3 ways Slack excels at usability
Slack’s great. But what makes it so great? Digging into three usability heuristics that make Slack better the rest.
1. Help and Documentation
Onboarding
Do you remember the first time you used Slack? It probably took a little getting used to, especially if the team was a big one.
What channels should I join?
How do I tame these notifications?
Oooh! So many emojis. 🙃
Lucky for you, Slack has developed (and consistently improved) an onboarding flow that guides users through a few must-dos when join a new team. With checklist and introductions to the slash commands, the friendly Slackbot quickly and efficiently trains you to be on your way as a successful Slack user.
/help
Speaking of the slash command… This might have been one of Slack’s greatest “inventions.”
Rather than relying on a help center hosted online, Slack built in help tools to the app itself, making it easier than ever to find answers about this new tool you’re using. Although they’ve now retired /help and boosted Slackbot’s ability to search and find answers to your questions, the in-product help proves Slack’s commitment to usability for all levels of users.
2. Consistency and Standards
Command-F
It’s hard to find stuff on your computer, let alone in a chat software that could be home to thousands of your colleagues. Searching in Slack could be really, really difficult. Luckily, it isn’t.
Using the command-F shortcut, Slack follows a familiar pattern we use to search out computers for searching for information within the app. Keeping this consistent with how we use other software improves not only the overall usability of the product, but also the learnability, lowering the barrier to become a successful user.
3. Match between system and real world
💻 👩 💬 👨 💥
While a work conversation can’t (and probably shouldn’t) be made entirely in emojis, Slack has incorporated emojis incredibly seamlessly into their overall user experience.
Slack’s introduction of the : trigger for emojis makes it easy to incorporate them into your conversations, elevating the playfulness of any chat. With the reaction emojis, it’s simple to respond without responding (and clogging up a channel) or survey a group of people.
Slack took something that was so common in our everyday personal life and made it suited for work.
A Friendly Voice
Copy in software can get really boring really easily. It should be straightforward and concise, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for flair.
Slack’s overall tone is friendly, making you forget that you’re actually just dealing with a piece of software. With little quips and jokes, Slack’s copy feels like a real human in the real world and adds a little delight to your daily messaging.
Slack’s human-ness makes it feel more usable.
When something is familiar, we’re more likely to use and keep using it. Slack does a great job at keeping things simple while still leaving room to delight the user.
