With every sip of my coffee this morning all I could think was “fail”. See that nifty looking round handle? It failed on function. The placement and shape of the handle combined with the weight of the cup required me to stabilize the cup by pressing two fingers against the hot ceramic, or lift the cup with two hands.
The cup’s failure to function left me thinking about the cup, rather than enjoying the coffee. The tool became an intrusion on the experience.
As I worked around the cup to sip my coffee I thought about all the online “tools” that require users to maneuver around them to complete their business.
Nine times out of ten when I begin working with a business to develop their online strategy we must take a step back and rethink the user experience of their website or app. So often an online tool utterly fails at the intended function.
I finished my cup of coffee because I had already completed the transaction. Consider for a minute the visitors to your site. How hard will they work to complete the transaction?
How likely are they to be repeat visitors? With so many coffee shops to choose from in such a small radius a poor coffee delivery system has become a factor in my coffee buying decisions. If poor functionality disrupts your customers’ experience how likely are they to return or recommend?
In good design form and function work together to immerses the user in an experience. Good design creates an illusion, an alternate reality, if only for a moment. If the aesthetics or the functionality fail the illusion is shattered and gives the experience of disappointment. Disappointment doesn’t sell.