[Sigia-l] RE: Can entering information twice prevent entry error?

[mabaker at checkfree.com]

I'm not in favor of asking users to re-enter e-mail addresses because of 
what I'd call the "annoyance factor" of having to do that.

However, with regard to the account number situation, that hits very close 
to home with a product I've worked on recently. (We can't validate the 
account numbers, and we may not even be able to validate the length or 
format.) According to our statistics, tracking before double-entry was 
required and after it was required, the number of errors were reduced 
significantly when double-entry was required for account numbers. I don't 
have the exact numbers, but I do know that it was a large cost savings for 
us. 

Yes, some users will cut and paste, but during usability testing, most 
users did not cut and paste, surprisingly. I think being asked to re-enter 
is a cue to users that this is really important that they get it right, 
and they therefore are more careful to check it. Additionally, users can 
understand why an account number is important, but they're less likely to 
understand why the e-mail is so darned important. 

Hope that helps.

"Fu-Tien Chiou" wrote:

> I am wondering if there is any research that study the 
value/effectiveness of
> asking users to enter same information twice, in an 
application/registration
> form, to prevent entry error.

The account number is for scheduled automatic payment purpose.  We don't =
link to the banks in real time, instead, the entered data is batched and =
sent to the banks nightly.  During application, only the routing (ABA) =
numbers are validated (for format) but not account numbers.  Manual =
intervention, calling the customer, is needed to handle account number =
errors and that's what my client try to prevent/reduce.  However, I am =
not sure if re-entering the account number is the solution.

Hope that helps...

~Melinda Baker