Where do the links go?
Technology is a wonderful thing, and we use it hundreds of times a day. From getting up for, getting in to and getting on with work. However, everyday people have problems with technology. It either fails them, or they fail it. When technology fails, we change it. When we fail with the technology, we still change technology. This is because it’s easier to make technology more usable, or user friendly, that it is to make people more technology friendly, and this is an accepted process.
However, there are certain times when you’ve got to accept that technology has done everything it can (and more) and still, people have failed.
My trip to Tescos
Take for example my recent lunchtime trip to Tesco. I feel I’m pretty good with technology. While I was initially apprehensive with the self-checkouts, I now use them almost all the time. As I was waiting my turn, I watched one guy move over to the checkout and begin the checkout process. As he approached the screen, a big button said ‘Start – Credit Cards Only’. The man pushed the button. Then, a recorded announcement said ‘Do you want to continue’, while the screen displayed ‘This checked only accepts Credit and Debits Cards for payment. Do you want to continue?’ Yes or No. The man pressed Yes and began scanning and packing his items.
When the man was ready to pay, he got out £10 from his pocket and noticed the ‘Cash’ button wasn’t available. He spoke to the woman who notified him it was a Cards Only till. The man wasn’t happy and threw his shopping on the floor, stormed out staying, ‘I didn’t see any message’.
To me and you, it’s clear that the man failed with technology. On that scenario alone, he may accept people calling him an idiot…but was he?
Everyone makes mistakes, right?
Having been involved in website production for years, and seen how people use websites, they can often miss the most obvious piece of information. Information that is blaring out at them, in big letters or has some other way of attracting your attention. I’ve seen users of websites ignore important messages without reading them – things like ‘Are you sure you want to delete your entire inbox?’ and ‘Please enter the last three digits’, entering 2 and becoming angry at why it doesn’t work.
I’ve often sat in meetings discussing user interface and website design. Often duplicate content on the same page is frowned upon, but really, it shouldn’t be. Having a phone number or call to action referenced up to 3 times would certainly acceptable if the design warranted it. Having links to the same place displayed once at the top, at the bottom and multiple times within the content is also a successful technique that helps users get access to the information they need at the time they need it.
You can never have too many...
I often hear that “We don’t need to put a link to the contact page there, there’s already one in the footer’. Why would you want users searching the page (bearing in mind that they may have never used the site before) in order to do something that you (as the website owner) wants them to do – that is, get in touch?
Understanding user behaviour is not about expecting people to be idiots. It’s about empathising. It’s about trying to understand how they view your site and how they respond to it. Users are ruthless. They want stuff and they want it now. Users want whatever value is to be gained at looking and using the website now, within 10 seconds. Think of a near vertical line that starts at the top with ‘highly curious and excited’ and rapidly plummets to ‘BORING! Back to Google for the next site’.
K.I.S.S. (Keep It Stupidly Simple)
People will be idiots when using the site. Those people can’t be saved. But most will be perfectly normal people, and they might still miss the obvious, or need to be helped or encouraged through the site. Thoughtful layout, a strong empathy with the website’s users and clear understanding about what YOU want your users to do, will often lead to a successful browsing experience.