Consistency And Confidence plus the Peak End Rule

Consistency And Confidence plus the Peak End Rule

Today, we're talking about Confidence.

Well really we’re talking about confidence and learning. How consistency in your UX teaches users how to use your app and how that can build their confidence. And breaking consistency can break confidence

In today's post:

  • Consistency Teaches
  • Break Consistency, Break Confidence
  • The Peak End Rule

Consistency Teaches

ZipCar’s an app that allows you to do short term car rentals. Like really short an hour if needed. It’s awesome. You generally:

  • Search for a car
  • Confirm a car you want to rent
  • Pay upfront to reserve the car
  • Pay after your trip is complete

Their UX teaches you to always expect a green button at the bottom of the screen. This button will either move you along a flow or end a flow. Here’s what it looks like for searching for a car, paying for a car before a trip, paying for a car after a trip:

You always have a green button at the bottom of the screen / end of a flow.

This does three things:

  • Gives you a clear CTA to move forward or end a flow
  • Establishes a consistent pattern of how the UX works
  • Educates the user how the general UX works for Zipcar

Teach Me

The third part is they key part. Users learn how to use your app. You’re UX is in ways telling your users how your app works and what they can expect.

When we say teach and learn, often we think about help or tooltips. But, people learn how to use your app by….using it.

Consistent UX teaches users how to use your app and what to expect.

This is obviously good, but breaking consistency can lead to a poor user experience. 

Sooooo...We're Done Right?

When you end your trip and pay, they break the UX. This is what the screen looks like:

I parked, paid, and am done with the service. But there is no button to confirm I’m done.

Yes I could have tapped the navigation but:

  • I don't want to search
  • I don't want to drive
  • I'm already on trips
  • I don't need to go to my account
  • Tapping a different navigation element is not the typical way to end a flow

Zipcar - you taught me to expect a confirmation green button here.

Breaking Consistency Breaks Confidence

I needed the confirmation to say “yes we’re done here”. It makes me slightly pause and wonder is everything really done and buttoned up.

That button would give me confidence. It feels like something is missing. And that starts to make me think:

  • Where's my green "done" button?
  • Wait, the payment is complete, right?
  • Is there something more for me to do?
  • Where's that button?!
  • Do I have to go back?
  • We are done here right?

I know this is in a newsletter, but in reality, I’m in the middle of running errands, i just parked this car, I need to still go do this and that. The last thing I want to do is wonder if I’m going to get a call from Zipcar asking why I didn’t pay.

Peak End Rule

This experience is particularly important here due to the Peak End Rule

The Peak-End Rule is a psychological heuristic that suggests people judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its most intense point (the peak) and at its end, rather than by the experience as a whole.

There's three parts to this:

  1. The Peak: the most emotionally intense moment, whether positive or negative.
  2. The End: the final moments of the experience
  3. Duration Neglect: People tend to overlook how long the experience lasted.

In my case, this worry moment is at the very end of my experience which suggests I would judge Zipcar by this experience.

The Solution

Simply add a button that says “All Done” and takes you back home or to the front page of the My trips tab.

Simple, gives the user confidence and confirmation.

Flows And Feels

The bulk of designing is thinking about flows. UX flows. And that’s not wrong.

And I’m sure that’s how the Zipcar team did it. They captured the requirements in a UX flow. Cool.

Another lens you want to look at your designs through is a particular emotion.

For example, if you want your users to feel confident you can poke through your app thinking about confidence. You’ll start to ask questions like (in the case of Zipcar):

  • Would users feel confident they found the best car for them?
  • Would users feel confident they reserved a car and that car will be where they expect it when they expect it?
  • Would users feel confident they not exactly what they are paying?
  • Would users feel confident that they trip is completely over and payment is accepted and they are done.

For each of these if the answer is:

No: explore ways to increase confidence.
Maybe: find ways to push the levels of confidence higher
YES: Great, you’re done. But maybe take what works and document it

-coleman;

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