You are not bad with technology.

Technology has failed you, through bad design.

You are not bad with technology.

Technology has failed you, through bad design.

I recently watched a podcast where one of the guests complained about trying to unsubscribe from a mailing list a whopping 16 times.

While she was talking another email arrived, she the message and it dawned on her that the instructions were in the message.

The instruction, untick the box to stop receiving the emails. The rest of the guests erupted in laugher much to her embarrassment.

In tech circles it’s called “User Error”. A phrase that excuses the team from looking at the issue from a fresh perspective. When multiple customers struggle with the same issue, it’s often an indicator that there is bad design.

In this situation the company missed the UX principle, ‘people don’t read, they scan’. If they redesigned the page for scannability they would have less customer frustration which will eventually lead to their return.

Ignoring bad design

• Ruins the companies reputation.

• Increases support costs.

• Customers get frustrated and leave.

It’s normal for companies to make mistakes and it’s normal to get customer complaints but Nothing makes a customer more loyal than to know a company understood their pain points.

So the next time you’re tempted to be embarrassed by failing tech, remember the words of Don Norman.

“it’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself: blame the designer.