We recently introduced a form control that lets user choose when a
broadcast ends.
Based on the most recent research participant, we think:
- there is a specific misunderstanding of what this control does
- there is a general low level of understanding of what a ‘broadcast’
means
People will try to understand what a ‘broadcast’ is by using mental
models they have for other kinds of messaging, for example text
messages.
Other kinds of messaging are one-to-one, i.e. they go from a sender to a
recipient. They are not ongoing in any way.
Emails and texts are sent at a time (and for all practicable purposes
are received at that same time). So, when we present the user with
a form that controls time, they might well assume it controls the time
when the message will be sent.
This is a feature we offer for sending messages using a spreadsheet, and
that’s where we’ve borrowed this pattern from.
We reinforce this assumption with the labelling of the form control. By
front-loading it with the word ‘When’ we are playing to the users
confirmation bias, i.e. they are interpreting the meaning of the control
in a way that confirms their prior beliefs about how messaging works.
So this commit does two things:
- re-labels the form to front-load the word ‘End’ not ‘When’
- adds text to the page explaining when the broadcast will start, so
there’s a chance of overriding that confirmation bias
If we can get users to go through this before sending a broadcast for
real, it could help them learn what a broadcast is, and how it differs
from sending text messages.
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