Nothing should take more than three clicks.
We need a 1-click button.
Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three (*lobs thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch whilst counting to three because five is right out*).
When I first starting trying to evaluate digital interfaces (or even physical ones like credit card payment terminals), I thought that one of the user experience metrics I needed to focus on reducing was the number of clicks it took to complete any task. Surely that would provide a good, measurable benchmark of an experience with a product or service, because that’s what I was pretty sure I had heard. After all, reporting on the number of clicks and then making a big deal out of them in an executive presentation has definitely helped plenty of people get funding for their projects over the years… but at what cost?
Once you really come to believe that context is king, then you quickly recognise that clicks aren't a universal indicator of anything other than knowing a finger (or assistive tech) has, in fact, tapped on something. If you’re viewing this on mobile, consider all of the tap-and-swipes you’re making just to read and scroll through this or any other webpage!
So instead of counting clicks to evaluate experiences, we first need to look deeper into understanding the task that the user is trying to accomplish and why. Each step of a user task can and should provide some value to them, no matter how miniscule, and more often than not, we should be challenging each designed interaction by this value. And if we come to find that a particular interaction or request is actually providing more value to us, like requiring a field for no other reason than because our out-of-the-box software system says it’s required, then what’s the customer experience trade-off we’re willing to accept to make our own product deliveries easier?
Do we really need to ask for this optional piece of info here or could we get it later in their journey? Do we really need to have this required field and, if so, what are we immediately planning on using it for? Do we really need to give them all of these clickable options and indicators here?
Is this the right time and place for this step and will it provide benefit to them?
With this curiousity towards the perception of value now in place in our minds, we’ll have to answer what exactly is or isn’t going to be valuable to someone other than ourselves so that we can get onto actually making something. It’s therefore liberating to know that we perceive value in more ways than merely accomplishing what we set out to do.
Our realisation of value begins manifesting itself through even the simplest of moments where we feel renewed confidence, awareness, inspiration, and especially when we feel in control.
I'm willing to bet that in your day-to-day life, you're not going around counting each button you press, but instead are silently judging how easy or satisfying it was to use. So why would we measure experiences any differently?