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Creating User Experiences

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Users Expect a Process: Understanding User Flows

2:24 with Alena Holligan and Kaleigh Veca

People don’t aimlessly tinker with products: they use them for a reason to achieve a goal. There are specific steps they should take in a certain order to reach their goal, so it’s important to determine the steps they need to take in the journey and make sure that they are ordered logically.

New Terms:

  • User flow—A document that outlines the progression of ideal user behavior through key moments in their interaction with a product

Further Reading:

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    [MUSIC] 0:00
    We've covered a lot throughout this course about users and goals. 0:04
    We're ready to combine the users and their goals to make a user flow. 0:08
    User flows are the route we want users to take from one end of the product to 0:13
    another. 0:17
    User flows aren't the only path users can take. 0:18
    But a good user flow should provide a plan to get users where they want to go as 0:22
    efficiently as possible. 0:26
    People in the industry sometimes use the phrase in as few clicks as possible, 0:28
    because we don't want our users clicking or tapping more than they have to. 0:32
    Again, it goes back to providing the best experience possible for our users. 0:37
    This is why we're trying to give them a good path to follow. 0:42
    The process should be intuitive. 0:46
    We don't want to make it a complex riddle for 0:48
    our users to book a ride to their destination. 0:50
    Also, the easier it is for them to book, the less likely they are to quit 0:53
    the process and use a competitor's app instead, or call a taxi. 0:58
    Like we've been saying all along, people don't aimlessly tinker with products. 1:03
    They use them for a reason, to achieve a goal. 1:07
    There are specific steps they should take to reach their goals, so 1:10
    it's important to determine what those steps are and 1:14
    make sure that those steps are ordered logically. 1:17
    In our case, users shouldn't be able to pay for 1:20
    their ride without specifying where they're going first. 1:23
    That doesn't make a lot of sense. 1:26
    Instead, we should organize our product in such a way that the steps the user 1:28
    takes makes sense. 1:33
    Users are trying to reach their goals and expect things to be easy to find and 1:34
    ordered appropriately. 1:38
    Different users may use the product differently, so 1:41
    take that into consideration. 1:44
    Not every user will have the same user flow. 1:45
    Maybe there are options that the businessman uses, like booking a ride in 1:48
    a fancier car that give him different steps than the college students take. 1:52
    Think of it as a choose your own adventure book, 1:57
    where you want everyone to reach their different goals successfully. 1:59
    Unfortunately, our users aren't all-knowing mind readers. 2:03
    They don't just automatically know what we had in mind for them to do next. 2:07
    For that reason we need to guide our users through the use of buttons, 2:11
    like a next button, calls to action like book my ride, or feedback, 2:16
    the phone vibrates when their ride pulls up. 2:20

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