Reclaiming the Beep
“Hi, this is Dan’s cell phone. Leave a message after the beep.”
How long do you usually have to wait before you can leave a message? Ever think about it?
And with so much message leaving and message checking being done from mobile phones, on mobile phone plans, how much do you think it’s costing us? David Pogue’s done a little back-of-the-envelope math:
These little 15-second waits add up — bigtime. If Verizon’s 70 million customers leave or check messages twice a weekday, Verizon rakes in about $620 million a year. That’s your money. And your time: three hours of your time a year, just sitting there listening to the same message over and over again every year.
This is a user experience issue. Everyone leaving a message is a user trying accomplish a task. A better system would offer help if necessary, but generally stay out of the way. While most people just tolerate the minor annoyance of a 15 second blurb they’ve heard a thousand times before, those annoyances add up. Whenever you’re developing a system for people to use, it’s important to remember that everyone’s time is valuable. I’m happy to see customers are asserting their right to better user interfaces.
From: "Take Back the Beep" Campaign
posted by Dan Nordquist on July 30th, 2009 at 8:59 pm Permanent link to this post
2 Responses to “Reclaiming the Beep”
When voice apps become pervasive, it will be great to see navigation best practices shake out. Too many voice mail customer support “trees” are maddening experiences, and take way too long, or don’t allow you to go back/start over/skip/ask for help.
IVR and other DTMF-based applications have been pervasive since the mid-1960s with Bell Labs prototypes of similar systems dating back to the 1940s.
I’d say that if we don’t have best practices by now, it isn’t a good time to start holding your breath.