The User Experience of Forms

This isn’t about form states or hints. This isn’t about onboarding best practices or browser support. User experience should begin long before you reach that phase in your design process.

Why do companies need so much information about you? Having recently graduated with a business degree and an integrated marketing communications concentration, I can answer why they want all this information, but the real world has yet to reveal why they need it.

The simple answer: To better serve an individual, a company will learn all that they can to uncover unmet needs and address them in the best possible way.

The complicated answer: Ads.

Ads is a blanket term used by companies to justify all of the invasive information they request from their users. It makes sense that Google is using my location to better target me; and I don’t mind, because of two reasons:

1. I get something in return (Google Maps)
2. They have demonstrated that they can adequately secure my information

Too often, companies treat their target market, too much like targets and not enough like humans. The us vs them mentality in business has slowly eroded the trust that mankind evolved to form cohesive societies. So companies adopted new faces called brands that could help them to appear as individuals, while still acting like military drones. To earn back the consumers confidence, companies developed brand trust.

Okay, so that is a bit cynical and I don’t think that evil lies in all companies. In fact, that evil isn’t a consequence of any single evil individual, or even a gang of evil executives; that evil arises from a company’s identity crisis. Here are two key ways to spot if a company you love is harboring the darkness capable of creating Death Stars.

Do As You’re Told

Do as you’re told brands will require information with no communication of the benefit it offers to you. Look out for companies that want to know everything about you, but have told you very little about themselves.

To hedge against this, as a company, just follow a very simple conversation path to determine if you are practicing evil, dark ad craft.

Hi, I’m [company name]; what’s your name?

Name field, justified.

I provide [product || services] that solve [problem]. I’ll use your location to help you find [solution] in your area.

Location, justified.

Etc.

In fact, it’s very easy to spot cracks in your business when you use the conversation model. It will force you to really think about why you need to collect something from your users and help you better understand your reason for existing in the marketplace, thus avoiding identity crisis.

Thanks For That Information; I Need Your Information

This point arises directly out of the issues I’ve been discussing in my previous writings. Once a company has adequately justified that they need some information from you, shouldn’t they use it?

So many of the sites I went to apply for jobs offered an option to import my LinkedIn resume. They even parsed it and pre-filled forms (sometimes accurately!). Then they would ask for the exact same information on the next page. This is not only frustrating, but it makes me question, as a user, why they actually wanted access to my LinkedIn. Having worked on the other side of LinkedIn’s API, I know that unless they’re a partner, they didn’t get anything major, but the average consumer might become paranoid.

I can almost excuse every other site doing a poor job at this, though, because LinkedIn themselves don’t use any of the information they have! I went to look for jobs through LinkedIn and it wasn’t even smart enough to show me positions that required my relevant skills.

Here is an example of a company showing the benefit of their product

add skills so potential employers can see it

And using it in completely meaningless ways

suggesting more skills based on the skills you have, but not using them to help match you

Now, from the recruiting side, I’m sure the skills are used in some way, but why not apply the same principles to the applicant side?

Follow this very simple rule:

What are all the ways I can use this information in the context of my services to better serve the consumer? Which of these are most integral to a pleasant experience to the user and how much time will it take? Plot this on a benefit to user x time graph and work on the things that you know will delight your users.

Ad Craft doesn’t have to be the primary magic of your company. If you are a company practicing Ad Craft or know of a company practicing Ad Craft, use these simple processes to return to the craft of creating value, rather than merely capturing it.

Thanks for reading and, as always, if you have an idea for an App A Day post or just want to chat, I’m available at m@rlons.com. Liked the article? Make it official and hit the 💚 below.