User Experience (UX) is the experience a user has while interacting with a product or service. It exists in both digital spaces, like a mobile application, and non-digital spaces, like when the user is out shopping. Even while using a mobile application, the experience is not just limited to the time the user spends within the application but also outside of it. For example, when a user shops online, the experience doesn’t end when they place the order, but also when the product gets delivered hassle-free and without compromise in quality. It also extends to the user’s interaction with customer service if they want any updates or face an issue. Once again, it addresses the post-delivery stage when they want to return or exchange the product. If friction occurs at any part of this journey, the experience takes a hit, leading to user frustration.
Feedback is an essential part of a good user experience, both in digital and non-digital spaces. It acts as a bridge between the interface or system and the user, helping them understand the outcome of their actions and effectively guiding them towards their goal.
This blog thoroughly explores the different kinds of feedback and why it matters in UX.
Contents
What is feedback in UX?
Feedback is a user’s response from the application, system, or service when they perform an action. Depending on the application and scenario, this can be visual, audio, or haptic feedback. Any form of feedback is essential to give users a sense of control and confirmation that the system recognizes their actions. It helps the user use the application or system and achieve what they set out to do.
In the example of online shopping, the user receives feedback from the application throughout their journey – from searching for the product, adding it to the cart, checkout, and payment, to the product delivered and post-delivery. This could be the search function displaying results as the user starts typing, the cart updating after adding a product for checkout, confirmation messages and popups for successful order placement, and the device’s haptic vibration feedback throughout this journey.
Some of the common types of feedback include,
- Change of color when a user taps a button or selects a tab.
- Loading spinners and progress bars that indicate the level of progress.
- Confirmation messages upon successful completion of an action.
- Micro-animations combined with vibration.
The feedback is not just for the success path. It happens when the user makes an error as well. The system indicates that the user has made an error, where they have made that error, and that they must rectify it to proceed with achieving their task or goal. The error could be typing in an incorrect user ID or password, payment details, OTP, etc.
Why feedback matters
Relevant and timely feedback is essential to user experience as it helps in the following ways.
1. Provides clarity: With appropriate feedback, the user can understand that the system has recognized their action and gets a confirmation. This reduces confusion and ambiguity and indicates the system status. For example, the on/off toggle switches to either on or off depending on the user’s action, and a progress bar displays the level of progress.
2. Reassurance: Clear and consistent feedback helps build trust and reliability with the system, enhancing the user’s experience and increasing the chances of the user returning based on their previous positive experience.
3. Control: Users have a satisfactory experience when they know what is happening and when the system indicates if they have made any error, allowing them to rectify the error and proceed. Intuitive navigation and interaction help guide the user in achieving their goal, enhancing the product’s usability as well.
Types of feedback
The following are some of the common types of feedback
1. Visual feedback: This is the most common form of feedback as it provides visual confirmation to the user that their action has been recognized. It includes changing buttons, changing the border of the form input field, changing color, changing confirmation and success message popups, loading spinners, progress bars, etc. Each provides precise visual feedback to the user and helps them proceed further.
2. Auditory feedback: Sounds or beeps that alert the user about their actions or indicate an error. Auditory feedback most commonly acts in tandem with visual feedback, and the combination of both adds to its efficiency. Examples include a beep sound indicating an error or a chime or sound indicating a new notification or message. This is helpful for people with some form of visual impairment.
3. Haptic feedback: Any digital device, especially mobile devices, provides vibrations when a user performs an action. This type of feedback is tangible and physical; combined with visual or auditory feedback, it helps reinforce the registration of the user’s action. Examples include unlocking a mobile device using fingerprint authentication.
Principles or best practices of feedback
1. Timeliness: Feedback has to be immediate or at least as quick as possible. Delayed feedback leads to confusion and frustration.
2. Clarity: Feedback messages have to be clear and precise. Vague messages can cause ambiguity.
3. Relevance: Feedback has to be tailored based on the user’s actions and context.
4. Positive reinforcement: Feedback has to be used to encourage correct usage and celebrate success.
5. Subtlety: Feedback has to be noticeable but subtle. It should not interrupt the user beyond a point that it becomes an irritation.
Examples of Good Feedback
Let’s look at a few applications that implement good feedback to enhance the user experience.
Visual feedback: Uber Eats delivers a smooth user experience with well-timed visual cues throughout the ordering process. When you add an item to the cart, it visually pops into the cart icon, which updates with the new count. Applying a promo code triggers a quick confirmation with a subtle animation. During order tracking, animated delivery status updates—like the moving scooter icon and real-time progress bar—keep users informed. Once the order is delivered, a friendly checkmark and notification confirm completion. These small touches and micro-interactions help make the user journey intuitive and reassuring.
Auditory feedback: PayPal uses a combination of visual and auditory cues to confirm necessary actions. For instance, when a user completes a payment or receives funds, the app displays a confirmation message and a subtle chime, reinforcing the action. This sound acts as an immediate reassurance that the transaction went through. On the seller side, PayPal’s mobile app provides real-time auditory alerts when a payment is received, helping merchants stay updated without constantly checking the screen, especially useful during high-traffic sales periods. These feedback cues play a key role in enhancing user trust and satisfaction.
Haptic feedback: The iPhone is known to have a great haptic engine/ motor that provides feedback in the form of a vibration. When we try to log in to the phone but enter the wrong passcode or biometrics, the iPhone throws a vibration with visual feedback to indicate that we have entered incorrect credentials. Then, there is continuous haptic feedback when the user types using the keypad, etc.
Feedback is not just limited to digital spaces. Few examples of feedback in the physical space include: when the user presses the floor number in a lift and it becomes illuminated to indicate confirmation, when the user switches on a Playstation 5 (PS5), the device emits a sound along with a glowing animated light, any fan or light immediately turning on after you press the switch, the microwave emitting a sound to indicate that the cooking or heating is done, the car light, wiper or indicator turning on after the user presses the relevant switch or button etc.
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Examples of Effective Feedback Implemented by Indium
1. Progress bar for a US Healthcare application: We have designed a dynamic progress bar with clear and relevant messages to depict the progress and provide visual feedback to the user so they get a clear view of completed and remaining steps when starting a new program.
2. Confirmation message for US logistics application: We have designed a success component on the screen, along with a clear message and relevant details after the user completes a booking successfully. This provides feedback confirmation to the user that the task is successful.
3. Error message for US healthcare application: We have designed an error indicator that helps the user recover from mistakes, incorrect actions, or inputs. The indicator also contains precise and relevant messages based on the type of error so that the user can easily rectify the same. The error also appears on the screen if the user fails to fill in any mandatory field in a form, like not selecting the reason from the dropdown, as shown below.
Wrapping up
Feedback is essential and critical to the user experience. It helps the user feel in control, get confirmation on their actions, recover from errors, and get guided in achieving their goal. While it is important to have feedback, it is equally essential not to overbear or interfere with the user’s journey; it has to be subtle and relevant to the situation. Good feedback is the one that aids the user’s journey through subtle and clear intimations, messaging, pop-ups, micro-animations, etc., without troubling the user. As always, it is essential to test the feedback implementation with real users, gather their input, and iterate accordingly. It goes a long way in creating a delightful experience for the users.
