Progress Indicators for Improved User Trust

⏳ Designing Better Loading and Progress Indicators UX. Practical UX guidelines to reduce the impact of waiting and choose the right loading indicator based on anticipated wait time ↓ ✅ Perception of wait time is more important than its duration. 🤔 Users overestimate passive waiting (standing still) by 36%. ✅ Active waiting (walking, interacting) feels much shorter. ✅ 20% rule: users only notice speed changes of at least 20%. 🤔 Small optimizations (e.g. shaving 0.2s off 5s) go unnoticed. ✅ 2 questions: "How much longer?" and "Is it working?" 🚫 Don’t use any loading indicators for waiting times < 1s. ✅ Short wait times (1–3s): use skeleton screens or spinners. ✅ Medium wait times (3–10s): use progress bars or indicators. ✅ Long wait time (10+s): show progress and allow interaction. 🤔 Uncertainty makes waiting feel significantly longer. ✅ Explain to users what’s happening in the background. ✅ Optimistic UI: ask for next steps while procees is running. ✅ The more valuable the reward, the longer tolerance to wait. ✅ Aim for improving perceived speed with reduced passive wait. Often we can’t speed up interactions for technical reasons. But we can reduce the perceived waiting time, which is often way more important than the actual duration. When a UI visualizes progress, users accept longer waits because they have right expectations and can track progress ((Buell & Norton, 2011). People are impatient if they don’t know how long to wait. Waiting without any explanation (spinning circle) feels longer than one where the product says why it’s busy. Also, waiting to START a task feels longer than waiting for a task to FINISH, so early start helps reduce frustrations as well. Users also tend to be highly sensitive to “queue jumping”. If a process they started later finishes earlier than a previous one, it creates significant frustration and abandonment. In the end, it’s all about setting right expectations, explaining what happens frequently and keeping people busy when waiting. It might not necessarily help make the application faster, but it will make it feel faster — and it could be enough to keep users on the page for just a little bit longer, and drive them to success from there. – ✤ Useful resources: Perceived Performance (Series), by Denys Mishunov https://lnkd.in/dvVkt3r3 Loading and Progress Indicators UX, by Taras Bakusevych https://lnkd.in/e5KFPiiq ↓

Everyone’s excited to launch AI agents. Almost no one knows how to measure if they’re actually working. Over the last year, we’ve seen brands launch everything from GenAI assistants to support bots to creative copilots but the post-launch metrics often look like this: • Number of chats • Average latency • Session duration • Daily active users Useful? Yes. But sufficient? Not even close. At ALTRD, we’ve worked on AI agents for enterprises and if there’s one lesson it’s this: Speed and usage mean nothing if the agent isn’t solving the actual problem. The real performance indicators are far more nuanced. Here’s what we’ve learned to track instead: 🔹 Task Completion Rate — Can the AI go beyond answering a question and actually complete a workflow? 🔹 User Trust — Do people come back? Do they feel confident relying on the agent again? 🔹 Conversation Depth — Is the agent handling complex, multi-turn exchanges with consistency? 🔹 Context Retention — Can it remember prior interactions and respond accordingly? 🔹 Cost per Successful Interaction — Not just cost per query, but cost per outcome. Massive difference. One of our clients initially celebrated their bot’s 1 million+ sessions - until we uncovered that less than 8% of users actually got what they came for. That 8% wasn’t a usage issue. It was a design and evaluation issue. They had optimized for traffic. Not trust. Not success. Not satisfaction. So we rebuilt the evaluation framework - adding feedback loops, success markers, and goal-completion metrics. The results? CSAT up by 34% Drop-off down by 40% Same infra cost, 3x more value delivered The takeaway: Don’t just measure what’s easy. Measure what matters. AI agents aren’t just tools - they’re touchpoints. They represent your brand, shape user experience, and influence business outcomes. P.S. What’s one underrated metric you’ve used to evaluate AI performance? Curious to learn what others are tracking.

Sometimes the smartest thing you can do for your users is make them wait. That sounds counterintuitive, right? In a world obsessed with speed, “instant” has become the ultimate UX religion. But psychology, design research, and even social media experiments point to the opposite: friction, when intentional, creates trust, thoughtfulness, and quality. 1. The Labor Illusion: Why We Value “Effort” When a chatbot responds instantly, users often dismiss it as scripted or mechanical. But add a short, 1–3 second pause (paired with a “typing…” indicator), and satisfaction scores rise. Why? Because the delay signals effort. Users feel like the system is “thinking” for them. This is the labor illusion: we value work more when we see (or think) effort is being invested. Too fast feels robotic; too slow feels broken. The sweet spot? Just long enough to feel intentional. 2. Even Social Media Learned This Lesson In 2020, Twitter tested a prompt: “Want to read this article before retweeting?” The results? - 40% more opens on articles. - 33% more people read before retweeting. One tiny pause. Massive behavior shift. It didn’t break the product. It improved it. 3. Where Friction Becomes a Feature Not all delays are good, but here’s where they shine: - Chatbots: Typing indicators and micro-pauses that humanize. - Surveys & Forms: Mental effort that filters noise and raises quality. - High-Stakes Actions: Confirmations before deleting, sending money, or posting. - Community Health: Pauses that nudge people to reflect before reacting. The takeaway: Don’t just obsess over removing friction. Ask: Where should I add it? Because sometimes, the best user experience isn’t about moving faster. It’s about giving people a moment to stop, think, and trust what happens next.

The Checkout That Thinks Like a Human 👌 We’ve all been there— You’re ready to buy something, and suddenly… you’re in checkout limbo. Five steps. Three different screens. Re-entering the same information twice. Each click feels like a little test of patience. I’ve seen it across dozens of e-commerce platforms: the “multi-step checkout maze.” But what if the checkout didn’t feel like checkout? What if it felt like one calm, guided conversation? That’s what I set out to design. The Idea 💡 Instead of breaking checkout into separate pages, I combined everything—shipping, payment, and confirmation—into one seamless section. Each step unfolds within the same frame, with a clear progress indicator showing exactly where the user is. No jumping around. No losing context. No “where am I now?” anxiety. Meanwhile, the order summary and total cost remain fixed on the left—always visible, always clear. So users know exactly what they’re paying, how much, and what’s next. Why It Works 🧠 (The UX Science Behind It) Hick’s Law: The fewer decisions a user faces at once, the faster they act. → By keeping one section active and guiding the flow, decision time drops drastically. Fitts’s Law: Important CTAs like “Complete Purchase” are always within easy reach. → Less movement, less friction, higher conversion. Cognitive Load Theory: Users can focus on one task at a time without holding multiple details in working memory. → Reduces overwhelm and boosts completion rates. Jakob’s Law: Users prefer familiar patterns—but optimized. → The experience feels familiar (same steps) but frictionless (all in one intuitive space). Visibility of System Status (Heuristic #1): The progress bar communicates exactly where the user stands. → No uncertainty, no stress. The Business Impact 💼 For the business, the benefits are just as strong: ✔️ Fewer drop-offs at the payment stage. ✔️ Faster checkout completion. ✔️ Higher trust and transparency (clear cost visibility). ✔️ Stronger brand perception through thoughtful design. The Bigger Lesson 🎯 Good UX isn’t about adding animations or colors. It’s about removing friction, guiding attention, and designing for how humans think. This one-page checkout is more than a layout—it’s a conversation between the product and user, built on trust, clarity, and flow. Because the best design isn’t the one with the most steps… It’s the one where the user doesn’t even feel the steps exist. #UXDesign #ProductDesign #EcommerceUX #DesignThinking #UserExperience #ConversionOptimization #DesignStrategy #HeuristicEvaluation #CXDesign #DesignForHumans

Progress bars aren't just for websites; they can change your Customers' entire experience.   Yesterday I experienced something simple yet thoughtful during my MRI.   As I laid there, the usual sounds and instructions filled the room. But what caught my attention was the progress bar at the bottom of the screen that was projected on the rear wall of the room.   For the first time, I knew exactly how much time was left at any given moment. And that simple visual had a massive impact on my experience. This reminded me of a similar experience when you watch your Uber ride approach in real-time.   Both experiences share a powerful psychological trick: they reduce Customer anxiety by providing real-time updates and improving the perception of waiting time.   In a Customer-centric business culture, these seemingly small details make all the difference.   When your Customers can see progress, they feel more in control, less anxious, and more satisfied.   Here’s how you can incorporate this easy psychological trick in your business:   ➡️ Whether it's in a digital process, a service, or a physical experience, show your customers where they are in the journey. This could be a progress bar, real-time updates, or clear milestones.   ➡️ Keep your customers informed. Whether you’re offering a service or product, let them know what to expect and when. This builds trust and reduces uncertainty.   ➡️ Use tools like real-time tracking, status updates, or notifications to keep your customers engaged and in control. This not only improves their experience but also allows you to leverage real-time feedback. The smallest details can transform your Customer Experience. Just like that progress bar during my MRI, when customers know what’s happening, they feel better.   And when they feel better, they come back. Consider reposting, sharing is caring. ♻️

💡 How to design effective progress bar (+ Figma UI Kits) Progress bar visually communicates the progress of an ongoing task to the user. It gives users a better idea of how much of the task has been completed and how much is left so that they can accurately plan their time. ✅ When to show the progress bar: Typically, you need to show a progress bar for long-running tasks that take more than 10 seconds to complete, such as file upload or installation process. When the wait is long enough, users will notice it and appreciate feedback on the progress. For tasks that take less than 10 seconds, consider using other indicators like infinite loading spinners or skeleton screens. ✅ How to design an informative progress bar: ✔ The progress bar should appear as soon as the user initiates a process. ✔ Show the progress bar in the context of interaction (follow the principle of proximity). ✔ Ensure the progress bar moves in accordance with the actual task progress. Misleading progress bars can frustrate users. Adjust the progress bar speed to match the expected time for task completion, slowing down if necessary to match longer tasks. ✔ Use the right size and shape. The progress bar should be large enough to be easily noticed but not so large that it distracts from other content. ✔ Add supporting text to communicate the status (e.g., "45% completed" or "Uploading file (3 of 5)"). ✔ Communicate remaining time for lengthy processes (>10min). It will mitigate the fear that the system is not responding.  ✔ Ensure that the progress bar animation is smooth & steady and does not hinder the performance of the app. ✔ Provide clear feedback when the process is complete (e.g., show a green checkmark icon) ✅ Psychological trick: When designing animation for a progress bar, you can start quickly but end slowly. Begin the progress bar quickly, even if it's just a small jump. The immediate response reduces perceived wait times. Slowing down towards the end can create a sense of anticipation and reduce perceived inaccuracy if the process takes longer than expected. 📖 Design Systems with Figma UI Kits: Practical design recommendations & UI assets for the progress bar. ✔ IBM Carbon: https://lnkd.in/d8N5U2n5 ✔ Dell Design System https://lnkd.in/d8DxM23A ✔ Microsoft Fluent 2 https://lnkd.in/dDZyPRxd 🖼 by Cristina Guedes #UI #userinterface #userinterfacedesign #productdesign #ux #userexperience #uxdesign

Choosing the Right Loader: Infinite vs. Exact In the realm of user experience, choosing the appropriate loading indicator can significantly impact user satisfaction. Two common types of loaders are: Infinite Loaders: These continuously animate, suggesting an ongoing process. Exact Loaders: These display a progress bar or percentage, indicating the completion stage. When to Use Each: Infinite Loaders: Ideal for: Short actions (under 10 seconds): When the duration is uncertain or the action is quick, an infinite loader provides a sense of responsiveness. Background tasks: For processes that don't directly impact user interaction, an infinite loader maintains a sense of activity. Indefinite wait times: If the action's duration is unpredictable, an infinite loader prevents users from feeling stuck. Exact Loaders: Ideal for:Longer actions (10 seconds or more): Provides users with a clear sense of progress and estimated completion time. Multi-step processes: Allows users to track progress through multiple stages. Large file uploads/downloads: Gives users a visual cue of the remaining time. Key Considerations: User expectations: Consider what information users expect to see during the loading process. Action duration: Tailor the loader type to the estimated time required for the action. Context: The appropriate loader depends on the specific task and the overall user experience. By carefully selecting the right loader, you can enhance the user experience, improve perceived performance, and build trust with your audience. #uxdesign #uiux #userexperience #webdevelopment #mobiledevelopment

If customers don’t know when they’ve “won,” they don’t feel closure… and closure is what creates trust. Bad retention experience: - Use product - Feel “maybe it helped?” - Move on High retention experience: - Use product - Hit a clear checkpoint - Feel progress Actionable fix: Define a visible win state and communicate it early. Example: Instead of: “You’ll see results in 2–3 weeks.” Say: Day 3: "X feels different" Day 7: "Y changes" Day 14: "This is when people notice Z” When people can name progress, they stay engaged.