The fourth chapter in the Designing for Emotion book discusses the emotional engagement in websites.

The author, Aarron Walter, discusses the difference between “you may…” and “you must…” in regards to websites such as Facebook or Twitter changing their interface. Twitter did something which was remarkable and really great to keep satisfaction amongst its users, it allowed them to choose if and when they wanted to switch over to the new interface. Facebook did not give its users that luxury. I remember when Facebook switched over to the Timeline feature, I did not like the change because it was so dramatically different from the interface before it. I believe they could have made that transition easier for its users to accept and get used to. Maybe they could have previewed it for everyone to see before they forced it upon their users. Also, Facebook ma have realized that they wouldn’t lose any users, and if they did it would be insignificant amount, with the quick change because many people rely on Facebook to stay connected with their friends and families, that Facebook didn’t need to worry about softening the blow of the transition. Whatever their reason for a quick change, I believe Twitters change was more graceful and definitely more widely accepted by its users.

Walter goes on to discuss how apps use anticipation in their favor to retain customer satisfaction. He talks about how the app Groupon uses this feature when they send out daily emails to subscribers with their new discounts. Personally after using the app myself, I found those emails to be more of a nuisance and I ended up deleting the app and sending their emails to span. Anticipation is great when used right, I don’t believe a daily email (or several daily emails) is the best way to go to entice anticipation in users.

Overall though, this book provides great tips on creating successful websites.

Originally posted at Grace Vojvoda