Nothing should take more than three clicks!
We need a 1-click Buy button!
Lob thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch! ♱
Five is right out.
When I first starting evaluating digital designs (and physical ones too like credit card payment terminals), I was led to believe that the number of times a user clicked through a task mattered. That reducing taps on a phone screen was a key UX metric to achieve.
If nothing else, then surely counting the number of clicks would provide a solid, measurable benchmark to compare good and bad experiences to. Right?
Why else would I have heard stories and seen slides from digital product owners making a big deal to executives about how funding their project to remove clicks is going to benefit the business? Was there truth to this?
Once you come to see that context is king, you quickly recognise that clicks alone aren't an indicator of anything beyond the objective confirmation that, Yes, some kind of finger has, in fact, touched some kind of button.
For instance, take this post you’re reading. How many taps-and-swipes on your phone or mouse click-and-drags of the browser’s scroll bar might you have already made to get this far down the page? Did you even notice? Not unless you’re wondering how much is left.
Stop counting clicks. There, I said it.
Use that time to look deeper into the task your users are trying to accomplish and what they need. Each step can and should be providing some amount of value to their cause, no matter how miniscule.
Progressive disclosure elements, for example, can take extra clicks to collapse completed forms and move to the next. But, if requiring that interaction helps customers stay focused on the forms that drive conversions, then chalk that up as a clickable win.
Review each stage of the user journey and ask what’s needed at this time and place to benefit the user and the business.
Could this optional field be captured elsewhere in the flow to remove it as a potential distraction along the critical path? Is this so-called “required” field actually required now? Who says? If we didn’t get it here, what is the immediate cost to us or them?
Clicks are by all means worth it if the result of doing so helps our users feel more confident, aware, inspired, or in control after each interaction. Perceived value isn’t restricted to task completion.
If we’re not walking around in our day-to-day life counting each thing we press, but silently scoring the ease and satisfaction we feel we’re getting, why would we be measuring our designed experiences any differently?