Forgiveness

By Joshua Brewer at 52 Weeks of UX

Humans are inherently prone to make mistakes. We do it all the time. Misreading some copy and clicking on the wrong link. Searching for something that doesn’t exist. Entering in a URL that we mistyped. Attempting to engage with an interface in a way it was not designed for. All of these examples (and thousands more) happen all the time with our products.

It is this moment in which we have a unique opportunity to engage our users in a genuinely human manner. We have just interrupted their workflow and they may or may not be able to accomplish the task that the software is supposed to help them perform. So often, when an error occurs users will often blame themselves and, unfortunately, because we give little to no help, they continue feeling like they have made the mistake.

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We failed, not the user. After all, they are using our product. We are responsible for the experience and by admitting there was a problem and attempting to fix it as quickly as possible, we will engender the goodwill and hopefully, the return business of the user.