I have to say, that I’ve been impressed with Comcast’s re-branding efforts over the last 12 months or so. People (not me) seem to like the singing commercials with the bird’s-eye, 90’s video game artwork. And their website has become much more colorful, friendly and well thought out.

HOWEVER, there is one thing about this site that really irks me. Comcast aren’t the only ones who are guilty, but this is one of the more extreme cases I’ve seen lately. Take a look at the picture below and tell me what’s wrong. Can you spot it?

The field is asking me for my user name. Underneath the field, in 10-pixel, gray font, there is a very definitive statement: “Your user name is your e-mail address”

If my user name is my email address, then why don’t you just ask me for my email address in the big, bold font?

First of all, ‘User Name’ indicates a sign-on which is specific to this site. That puts the user in the mode of trying to remember their standard user name, or what user name they might have chosen for this site. Email addresses are global, everyone knows theirs and it only has one meaning (this is contextual, of course. But I would know from my purposes of using the site if I needed to use my business or personal email).

Second, I understand the difficulties in switching from a user name based system to an email-based one (I’ve been through it), but there is a definitive statement that my user name is my email address, so that’s not what’s happening here.

Why frustrate your users? Why increase the usage of your “Send my user name” form?

Where are the friction points on your website? Where can you improve your language to be clear and concise?

Tags: definitive statement, e mail address, friction points, game artwork, gray font

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 8:03 am and is filed under Business, Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.