The tale about forms and User Ex…pectations
I remember some of my colleagues recollecting ancient times when the UX industry was about revamping forms. Nowadays it’s not only about that but still in order to get almost anything done you need to go through a form — to buy something, to apply for an event, to get a loan, to register for a service…
In the offline world forms are also vastly popular, even when ordering a pizza over the phone, what you do is actually fill out a form about the pizza type, size, extras, sauces, delivery address and your phone number.
What about the case of even having a form? There are two sides of the coin here. As a company we have our business goals but on the other side there are users’ goals.
From the business perspective we need to secure the highest possible transaction rate (meaning the form is completed) with the minimal amount of fields to actually complete the form. We need to make sure all information goes to the correct database in a correct format, and no duplicates are created.
From the users’ perspective, incentives could be different. They need to fill out the form in the shortest time, as they are endlessly in a hurry (it’s great when the form can be done in one sitting). They have to understand what we ask for and know the reason why we ask for it! We need to comfort them that their data is in a secure place covered by concrete protection and blankets on top.
As a UX Designer, when you finally get to the point when you need to design a process (which should happen rather quickly in your career, like on the second day of work), you will have to create a form. By “a form” I understand a means of communication, by which you will collect information about a person, with which you will let the person finalize the process. Easy.
Easy, but thanks to technology and the hectic times we live in, you actually might have a few options (or rather interaction types) to be confused by. Now you need to answer questions and have the definitions ready.
Context
Can you tell where your user is going to work with the form? Some can deal with it in a quiet library (on paper), or a busy post-office (tapping a kiosk’s screen), or using a smartphone on a city bus. Some might even use an old-school PC! The context can affect the interaction.
Persona
Who is dealing with the form? Is there a group of people with similar needs (a simplification), so you can turn them into a Persona? Are they rather young, or rather old? Keep in mind, baby boomers MIGHT have a different approach when applying for a service than, let’s obviously say, a millennial. Make sure you know for whom you design.
Next steps
There is a good chance that the form is only a starter point to get to the real thing. Like an onboarding process when opening a new banking account. Do you know what should happen after the form is completed? Be sure your user is not left alone without a reward or a “next best action”!
OK, let’s imagine we know all this. Which TYPE OF FORM should I choose? I will name a few. In the correct place and time, they should cover your business and the businesses of your clients.
Semantic form
A linear type of entering data in a form. Looks like a passage taken from a novel. Some of the words are missing, so the game is to fill the gaps. Fun! A form like that will be a good choice when you don’t have too many fields to enter and your user is not moving around too much, as he/she needs to focus on a block of written text. A form likely to be understandable to all personas.
Chatbot
Awwww yessss, the hot thing this year (2018). Or was it the year before? I can’t even remember. A chat bot should be fun to all youngsters, who spend their lifetime socializing with friends using messaging apps (OMG, am I one of them?). For them, texting is a natural thing to do, and when they send a message, the answer is desired within seconds. (Funny thing I’ve just realized — when we think of the times when SMSes were popular, we didn’t actually required the person on the other side to respond within seconds, right? An hour would be acceptable. The effort was actually the same…). But beware of designing a long form with a chatbot, as youngsters might get bored and frustrated being asked a question with every answer they give. Some older users might get confused and abandon the process as well.
Standard form
Label, input, label, input, label, input … An old school and the most boring type of form. You shouldn’t choose it. Or should you? When you’re not sure what your personas are, since it’s the most known type of form, it can be the safest choice. It deals with long forms pretty OK, just remember to chop the form into logical chunks. Surprisingly or not, the Standard can have pretty high conversion rates and is suitable for desktop, mobile and even paper. Everyone knows it so users have no need to focus on the form of the form and can just give answers.
Conversational form
In a way, it’s a mix of all above. It asks you questions in a full-sentence semantic format, sometimes you can select your answer, and sometimes you enter text into an open field. Basically users chat with it, but they can answer more questions at a time. It’s not that dynamic in terms of speed of interaction. This form is often chopped into parts, so it doesn’t get boring. It works well on desktop and be easily transformed to mobile. On the plus side, we can power it with animation, so the flow “moves” towards the end. Just a nice touch. All in all, the form should be understandable to all personas.
Voice
Perhaps this one could be the best. Voice recognition technology has been out there for a long time. In some contexts registering to a doctor over the phone could still be quicker than completing an online form. Currently, voice interfaces are getting much more attention thanks to Google and Amazon. I easily imagine one day most services will be delivered by devices which can talk to us and ask questions or can listen to us, structure what we say, and take care of our requests. The bad thing is, you need to be in a rather silent environment, or a place where you actually can talk, to get the best results. That’s quite a limitation.
Internet of Things
Why not ordering your favorite pizza with the click of a button? In this case a single button acts as a completed form which only needs to be confirmed. Running out of wine? There’s no need to have Jesus in the room. Push the button and the party is saved. The button knows what to order, where you live, and which card to charge. Awesome!
Executive summary
What should you do when an executive asks about designing a process? First of all take into consideration that he/she might not be aware of everything written above. Probably an executive won’t have 15 minutes to read this article either, so to be quick and reply you need to:
- understand personas
- understand context
- understand business goals
- define fields (perhaps you would need to involve the legal department or other interested parties)
With those 4 points covered you will choose whatever form type is appropriate and deliver that process by the end of that week. Saying that out loud should take you around 10 seconds. Let’s just hope the executive trusts you and will let you do your job. Good luck!
