This content originally appeared on Adam Silver and was authored by Adam Silver
The first rule of form design is to only ask for information you actually need to give users a good experience.
But sometimes asking for additional information helps the user.
Now you could just mark the field as optional. But a lot of the time this is not the best UX.
For example, let’s say the user is applying for a new passport. And lets say that some users want to get delivery updates sent by text message…
You could just ask for the user’s mobile phone number and mark it as optional:
This looks well designed with a clear label and hint text explaining why the user would want to enter the phone number.
But I know from years of research that not all users will spot or read the hint text. As a result there’s a risk users will not get updates even if they want them.
Here’s the solution:
Start by asking the user if they want to get delivery updates. And if they say yes ask for the mobile phone number:
Now there’s no optional fields. And no risk of users missing the chance to get delivery updates by text message.
If you’d like to learn how to design forms that users fly through without doing years of research, you might like my course, Form Design Mastery. I cover two other (better) ways to avoid optional fields:
This content originally appeared on Adam Silver and was authored by Adam Silver
Adam Silver | Sciencx (2019-02-05T00:00:00+00:00) How to avoid optional form fields with a conditional reveal. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2019/02/05/how-to-avoid-optional-form-fields-with-a-conditional-reveal/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.