4 factors that affect the user experience

With the development of Internet products, more and more people are aware of the importance of user experience, more and more companies set up ued related departments, and the Division of jobs has been very meticulous. But the division of functions in the ued, but most of the docking interface level. In fact, an Internet product from the production of the strategy to the final line, each of which may affect the ultimate experience. To sum up, Henry believes that a total of 4 important factors will have a significant impact on the final experience. They are: Product strategy, user interface, technology, and operations.

Let's say these 4 factors separately. Each of these factors is illustrated with 2 examples of this factor, one on the Internet, and the other on a similar example in everyday life. All the cases involved, just at the level I can see (which means that the problem I'm describing, may be reasonable on the level I can't see, or have a reason), set up to illustrate the problem, and only represent Henry's personal point of view.

product strategy (corresponding position: Product manager)

Strategy is the soul of the product. Product strategy In addition to determining the specific functions of products, but also has a significant impact on the experience. Bad tactics can hurt the user experience.

Web Example: Tencent patted the receipt reminder

I once bought a product on the pat of Tencent, on the day that the goods shipped, I login QQ, saw such a reminder:

is reminding me that the seller shipped out. Because this product is issued from Guangzhou, the General Courier company to Beijing needs about 3 days time, so I ignored this reminder.

However, the tragedy is that the 2nd day of delivery, I again login QQ, still see this reminder. The same hint seems to be logged every day, which has actually caused harassment to users. But the problem is, I do not want to confirm the receipt, but, my goods are still on the road, I have no way to "confirm the receipt." So I thought, if I accidentally use the Chinese postal mail, the road to walk 20 days, I would like to see the same hint for 20 consecutive days ...? Or, my goods unfortunately encountered what a rare mountain floods, earthquakes, such as a few days on the road. At this time I was already very depressed, but also to face this annoying reminder every day. And there is no obvious "message setting" entry on this interface, I don't know if I can turn off the hint and how to turn it off.

This is obviously an experience problem caused by product strategy.

Solution:

So, how should this receiving reminder function be designed? Maybe everyone has a different idea, I think a simple way:

First, calculate the distance from the place of delivery to the location of the receipt. Then, you need to get the general delivery speed of the courier company, including the likely delay range (for example, differences between developed and remote areas). Then, roughly calculate the time the goods will go on the road. When the seller confirms the shipment, start the timer, after this time, then to the buyer pop-up prompts. If you can cooperate with the express company, take to The courier company's logistics data, after the buyer signed and then play, will be more reliable. and place the obvious setting options in the Prompt box to allow the user to block the information. If the information that pops up is important to the overall strategy of the product, and you don't want the user to easily block it, consider hiding the masking options deeper.

Examples of

life: traffic lights in mainland China

"The red light stops, the Green Line." "This is the rule that we were already familiar with at a very young age. But this sentence is for pedestrians, if it is a motor vehicle driver, the rules are not exactly the same. In the People's Republic of China Road Traffic Safety Law implementation regulations, 38th and 51st of the relevant rules of motor vehicle cornering, and the relevant content of this example, summarized as follows:

1. To make a turn, you need to take Jeeves first. Turn left to go first to the left lane, and right.

2, the green light, you can turn left, you can turn right.

3, red light, only turn right.

But there are some conflicts between these strategies and the rules that pedestrians have to follow. Figure:

First of all, for the 1th pedestrian, in his direction for the green light, he first to avoid the right turn from a lane A1, and then, in the course of progress, but also to avoid the B-lane to turn left B1. If a, b two lanes have a large number of motor vehicles in line turn, theoretically speaking, 1th pedestrians do not run the red light, not with motor vehicles rob the premise, can never successfully walk to the opposite side of the road.

Secondly, we look at the pedestrian number 2nd, which is even more tragic. When he was about to succeed, he met the C1 from the right of the C lane. However, because the vehicles on the 2 lanes next to the C drive are waiting for a red light, they will block the sight of Pedestrian No. 2nd (the sector part is his visible area). So, for the pedestrian No. 2nd, there is no traffic on the C Lane, there are several, and the next car distance from the zebra crossing, he simply can not see! This means that every time he comes here, he risks his life to try to cross the C Lane.

There are more miserable things in the back.

Let's look at No. 3rd pedestrian. When he arrived at the second half of the zebra crossing, there was a possibility that a motor B1 would turn left from the B-lane. For the 3rd pedestrian, the car will come from behind him! He may not be able to anticipate exactly what will happen in the next second!

Although we note that in the above cases the turning of a motor vehicle must be conducted on the basis of "without prejudice to the direct traffic and pedestrian traffic". But the strategy itself is difficult to manipulate and grasp. It is not easy to define responsibility if there is a problem. Therefore, the author believes that the overall strategy of our traffic signal system is a serious impact on the user experience (drivers and pedestrians are users).

Solution:

Because of the above problems, someone invented the signal with arrows:

In this way, we separate the signals from different lanes according to the direction of the road. In the above example, when there is pedestrian traffic in the horizontal direction, the use of red light to prohibit horizontal direction A, B two lane motor vehicles turn, while maintaining horizontal direction of other lanes unimpeded. At the same time forbid the C-lane motor turn. In this way, pedestrians can safely pass the zebra crossing. Similarly, when turning is allowed, use a red light to prohibit pedestrians from crossing. This will ensure the safety and patency of both sides.

Second, user interface (corresponding position: Interactive Designer, UI designer, visual designer, etc.)

The second important factor that affects the user experience is the user interface. At this level, processes, controls, interactions, typography, vision and many other factors can affect the ultimate experience. We only choose one of the smaller points to give an example.

Web Example: Palm Baidu Android client

"Palm Baidu" is an earlier launch of Baidu Mobile client software. It will be Baidu's several main products (such as search, paste, news, etc.) to do an app. To enable users to use the mobile terminal Baidu's main function.

But personally, this version of the Palm Baidu application, is only the simple integration of these products, in the design does not fully consider the characteristics of mobile platforms. In fact, the client experience is no better than using a mobile browser to access mobile Web sites directly. We only extract 1 simple points to illustrate the problem, see screenshot:

This is a list of commonly used Web sites built into the application. We can see from the UI, the list from the text size, spacing, layout and so on, still use the traditional Web style. However, on the traditional web, we use the mouse to do most of the work. The mouse is a more accurate pointing device, such typesetting, the mouse is sufficient to accurately click. But on a mobile device, we need to operate with our fingers. In fact, the author measured the size of these links with a ruler, and on my HTC G7 screen, the size of each link is only about 4mmx2mm. This area, even for girls, is difficult to operate accurately. If it is for men with relatively large fingers, or consider the actual movement of the possible interference (such as shaking the car), the experience is worse, you must be very careful to click on the desired link.

Solution:

In fact, the list should probably be designed to be more lenient for the current finger-operated systems such as Android and iOS. For example, Baidu knows the app:

Relatively speaking, each level of the list is relatively lenient, can be easier on mobile devices to operate.

Examples of

life: The Open Door button on the elevator

When we take the elevator, we usually have to operate various buttons on the elevator. There are 2 main requirements, one is to enter the elevator to choose their own floor, the other is to open and close (more closed).

In most elevators, the opening and closing buttons are graphically represented, similar to the following:

However, most of these two buttons on the elevator use the same graphic element, but the direction is different. With the specific arrow style, two buttons in the direction of the alignment and no industry standards, so that these two buttons look like, entirely by the elevator manufacturer. In the actual operation, we can not immediately distinguish between the functions of these two buttons (the left side is open, the right side is closed). Every time I enter a strange office of the elevator, want to press the closing button, have to hesitate. This is not a good experience.

Solution:

In fact, graphics are not as intuitive as words. Two buttons are less recognizable, perhaps because they look too similar. If you consider changing to Chinese characters, it may be much simpler and less necessary to think about:

Technology (corresponding position: various engineers)

Technology is the tool to achieve products, but also the basis for the normal operation of products. If there is a technical problem, it will also have a negative impact on the final experience. This factor is also a lot of specific performance, such as the front-end page for a variety of browser compatibility, code operation efficiency, service stability and so on. The scope is very broad, I also only pick a point to illustrate the problem.

Web Example: Beijing Real estate transaction Management Network

On this site, you can find all the new commercial housing in Beijing related information, including area, sales status, the highest price.

However, the site only in IE browser can be barely normal use (page layout part of the confusion is not counted), if the use of Firefox, Chrome and other browsers, not only some of the page layout will be messed up, but also appear query information can not be displayed. As shown in the figure:

The two browsers in the diagram open the same page. The left side is the result of IE, the right side is the result of Firefox. We see a lot of colorful tables in the bottom right of the picture on the left. And the right picture, the same position is a blank. According to the general idea, the query data should be generated by the backend program, theoretically should not be affected by different browser compatibility. Later, in the process of viewing the HTML code for the page, I found such a long line of code:

<script language=vbscript>

I understand. The authors of this site used the old technique of VBScript to populate the page with data from the backend. But most of the current browsers only support generic JavaScript and do not support VBScript. As a result, these VBScript scripts cannot be run on non-IE browsers, causing the content to be invisible on the front end. This has seriously affected the user experience.

Solution:

Build your Web site with more advanced, more generic techniques.

Example of

life: Elevator

of an office building in Beijing

Henry worked for a company in a magical office building in Beijing. The elevator in this office often goes wrong, and I think it's a technical problem, and it seriously affects the user experience. Like what:

1, stop at a certain level to close the door

This time everyone had to walk out of the elevator, change another, or take the stairs.

2, someone out of the elevator prompted overweight

Note that after the lift, the tip is overweight. This is scary, imagine if it is night, you get on the elevator, you press the 1 floor, found there is a person in the elevator, he pressed the 13-storey. Then on the 13 floor, he went down, when the elevator tip overweight ... Well, maybe something else came in ...? It's horrible.

3, the elevator normal operation, but the floor hint jammed ...

The situation is also very scary, that is, you can feel that the elevator is running, but show the number of floors to stop moving, for example, has been shown to stop at 20 floors ... When you open the door, you find that it's 4 floors ...

4. Free Fall
This is one of the scariest situations and may threaten the safety of the person on the ladder. Is that the elevator is out of control, falling from the top. But fortunately the elevator will have a standby device, when the speed reaches a certain level, the standby device will be activated, to prevent the elevator directly fall to the ground ... Although the office has recorded the elevator free fall only 3, 4 times, but that is really more than the roller coaster is also scary ah ...

Solution:

Change to a more technically secure elevator bar ...

IV, OPERATIONS (corresponding positions: Operations Manager, customer service, part of the manager, etc.)

A good product, with a good strategy, a good interface and advanced technology support, but also need to cooperate with the reliable means of operation, can really make it have a good experience.

Web Example: Baidu's domain name

A website should use what kind of domain name, I think should count as Operation category. Baidu's name is taken from Xin Qiji's famous "Green Jade case, Yuan XI", which "the public search for his thousands of degrees" in China is well-known. So using baidu.com as a domain name, the Chinese people can easily remember to live, is a good example of a domain name.

However, some of Baidu's products have used some of the domain names Henry didn't think is very appropriate. For example:

Le Cool Day Mall (rakuten.cn)

This is Baidu and Japan's Lotte Group of shopping mall site, facing the Chinese users. There is no big problem with this site's product strategy and user interface. But, Rakuten this kind of spelling, it is the spelling method of Japanese. I think it's hard for the Chinese to remember, which can also hurt the user experience.

Arabic version Baidu know (ZHIDAO.BAIDU.COM.EG)

This should be Baidu in order to enter the international market and launch products, will "Baidu know" this in China to do more successful products to move abroad. We do not discuss its product strategy and user interface, but the Zhidao of these 6 letters is probably unintelligible to the Egyptians (. Eg is the country domain name of Egypt). I think they may feel the same way when we face Rakuten.

Thai version hao123 (th.hao123.com)

Hao123 Home is also a Chinese operation Miracle, as a Web site navigation station, it has a very clear target user base, so in the domestic very successful. However, its Thai version, and did not register the new domain name, but in the original domain name based on the addition of a level two domain name. But for Thais, it is also questionable whether the 3-letter Hao is easy to remember.

Solution:

The author thinks, the choice of domain name needs to take into account the product characteristic, target user group, region culture and so on factor.

Le Cool Day Mall, can use lekutian.com as the main domain name (currently the domain name is also in the hands of cool days, but will turn to rakuten.cn), so for the Chinese people easier to remember.

And those international products, you should consider the use of local expression, renamed. Rather than a simple transliteration. It's like Facebook can be translated as "Facebook," but it can't be translated as "dead."

Examples of

life: Rice card

in college

In reading, the canteen is one of our most frequented places. At present, almost all of the university canteen is the use of electronic management, we go to eat, do not have to pay cash or meal ticket, but to swipe. Rice card greatly improved the speed of the canteen payment, but also more safety and health, Rice card developers are constantly increasing and improving various strategies and techniques, so that everyone in the process of using the experience better. However, only a good product is not enough, the operating level will also create some problems.

The rice card of a famous university in Beijing has such a strategy: if in a natural day, the same card accumulated consumption of more than a certain amount (such as 30 yuan), you need to enter a password to be able to carry out transactions. This is a good security mechanism (at the product strategy level is very good), it can prevent the loss of rice card or stolen after the loss of a large amount of consumption, so that the cardholder's losses to a minimum.

But such a good strategy, in the school but because of operational problems and seriously affect the use of the experience.

First, when the freshman enrolled in the rice card, it was not told that there was such a strategy. Nor is there any descriptive information on the card.

Secondly, when handling the rice card, passwords are randomly generated (perhaps to enhance the efficiency of the card, or technical problems), the staff verbally informed the cardholder, which led to the password itself for the cardholder is not easy to remember, and even some people do not understand what the staff are saying. and the procedures for modifying passwords are cumbersome.

These two problems lead many students to be overwhelmed when they first encounter the problem of excessive consumption. The salesperson asked for a password, but the cardholder had no idea what the password was. Some people remember to do card when staff told the password, but the specific password is what, long forgotten. So that the payment process is hindered, the experience is severely reduced, and even many times hungry because they can't think of a password.

Solution:

The solution to this case is simple, as long as the new card is equipped with some descriptive information, even if only a piece of paper.

Summary

1, the so-called "user experience" is a whole process of perception, research and development sequence of each link may have an impact on it, so it should not only be considered by the design department, but should not be limited to the interface level.

2, in a certain aspect of the problem, some can be in other links to make up (for example, the use of the lights with arrows to make up the traffic regulations are not perfect), some do not.

3, if you really want to do a good job, there should be a similar "user experience designer" or "User experience Manager" position, he should be at least leader level, with other links leader have the same right of speech. He should work as a product manager in the overall design and coordination of the user experience throughout the research and development pipeline.

This article is recommended by Henry L, original address: http://www.uxcafe.org/blog/2012/03/508