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When attempting to cancel a service or setting, "cancel" is the default action. What should the normal "cancel" button be called?

Redbox uses a playful "just kidding", which may not be appropriate in all circumstances.

enter image description here

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12 Answers 12

375

My suggestion: never use the word "Cancel" in the default action.

To cancel a subscription, you can, for example, say "Remove Subscription" or "Unsubscribe."

To cancel a download, you can, for example, say "Stop Downloading".

To cancel a setting, you can, for example, say "Revert Settings".

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    I agree with this answer the most; users are conditioned for "Cancel" to always be the safe way out of where they currently are. Using it for a button with a destructive outcome is a terrible idea.
    – Kit Grose
    Mar 4, 2013 at 4:48
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    -1: Doesn't answer the question. The question is not "what to call confirm", but "what to call cancel". If the question is, as above, "Are You Sure?", you've answered what to call "Yes", but not what to call "No"
    – deworde
    Mar 4, 2013 at 9:23
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    "Yes"/"No" buttons are not good UI. Mar 4, 2013 at 9:57
  • 12
    @KitGrose Not good, as if you're planning to cancel a subscription, having any button labelled "Cancel" is confusing. The assumption is that "Cancel" always means "Don't Do X", whereas in this case, "Cancel" is what I want to do.
    – deworde
    Mar 4, 2013 at 12:00
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    I'm inclined to agree with this answer. Also, to answer the actual question, I've seen a few sites use the wording "Never mind" to back out of a "Do you want to cancel X?" dialog. Mar 4, 2013 at 12:35
193

Here's what Facebook does when cancelling a payment subscription (Facebook subscription API).

There's no reliance on Yes/No. There's no misleading use of the word cancel. Clear explanation and buttons that clearly define the impending action.

enter image description here

Then they clearly confirm what just happened.

enter image description here

Skype on the other hand shows what not to do. Much confusion!

enter image description here


Edit: Microsoft have since changed Skype's Cancel button to say Close. It's a pretty lazy effort at improving the situation, but at least it doesn't say Cancel any more!

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    Skype expect you to say "OK, cancel."
    – Alvin Wong
    Mar 4, 2013 at 12:22
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    Oh wow. Dialogs like that skype one make me very glad that I can always fallback on the 'red x'.
    – Nico Burns
    Mar 5, 2013 at 0:19
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    Especially painful because they even demonstrate a perfectly adequate synonym, "reject". Mar 6, 2013 at 0:00
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    Skype designers: Lets also add in the ability to "Do not ask me again" so if you check this box, then pick the wrong answer from misunderstanding, the frustration is only worse!
    – Nrgdallas
    Mar 7, 2013 at 23:47
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    @JClaussFTW: I bet that this dialog is one made by a programmer, not by a UI designer.
    – André
    Dec 27, 2013 at 15:53
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Name the buttons for what they do. If the default is "cancel", then cancel the cancel should be something simple like "Don't cancel".

I know that it's not ideal to use the word 'cancel' in both of them, but it's the clearest option in this unique situation, and clarity is far more important.

Edit: Some good suggestions from the comments below are to specify what it is that you are cancelling, and to use a term that doesn't include the word cancel - such as "Keep Subscription".

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    I think this answer makes sense, but only if the buttons (rather wordily) say "Cancel Subscription" and "Don't Cancel Subscription". Otherwise you have people who will click "Cancel" out of instinct to dismiss the window and will inadvertently perform a destructive action.
    – Kit Grose
    Mar 4, 2013 at 4:46
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    @KitGrose - I'd say "Keep Subscription" rather than "Don't cancel" Mar 4, 2013 at 13:30
  • @KitGrose good suggestion. I added it to the answer.
    – JohnGB
    Mar 4, 2013 at 14:35
  • @NathanLong Also, a good point.
    – JohnGB
    Mar 4, 2013 at 14:36
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Rewording

I would try my very, very best to avoid using the term 'cancel' for terminating the subscription. Cancel is generally considered to be a safe action. Here, you are using it in a more destructive sense, thus causing the confusion you noticed.

If you manage to avoid the term 'cancel' for the actual activity, you can resume to use it for the cancel action on the dialog. In the mockup below, I used "Unsubscribe", but you can also consider other ways to express this like "terminate", "end", "remove" or "stop" subscription.

mockup

download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups

Not confirming at all

Alternatively, you could consider getting rid of the confirmation message completely. Instead, you could display something like this:

mockup

download bmml source

You could then also send the users a message by email saying essentially the same thing, and also allowing them to change their mind for a limited time.

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    +1 for adding the "I changed my mind" link in the resulting dialog. Mar 4, 2013 at 12:36
  • The first diagram's coloring, to me, is misleading. The positive affirmative action is the unsubscribe, and the green on the Cancel is counter-intuitive. Something to think about and test.
    – trisweb
    Mar 5, 2013 at 14:31
  • @trisweb: I did not spend a lot of time carefully thinking the colors through, to be honest. The reasoning was that the unsubscribe is the destructive option, while the save option is the cancel option. However, I guess you are right, and this does require more thought and testing before putting it in use. Good think that that wasn't the main point I wanted to make :-)
    – André
    Mar 5, 2013 at 14:44
  • I think this answer is the best, but, as has been pointed out, having a red button for Go Ahead and a green one for Stop and Go Back is a terrible choice.
    – Carl Smith
    Mar 6, 2013 at 13:53
  • @CarlSmith: I have removed the colors from the mockup. I wanted to focus on the wording, not on the color usage here.
    – André
    Mar 6, 2013 at 13:56
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Keep Subscription

Avoid generic defaults (Cancel/Ok, Yes/No): label the buttons with what they actually do!

mockup

download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups

Pretend users do not like to read the dialog-text and with luck perhaps 5 or 7 syllables per button. Be short, be clear, use positive imperatives. Avoid negation like "do not cancel my unsubscription" or "don't cancel". Place visual highlight on the option that the user requested, as it is done by UX itself (compare Save Edits and Cancel).

Explanation Other answers already questioned the usefulness of this dialog in the first place, since your question specifically ask for the button text I will forgo this discussion and just point out that offering an undo is often a better option than a confirmation dialog.

My observation is that people often scan or quick-read instead of really studying the text on screen. This is also discussed in this UX thread Should alert boxes be avoided at any cost? Minor and not so minor details are often overlooked, such as a little "not".

Apart from just overlooking the little words on screen, it has been shown that negative statements are notoriously difficult to understand. For examples senior citizen have trouble when medicine comes with instructions as of what not to do, children are bound to do what you tell them not to do, or see the Debunking Handbook why you should not repeat what not to say.

Generic Yes/No buttons can become very confusing, when considering questions such as "Don't you have password?" As you observed a similar reasoning holds for Cancel and Ok buttons.

Finally consider that your audience might have their attention reduced, so keep the button text short, clear and simple. Consider someone stressed and tired: have mercy and be parsimonious with words. This may result in a certain tension between accurate and clear labels on one side and being short, sharp and simple on the other, here a certain finickiness is required to find the right words for a good compromise.

“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” -- Mark Twain

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Use something like "No, I want to keep my subscription" and "Yes, cancel my subscription".
This way the button clearly says what it does. Otherwise people would think that 'Cancel' stands for Cancelling the Dialog Box

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    I think that keeping Yes and No in the buttons still causes confusion though.
    – JonW
    Mar 4, 2013 at 9:54
  • If you use a title like "Cancel Subscription?", this would no longer be ambiguous.
    – BlueCacti
    Jan 13, 2014 at 18:02
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I would like to propose a different approach to subscription cancellation.

Instead of confirming that they want to unsubscribe, assume that they were acting intentionally:

Unsubscription dialog mockup

If the user doesn't click on any buttons on the dialog, they should be unsubscribed in an hour or five. If they dismiss the dialog with the "goodbye" or "(x)" buttons, they should also be unsubscribed in an hour or five.

If the user clicks on the "oops..." button, they should not be unsubscribed. This allows the user to make the fewest number of steps to unsubscribe from whatever service they're subscribed to.

More often than not I find myself having to sort out how to unsubscribe from annoying marketing emails, and it would be wonderful if I could spend less time confirming that "yes [insert service here]'s email is a spammy pile of junk and I no longer want to receive it"

The other important point to make, is that this is your opportunity to win people back. If someone's leaving because of a small bug that can be easily fixed, it's better to find out sooner rather than later.

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    I kind of feel like the "Oops, I didn't want to unsubscribe" should be the green icon in this case. More for marketing purposes than for ux. It makes me want to click the "Goodbye" option. Nonetheless, I think it's a good idea. Mar 5, 2013 at 18:11
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    I love actually just doing what the user asked to do and then providing an undo in case of an accidental click. I wish I could up this a few more times. Mar 6, 2013 at 13:45
  • I'd make the Oops green, and not even bother with the Goodbye. I think the X in the top right is enough (might make it bigger and red though.)
    – aslum
    Mar 6, 2013 at 17:06
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    I wouldn't like it if "goodbye" were red. I hate it when I make a decision perfectly within my rights, then software tries to make me feel guilty about it because it doesn't want me unsubscribing from marketing material. I hate that. Jan 6, 2015 at 17:14
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I believe "Yes" and "No" buttons would be best, provided that the title of the window is clear. For example:

Cancel Subscription?

You chose to cancel your subscription, are you sure?

"Yes" and "No" buttons would be very clear in this case.

Why is this better than other options?

  1. The question is short, clear and can't be interpreted in more than one way. Yes it does require that the user read the title, but the question is so short and clear it is read at a glance.
  2. This approach also gets the user's attention, which is a good thing, as he's about to cancel a subscription, so you want to make sure he's aware of what he's doing.
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  • Perhaps Yes and No in context would be better, like "Yes, cancel my subscription" and "No, don't cancel my subscription". However, the downside would be ending up with larger buttons.
    – Adam-E
    Mar 4, 2013 at 10:55
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    "Yes" and "No" buttons are never clear, because they require the user read the dialog text.
    – devios1
    Mar 7, 2013 at 21:38
  • @chaiguy that's the point. You want the user to understand exactly what he's doing. Once the user has read the question, there's only one way he can interpret the "Yes" and "No" buttons. This is a good thing. You don't want to the user to unsubscribe when he didn't mean it, and on the flip side you don't want him to stay subscribed when he's not interested as that would only irritate him and lessen the chance he'll come back in the future. If you can make him read a short and clear question, and I believe I gave a very short one up there, it's best IMOHO.
    – sprite
    Nov 20, 2014 at 15:12
  • You may want the user to read the dialog, but that doesn't mean they are going to. You need to design the interface to be accommodating. Remember, you as the designer are catering to the user, not the other way around. You don't get to dictate what the user does.
    – devios1
    Nov 20, 2014 at 18:58
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I think that the shown image had a good idea of emulating the user's thoughts, some other good ideas would be:

  • Nevermind
  • Abort
  • Undo
  • Done
  • Get me out of here!
  • Call off
  • Zap

IMO: Nevermind and Done are the best.

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  • IMHO - 'Done' will confuse the user. 'Zap' can be slightly confusing too. Rest all are fine. 'Get me out of here!' will do the job perfectly. Sep 28, 2019 at 10:57
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What about just going with the answers to the question "Are you sure"? You can just say yes/no, or if you want then you can be more personal/user-friendly and do:

YES - go ahead and NO - changed my mind

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tl;dr Never use the word «Cancel».

Why is the word «Cancel» so problematic?? «Cancel» can be understood differently in different conceptual levels:

  1. Cancel the dialog and close it.
  2. Cancel the service.

What happens when the two levels have contradicting, exactly opposite meanings? Examples:

  • For a dialog to cancel downloads «OK» means canceling the download and «Cancel» continuing the download!
  • For a dialog to reset to factory settings «OK» means canceling any changes you've made in the settings and «Cancel» not cancelling them!
  • For a dialog to cancel a subscription «OK» means canceling the subscription (duh!) and «Cancel» does not!

Solution: Don't use the word «Cancel». Examples:

  • «Stop downloading» and «Continue downloading»
  • «Reset» and «Leave as is».
  • «Unsubscribe» and «Keep Subscription».

See https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/35844/28034, a very similar answer of mine.

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You can use a less seen and most spoken "Forget It" or "Leave It"

An end user is always confused of buttons, whether OK, UPDATE, CLOSE, CANCEL etc. For example, if he goes to an "Edit Profile" page and sees a button cancel, he might think that he is going to cancel his account as such. So colloquial words would be more appropriate than conventional as far as websites are concerned.

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  • Why would this be a good option? Can you add some explanation here as its not a very useful answer without some reasoning and explanation.
    – JonW
    Mar 4, 2013 at 14:16
  • Yes. An end user is always confused of buttons, whether OK, UPDATE, CLOSE, CANCEL etc. For example, if he goes to an "Edit Profile" page and sees a button cancel, he might think that he is going to cancel his account as such. So colloquial words would be more appropriate than conventional as far as websites are concerned. Mar 4, 2013 at 14:38
  • @VenugopalM You should add that to your answer. Always try give an answer that helps people understand why they should do X or Y.
    – JohnGB
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:02
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    Those sorts of buttons could confuse those who are new to the English language and not familiar with common expressions such as "forget it" and "leave it."
    – user24748
    Mar 4, 2013 at 17:40
  • @EvanTeitelman That's possibly true, though these phrases work the in the few languages I know. But what about "Do nothing"?
    – maaartinus
    Jan 14, 2017 at 13:49

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