[IxDA Discuss] Skip or not

[Cindy Alvarez]

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 7:58 AM, Lin Min <min.lin at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am working on a setup wizard for a consumer product. Somewhere
> toward the end of the wizard we have a two-screen guided tutorial to
> help users understand the main functions of the remove device (a
> component of the product). My manager believes it is beneficial to
> force users go through the tutorial and I am arguing to have a Skip
> button available.


My experiences are primarily with web applications, so take with a grain of
salt.  That said, I've seen a lot of frustration when we have "forced
consumers to learn".  Response in user testing has been to click through
those screens as quickly as possible and display very strained body/facial
expressions, almost like "ha! I'll show you and refuse to learn anything!"
:)

Is there any point in the setup process where the consumer must sit and wait
while something happens in the background? Where you could play a very short
Flash movie or animated gif with instructions?  That is a good opportunity
to provide education without making it feel forced.   A couple of our
customers have done things like that with either instructional copy or
cross-sell advertisements and consumers have been receptive.

My other suggestion would be, instead of a Skip button, to have the "skip"
option automatically email the instructions to the consumer.  That way, the
information is available to them on their own terms.  (Actually, putting on
my electronics consumer 'hat', I would prefer that!)

Since most users are not familiar with the remote, the tutorial
> certainly becomes very useful to teach the person who set up the
> product. My user testing has shown that the functions are
> understandable and learnable in a reasonable brief time without any
> form of instruction. The issue is users may forget the existence of
> certain functions on the remote because it is difference from what
> they are used to.
>
> She is afraid that the Skip button will encourage users to skip the
> *important* step. I think we should provide users with control (one
> extreme case is that if an intended button doesn't work during the
> tutorial, users will become trapped). There are about 20 steps in the
> process and I think it is better to make all optional steps clear to
> users.
>

A demo should NEVER be "the important step".  If a demo is truly necessary
to start operating a simple consumer tool, then the design of the tool is
not a success.  If the demo has information on "advanced" features, then it
should be treated as optional, but readily available when the consumer is
ready for it (emailed to the consumer, also easy to find on your product's
website).

Cindy

>
> What does our pool of wisdom think? Is there any data on the clicking
> rate of the Skip button if there is one?
>
> Min Lin
> Usability Engineer
> Hillcrest Laboratories, Inc.
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