps to add points to the product experience. Reminders are basically when the user has made an operation and the system gives feedback when an error is detected. At this time, the user has already paid the cost. Although some good reminders may also add points, we try to focus on push notifications.

Prompts are becoming more and more commercialized, but ultimately they still need to be evaluated from the perspective of long-term and short-term ROI. Good prompts are commercialized but do not affect the user experience, which is a very appropriate operation. For example: "JD uses default words in the input box to suggest that users can search for ongoing promotions and products." Another type of forced commercial prompt may harm interests, reduce users' product experience, and gradually lose users.

When designing products, we should still think more from the user's perspective. This is a super strong ability, and we need to think and understand users day after day and year after year. Users will change, and good products will cater to users and provide a good experience, thereby achieving long-term commercial realization.