towards a more civil user experience
I was visiting a knitting tutorial site, reading something, and I got one of those semi-annoying popover forms. It seems they are getting more and more aggressive and catty these days.
Option 1: Sign up now! All magical secrets will be revealed, plus free kittens!
Option 2: No thanks, I hate kittens and am a stupid oaf.
I don't know about you, dear reader, but these are an instant turn off for me. Like, I will *never* sign up for your newsletter if you imply or ask me to agree that I am stupid, uninformed, lazy, etc. Whether or not they actually increase subscription rates, I think they are part of the problem, not the solution.
User experience matters. User interface designers, content strategists strive to create excellent experiences online, and that includes treating visitors (prospective customers) with civility.
Compassion and civility are not the exclusive purview of tea parties and monastic retreats.
People who want to read or interact with us online shouldn't face insulting messages if they don't want to sign up for our newsletter. In some cases it might be funny, but it's too frequently overdone.
Show your visitors a little love.
Feel free to be lovingly persistent. But permit your viewers to politely decline your online subscription forms. They will leave with a better impression of your site, and be more likely to return.
We have no idea about the kind of day the person visiting our web form is having. Let us strive to be gentle with one another, online and off. Life is hard enough.
