177
votes
No one is clicking my slide box popup - Can it be improved?
Pop-up windows are a pestilence on the web. Users are fed up with them.
People visited your web site because they wanted to view information about some product. But as soon as they started scrolling ...
- 921
97
votes
Should software refer to itself in the first-person, especially in error messages?
No.
Trying to give applications personality is one of those things that's just not well thought out. It definitely seems like it's one of those solutions that developers came up with and never user ...
- 5,403
55
votes
How do we ensure our staff read instructions aloud?
We are not talking about Facebook visitors, but professional users in the business environment. Simply hire people who understand what they are doing. No UX improvement can be a replacement for that.
- 709
50
votes
Accepted
"1 other" or "one other"?
AP style says "spell out whole numbers below 10, and use figures for 10 and above".
Chicago Manual style says spells out numbers below 100, or as an alternative rule to use AP style instead.
...
- 4,602
39
votes
No one is clicking my slide box popup - Can it be improved?
As other have said, most visitors have developed a banner blindness and will either ignore or close your pop-up without reading its content. Improving the content of the banner will have minimal ...
- 865
26
votes
How do we ensure our staff read instructions aloud?
Don’t make them read it
I'm guessing your call center staff is like everybody else's:
Unmotivated and paid as little as possible.
How do you make them do anything? You do it for them.
Record ...
- 21.4k
25
votes
No one is clicking my slide box popup - Can it be improved?
There are a few issues that spring to mind here.
For example:
The title of your Popup is 'New Feature!', but you don't explain clearly what that feature is OR why it's of value to the user.
If the ...
- 293
18
votes
No one is clicking my slide box popup - Can it be improved?
TL;DR You don't, and can't, get high response rates because nobody wants the notifications.
Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, actually wants to "opt in for web push notifications".
That is the core ...
17
votes
How do we ensure our staff read instructions aloud?
EDIT: AFTER QUESTION TITLE CHANGE
Now that the question has completely changed, I want to edit my answer to fit the question.
This question, now, is definitely slightly beyond just user experience. ...
- 6,819
15
votes
Accepted
Should labels in forms follow the same grammar rules as titles
This is from Microsoft
Title Caps:
Capitalize the first letter of the first and last words. Capitalize the first letter of all words in between, with the exception of articles (a, an, and the); ...
- 16.3k
15
votes
Should software refer to itself in the first-person, especially in error messages?
You should use simple and direct language to communicate with the users. When writing error messages be polite and provide meaningful actionable messages. Keep the apologies for cases when the mistake ...
- 196
14
votes
How do we ensure our staff read instructions aloud?
Most of the answers here are applicable to a typical self-service application, but you've specifically asked about a call centre situation. This means the UX should be optimised for users who are ...
- 298
14
votes
How to label resources belonging to users in a two-sided marketplace?
I think you're on a bad footing if there's any confusion over the role the user is in when viewing a page. It's generally a good idea to use a non-overlapping language appropriate to the role, and set ...
- 71.3k
14
votes
No one is clicking my slide box popup - Can it be improved?
I think the biggest issue here is that it's not clear what will happen once I click that CTA (as Scott mentioned).
Where and how will I be notified? "Activate" sounds like I will be ...
- 6,847
12
votes
"1 other" or "one other"?
Use numerals for digital purposes
The standard for 'traditional' copywriting is to fully write any number under 10, so one, two, three and so on. However, when it comes to digital interfaces, it's ...
- 9,921
12
votes
Accepted
To hyphenate or not to hyphenate: Grammatically correct or aesthetically pleasing text?
The Associated Press Stylebook, commonly adopted by publications and marketing departments, used to require hyphens between compound adjectives but changed its guidelines in 2019:
We updated our ...
- 146
11
votes
No one is clicking my slide box popup - Can it be improved?
Drop the popup, make it an option in the main page. And make it look better integrated with the rest of the page (e.g include it in a list of options with "buy now" and "add to ...
- 211
10
votes
Periods in UX/UI microcopy?
For material design, their guidelines recommend no periods on one sentence of UI text.
I don't have access to research verifying the material guidelines, but here is their viewpoint on making text ...
- 25k
10
votes
No one is clicking my slide box popup - Can it be improved?
It's possible that 95% of your visitors don't want push notifications.
My humble suggestion: Put two more buttons on the pop-up. One that says, "Close this popup" and a second that says, &...
- 201
9
votes
How do we ensure our staff read instructions aloud?
The vast majority of users skip over that text and just try and click 'next'.
Given that your users are obviously looking for the 'next' button, why not change the text of that button to something ...
- 457
9
votes
How do we ensure our staff read instructions aloud?
The deeper issue here, if I understand certain details in the question correctly, is less the UX/psychology of skipping instructions/text that the Nielsen quote is referencing (which is often best ...
- 3,117
8
votes
Using "Sign in" vs using "Log in"
Based on google trends, "login" is used 9 times more than "sign in".
Nevertheless, there are two countries that prefer "sign in" over "login": France and Turkey.
"sign in" is used 50% more than "log ...
- 250
8
votes
Accepted
What is the better thank you message, after user submits contact request?
If you are not willing to commit publicly to a specific time frame for the response, it is better to say as soon as possible than the nebulous short time. If you are willing to publicly commit to a ...
- 393
7
votes
Should software refer to itself in the first-person, especially in error messages?
Generally speaking,
Yes!
Caveat A: If the folks responsible for messages lack humour and/or empathy -- NO!
Caveat B: If writing skills and communication ability aren't strong, don't even try it.
...
- 2,278
6
votes
Empty state design for serious brands
You've already pointed out an important point of minimizing user frustration.
Besides that you also want to help him as soon as he ends on one of the "empty state" page.
This is where you will ...
- 316
5
votes
Should we use 'Title Case' or 'Sentence case' for headlines and buttons?
I posted this answer on Stack Overflow, but it's just as appropriate here:
This kind of thing will depend on your platform's Human Interface Guidelines:
Google's Material design guidelines recommend ...
- 2,814
5
votes
How do we ensure our staff read instructions aloud?
I'm sure it's important to read it once, but what about the second or third time a user does this transaction? I think a lot of times users bypass instructions because they already know or think they ...
- 1,439
5
votes
Accepted
What are the overarching strategies or artefacts for improving UX of products
Strategies
Consistency: Consistent patterns in workflows, consistency in UI design, consistency in interaction patterns. Internal consistency is key, but often there are big wins in learnability if ...
- 2,640
5
votes
How to label resources belonging to users in a two-sided marketplace?
I think everything in a site of this sort would fall into one of three categories:
User acting as a "Host" = Selling
User acting as a "Guest" = Buying
Configuration - username/...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible