[Sigia-l] should I violate a usability principle?

[Maynard, Robert]

Why postpone the inevitable? One pop-up per day (45 times!) sounds ultra-annoying. Better yet:

- Replace the pop-up window with an interstitial page 

- Use buttons instead of checkboxes... something like "Create ID & Password" and "Remind Me Later"

- Show visitors the interstitial page 3 times; on the 4th time, require them to create an ID and Password to access the site

This strategy offers visitors more control over their experience and seems much less irritating. Also, the tiered creation of IDs and Passwords may also prevent a server overload. No usability principle violated here.


B  o  b      M  a  y  n  a  r  d
Copywriter | Customer Experience 
robert.maynard at citigroup.com
904.954.7504



> ----------
> From: 	tOM Trottier
> 
> I have a solution which does not violate your usability rules.
> 
> Create a separate message for each day, eg,
> 
> 45 days until you MUST have a user ID and password. Sign up now at ...
> 44 days until you MUST have a user ID and password. Sign up now at ...
> 43 days until you MUST have a user ID and password. Sign up now at ...
> etc.
> 
> Delete the old messages each day, too!
> 
> This reduces the annoyance to 1 per day for users, and reminds them of the accelerating deadline.
> 
> tOM
> 
> On Friday, August 04, 2006 at 11:12,
> Samantha Bailey <samantha at baileysorts.com> wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Background:
> > I'm working on a project where we're going to migrate our customer
> > base from one kind of login (password only) to a more secure login
> > (user ID & password). This change is being initiated due to internal
> > security concerns *and* due to the requests of a minority of
> > customers. We know from history and research that the change is
> > going to be somewhat painful for customers regardless of how well we
> > do our job (both in terms of communications & the quality of the new
> > process).
> > 
> > Dilemma:
> > We are planning to have a 45 day transition period where users will
> > get a message when they login alerting them to the fact that we'll
> > be making the change and encouraging them to sign up for a user ID
> > and password then & there, but they'll also be able to ignore that
> > and click through to the site. Here's where it gets
> > tricky--customarily we *always* give the option not to see messages
> > again to reduce annoyance. These kinds of messages have ranged from
> > pop-up blocker alerts to special offers (we're a subscription
> > service where different kinds of content are priced differently). We
> > are thinking about *not* including the "don't show me this again"
> > checkbox in this circumstance.
> >
> > Reasoning:
> > The primary reason I'm thinking about not including the check box is
> > that my knowledge of the customer base suggests that the vast
> > majority will check "don't show me this" and click through without
> > setting up user ID and password. That means that on the day we
> > actually turn the system over so that all users are forced to create
> > a user ID and password we'll have a huge number of people
> > interacting with the system and calling in when they have problems
> > (or just calling to complain). It seems possible that by showing the
> > annoying popup we can nudge more people to create a user ID and
> > password earlier and/or at least have it sink through that a change
> > is coming.
> > 
> > What do you think? Is this kind of willful disregard for a standard
> > usability principle pure evil, or do the ends justify the means?
> > Whether you think it's good or bad, have you ever done it & what
> > happened?