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In general, the difference betwixt the good and the great can sometimes be a thing of how effectively yous sweat the piffling things, the things that actually matter to people at the human being-level interface. Nosotros call this the tactical user-level interface. Sometimes this is the difference betwixt a positive experience and a negative i. This difference matters for whatsoever brand.

Today's brand example is the US government. Specifically the Social Security Administration, a part of the authorities I have never harbored any animosity toward … until last week.

I am me.

I was asked to remember my Social Security benefit amount and retirement historic period. The Social Security Administration no longer mails out statements. That'south a skilful thing, since a few hundred meg statements equate to a LOT of paper. Instead, they recommend that yous obtain this information from their website, ssa.gov, which I proceeded to endeavour to practise. A imprint headline greeted me on a responsive, seemingly newly minted website with words similar "just how like shooting fish in a barrel information technology is to apply online."

Please empathise, I have registered on many (besides many) websites earlier. I use the web. The web is a big part of my business. More than ane hundred thousand people read this weblog concluding year. I am not a newbie … and I failed to successfully annals. Twice.

I failed non because the website was poorly designed or difficult to apply. It's actually very practiced overall. I failed because I could not answer all the security questions they asked in order to verify that I am me.

I called the Social Security Administration and got the information I needed over the phone from a very friendly and personable representative. This was relatively easy and did not require that I divulge much information.

Phone piece of cake. Website difficult. I don't meet the efficiency in this.

Phone easy. Website hard. I don't come across the efficiency in this. And even so, a clearly stated value of their website (and your website) is to make things easier for me (every bit well every bit to save newspaper and coin through the efficiency that is a cardinal do good of doing such things equally obtaining your records online instead of through the mail service.)

In the call, I also asked about the website and whether she knew of other complaints. She was not forthcoming on this. I felt responsible to tell her they were being inefficient past making me call her. When I went on to tell her that I think the information they have nigh me—the information that I needed to know in order to satisfy them and prove that I am me—might exist wrong, she told me I would have to contact the credit bureaus to right anything. When I asked if I could annals a personal complaint about the website not serving me well, she said no. They were recording my phone call, only I wonder if they are tracking the volume of failed attempts to annals on the site?

She was kind enough to unlock my account and then that I could endeavor again to register on the website.

I did endeavour again, being VERY careful…to…become…every…thing…right. I even looked stuff up on Google near myself to ensure its veracity.

I am non me enough to access my Social Security data.

I failed. I got locked out a 2d time.

I am not me enough to access my Social Security information.

Okay, maybe I'1000 overreacting. Perchance information technology's just me. Maybe I'm the only one who does not, off the top of my head, know the model twelvemonth of the car I once owned while in grad school.

My wife besides needed information from them, so she gave the website registration process a good college try (she does take a graduate degree).

She got locked out … and she was done. She was non going to bother with that ever again.

How much is such animosity worth?

Social Security is a proficient thing. The Social Security Administration is a government bureau that I should have positive feelings for.

So why this?

The lady on the phone said it was for security. In this case plainly, to protect my information … from me

The lady on the phone said it was for security. In this instance manifestly, to protect my data … from me.

I wonder what per centum of potential accessors of their information have tried to pass through this particular security gauntlet and have, like my wife and I, failed and so but given up. Admittedly, this is not a critical service similar obtaining healthcare coverage through a government exchange, but still, this is something I should exist able to hands obtain … of the people, by the people and for the people and all that. Is—every bit this hot new Princeton study (PDF) suggests—democracy as we thought it existed in America but wishful thinking? Is my situation just a byproduct of poor user-testing on a well-intentioned and generally well-designed website, or is information technology a symptom of something larger? I hope it's the former. I hope it's but something they haven't gotten to yet.

To reiterate my opener: I believe that, in general, the divergence betwixt the expert and the great can sometimes be how finer seemingly minor things are attended to. On the positive side, these things tin can be a trim tab. On the negative side, they tin be an incitement to antagonism and even make disavowal. This is an instance of one of those places. I want government to work. I want to believe it exists to serve, desires to exist efficient, and is supporting the greater skillful. Perhaps this is why this situation upsets me. Information technology'south an affront to my sense of pride.

The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? effect

In case anyone is interested, here is the problem with the Social Security Administration website'south registration security protocols from a usability (UX) standpoint: Information technology's something we could call the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? effect.

Many of you accept seen or heard of the TV quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? It was popular in the early 2000s and from its origins in the UK, eventually spread all over the world. It's fifty-fifty the context of the Academy Honour-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

The game was uncomplicated. Fifteen seemingly easy multiple-selection questions were asked of contestants who, if they could answer all of them, would win $i,000,000. Part of the entertainment value of the bear witness was how easy many of the questions were. The play tricks was that getting ALL of a series of fifteen—even relatively easy—questions right was actually much more difficult than information technology sounded. To spice things up and heighten the gameplay, the game also had three "lifelines" to assistance the contestants. These were telephone call a friend, ask the audience, and one-half the options.

My thought during my 2d unsuccessful endeavor to become all the security questions correct on the Social Security website was this: I need a lifeline. No, I thought, I practise non remember the model year of the auto I bought in 1996, but I practise know a lot of other things nearly myself! Maybe I could call my college girlfriend most the car …

My more than serious point is that The People's human relationship to their government is actually a very important affair in a functioning republic. So is access to our own publicly held data. Even if I don't stand up to collect a 1000000 dollars at the end of my working life, I do want to exist able to learn what my Social Security income will be, and I should be able to do so without inordinate and unnecessary frustration.

Nothing is worse for a brand than to be hated or misunderstood because of a poorly executed or thoughtlessly designed tactical user-level interface.

I'chiliad about twenty years from my official, gradually rising retirement age, and it's natural for me to be thinking about it more than as the twelvemonth approaches. I asked a few of my friends to try their luck with registering on the Social Security Administration website (please try yours and tell me how it goes). My suspicion is that the older you are—and the more you really need the information—the less likely you will be able to get it from the website. Among my friends and colleagues, the failure rate so far has been 66.half dozen%. This is no joke if y'all extrapolate that out across the entire working-age population of the United States.

So what flower of wisdom has grown out of the ashes of my frustration? Other than an inferior product, there is virtually nothing worse for a brand than inattention to the tactical user-level interface.

Now, alibi me while I attend to my civic duty as United states citizen and web user …

Honey Social Security Administration:

Please sweat the details. Please make the online wall between me and my data easier to climb over. I grow tired chop-chop, as I am getting older at present.

Sincerely,
James Heaton

___

Personal update 8/23/2019

Having the outcome forced by my financial advisor, I needed to know what my Social Security income will be equally a component of my retirement planning. I am at present 5 years(!) closer to retirement than when I first wrote this commodity and all subsequent attempts to utilise the website to obtain this data concluded in failure.

So this forenoon, I got up early and went into the Social Security role and while I was there, I could not help but find this sign in my service window …

What can I say? Showtime it promises "convenient." For a brand, not keeping a promise is much worse than not making the promise in the beginning place. And what y'all (the system) call back the promise is does not matter. It's how your customers understand that promise.

Browsing the hundreds of comments that this mail service has attracted (and continues to attract) is a reminder to exist careful of what promises you make!

The other betoken that the hundreds of comments underscore is the motivational power of frustration. If you coil through the comments, information technology is difficult not to appreciate people's willingness to share their stories of frustration. This speaks to how easily frustration is amplified. In the age of Apple, Amazon, and Google, smoothly performance interfaces that "just piece of work" are normal, expected, and not worthy of comment. Poorly conceived, clumsy, and thoughtless interfaces are inspiration to outrage and the public sharing of negative stories. Frustration has caused the power of vitality.

And excuse my sarcasm, but doesn't this service sign clearly demonstrate a culture of exquisite care and attending to every particular of the man-level interface?

I did go what I needed from the visit: With the help of the admission code the SSA office gave me, I was able to successfully set up and access my Social Security account. This code allowed me to featherbed all the evidence-your-identity questions that are tripping up then many people. As it stands, it seems the website is designed to piece of work in tandem with an in-person visit to the Social Security Administration.

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Source: https://www.tronviggroup.com/dear-social-security-administration-i-am-me/

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