This is sort of a spin-off of the discussion of business objectives in design combined with a recent UIE note on "do I trust you". Sorry for starting yet another thread, but I didn't want to derail the other.
I cannot possibly be the only person to experience this scenario(*): 1. Install new product on desktop computer 2. Get asked to register product. Agree. (Failure to agree turns the product into 'nagware' that pesters me to register every time it starts up or every 3 days, whichever comes first.) 3. Web page opens with a login form. 3a. Mistakenly try to log in because the button at the bottom of the form says "Register" 3b. Realize that it's really a log in form and if I don't have an account I have to create one before I can log in to register this product 4. Trepidatiously click on the "create account" link 5. Look at form that fills the entire page... no, wait it goes off the bottom... containing (counts) 24 fields I need to fill in, some about me and some about my company. 6. Close browser tab, aborting registration process. Looked at from a business point of view, these steps make total sense. They want to get a sense of who's buying their product, and fill their CRM database with high-value contact information for upsell, cross-marketing and all those great revenue-generating things. Looked at from a user experience point of view it makes me want to gag. To reiterate Jared's point from the UIE article: I have no reason to trust this company with my data. In fact, I'm pretty sure I should NOT trust them with my data since it'll only add to the spam in my mailbox. It's not that I deny the legitimacy of the business concerns - it's that I think ignoring good design and user experience principles is going to hurt more than it helps. But maybe I'm naive? How can we apply good interaction design to achieve the business goals without generating hostility and distrust in customers/users? --Alan (*) No, I'm not going to name the actual products involved here - I'm not trying to slam any specific company. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
