How Slow UX and Great CX Can Go Hand in Hand

You may have heard of Hare and Tortoise tale when you were a kid. Didn’t you? I have heard many times and it teaches me the truth of life; Slow and Steady Wins the Race. No matter how fast you run, you stop to rest and figure out how you can proceed further.

The era in which we are living demands faster phenomenon. Each and every task should complete within the fraction of seconds, no matter how long the procedures are. But is it possible? On top of it, will you be able to trust on those faster events? The answer is No.

There is a huge misconception for slow user experience. It is generally believed that slow user experience restricts the emergence of good customer experience. Contrary to the belief, slow UX adds to customer delight. It is about being mindful to wait for the accurate results to appear on the screen. Be it a website or a mobile application or any software, there are cases where slow UX turns out to be a great customer experience (CX).

1. Slow Security:

With the increase in the number of cyber crimes, not only business organizations but also its users are concerned about the security. How do you feel when you travel through a bus whose driver drives fast? You feel unsafe. Don’t you? Similarly, when cybercrimes attack the sites, you hesitate to provide your information to any site.

Read more about the recent ransomware wannacry cyber crime.

Things become a bit complex when it comes to security. Today, with the advances in technology security algorithms are improved and provide strong encryption-decryption. Developers ensure that whatever information is recorded in the website, from username to card details is safe and secure. Such processes procrastinate so as to develop the trust amongst the user.

For instance; shopping sites slow down the process of payment process when done through the card to show that it is working on verifying your details and the transaction. It generates OTP for verification and then completes the transaction. Though it takes extra minutes for completion but it enlightens users with the process and develops a level of trust that the payment is made to the genuine and secure site.

2. Educate Users With Modern Tech Speeds:

Yes, it’s true that advances in technology have quickened various technical processes. But such use-case questions the security and accuracy aspects. Slowing your website to meet the expectation of users is a wise solution. Facebook demonstrates a perfect illustration.

Sometimes, it takes time to display feed comments due to slow internet connection or some other issue. So, it asks users to wait for a few minutes to let the comments load on the screen. Till the comments load, it continuously animates the loader to educate users that they are working hard to fetch the comments and display it on the screen.

Once the comments are ready, Facebook notifies users about it. Another example to educate users is the use of FAQ page on your website. Various business organizations include FAQ to provide knowledge to the users about their products and its use. Even top web development companies advice to do so for a better user experience allowing users to know more about the company and products.

3. Website Should Work as per System Constraints:

We are inclined to Google for accessing different websites. But there are other browsers as well which are used by users like Internet Explorer, Safari for Mac, Mozilla Firefox, Opera etc. Websites should be developed considering the browser requirements so to help users to access it easily.

Assuming you have a MAC and you are using only Safari to access websites. You have to open the banking site for the financial transaction but to your disappointment, that site is not compatible with Safari. To open the website of that bank you either need to install Google or Mozilla Firefox in your MAC. Such cases spoil the user experience and you may not use the net banking of that site as it does not meet your criteria. Sometimes, the speed of the website does not matter.

What matters is that the website should match the users’ expectation. We come across various scenarios where people get pissed off by the internet speed but still, they continue to access the website because it meets their criteria and provides them with a good experience.

Final Thoughts

Not denying that fast web experience leads to the great customer experience. Optimization is really important and honestly speaking, every website needs it. But we cannot ignore the impact of slow user experiences. The above-explained situations are the proof it. Slow systems are the thing of the past. As said above, users are more inclined to instant completion of the process and fast outcomes and thus, the backend process is not much revealed.

Today, what’s important is speed and so is users’ expectations. No matter how fast things appear and the task gets complete, slow user experience will continue to shine and never go out of fashion.