In a mobile context.

Manage perceptions of the mobile experience

The mobile user experience is a compromised one, wherein hardware and software designers as well as service providers have made a number of trade-offs – sometimes contrary in nature to one another – in order to deliver the final product(s) into the hands of the end user.

Given the ubiquity of mobile devices, most people have a reasonable threshold of tolerance for the quirks and occasional frustrations of using the devices. However, familiarity with a PC experience can lower that threshold and make the expectations of the mobile experience more difficult to meet, especially for PC-to-mobile cross-over products, services and features.

There are some techniques that may help to manage perceptions of the mobile experience in order to improve usability and satisfaction, especially when it is not technically possible or otherwise feasible to provide a direct solution to meet expectations.

• If the user feels in control, frustration is less likely to occur

  • Provide control over content

  • Allow users to cancel out of lengthy processes

  • When appropriate provide the means to customize or personalize the experience, especially when it comes to automated activity (e.g., checking for account balance

• Make the experience appear to at least appear to be quick

  • Reduce or eliminate the need to explicitly save data – do it automatically

  • Display user data immediately even if it has not yet been saved, processed or successfully sent from the device

  • Pre-fill forms and cache user data when security is not a major concern to the user

  • Use animation (also consider motion blur), especially for progress indicators as a brief distraction while the system is working

• Allow users to continue working continuously

  • Reduce or eliminate interruptions

  • Process data and communicate wirelessly in the background as the user works on a task

  • If it is not possible for the user to continue working, display an accurate progress meter – an indication of “the system is busy” is of limited utility as many people do not believe they are true

• If there is a desktop counterpart, be as consistent as possible because there will be an expectation that the experience is the same

  • Handle concepts the same way

  • Use the same terminology to describe the same things

  • Use similar icons and audio cues suited for mobile

  • Attempt to replicate, at least in spirit, desktop user interface constructs (e.g., for instant messaging, a split-window conversation screen)

dave@mobileixd.com

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