UX Case Study: rethink autism Subscription Interface

Winer 2011 Codie Award

I just found out rethink autism won a 2011 codie award for “Best Instructional Solution for Special Needs Students.”

That is just too cool.

This article describes some of the design thinking that went into one of the interfaces I designed for them, the payment inteface.

Payment gateways can pose an interesting challenge. How do you help customers choose the product or service that best fits their needs, while minimizing cart abandonment? This article covers three UX design strategies implemented to address these issues in the rethink autism subscription interface: cost clarity, decision ownership, and minimal friction.

live demo

Cost Clarity:
Simple Question; How many humans do you know who think “I have 500 bucks in my budget for a new TV. Plus tax and shipping?” Not many? Yet in the USA, that feeling of unpleasant surprise induced by added tax & shipping costs is all too common.

Unpleasant surprise can be very effective at promoting cart abandonment. After all, if a business isn’t up front about costs, what else aren’t they up front about? Even though this design pattern works, and consumers tolerate it, I think we can aim a little higher.

On the rethink autism subscription page, in three clicks, the user can calculate both the monthly costs, and yearly savings they will receive from a particular plan.

A promotional banner above offers an additional discount for subscribing within a certain time window.

Being up front about the costs, and pleasantly surprising customers with extra savings instead of extra charges, is a strategy I can get behind.

Decision Ownership.
Payment matrixes, where a user can choose from a series of plans and prices, can benefit from low friction, simplicity, and information density. The downside is they can also make you feel like you’re choosing one of several pre-packaged cookie cutter solutions. Wouldn’t it feel better to get a solution tailored to your specific needs?

Would you rather an apple vendor pull two apples from the bushel for you to choose from, or would rather go through the bushel and pick what you want?

Ever notice that when you actively make a choice, you tend to commit to it more than when you feel coerced by someone else into making it? That’s decision ownership.

On the rethink autism subscription interface, descision ownership became an important design goal because immediately afterwards, the user is presented with a long form that was outside the parameters of the assignment to change. Because long forms can have higher friction and abandonment, the payment calculator was designed to give the use a sense of ownership regarding the interaction.

Instead of a matrix with prepackaged plans, the user is presented with a series of short, simple, personalized questions. With three clicks they get a quote, and without having to make any commitments, the visitor can actively explore and modify the cost/services combination to best fits their needs. After all, every family is unique, so why shouldn’t your treatment plan be?

Minimal Friction
Don’t you love it when things are fast & easy? Extra clicks, mouse moves, or keystrokes between the user and the result they want can increase friction and rapidly erode that “fast & easy” feeling.

…the enemy of good UX is friction between the user and the design goal.

To minimize friction, the rethink autism subscription interface is set up on one page, requires no scrolling, and only three clicks. All additional clicks are optional, and because each additional click immediately produces relevant information, the user controls the degree to which they want to explore those options. Rather than text fields or pulldowns, the interface uses only radio buttons.

Instead of a typical form where users feels like they are giving information,  each click on the rethink autism subscription interface is designed to make the user feel like they are receiving valuable information instead. The result? A (hopefully) super simple, interactive, informative, and respectful interface that, with the help of UX design , satisfies both user and business goals, and is also a joy to use.

Though I was happy with the results of this project, no design is perfect. If you’re interested in reading about what I would do differently if I were designing this interface today, shoot me an email or a tweet, If there’s enough interest, maybe I’ll write something about it.