Are Your “Character Limits” in Character for Your Brand?
How often have you been invited to include a message with a gift you purchased online, only to be reprimanded after you’ve entered the message because the character limit has been exceeded and needs to be shortened? When instruction is included, it is often minimal and/or vague and ultimately results in confusion and frustration. Users utilize text boxes in a variety of different situations such as when ordering flowers, sending an e-card, entering information for a newspaper ad, or when forwarding a webpage onto a friend (’Tell a Friend’). The following examples include both effective and ineffective ways that text boxes have been used, as well as some recommendations on things can be done to improve text boxes, if you are currently implementing this feature on your site.
On a popular retail site featured below, there is no indication to let the user know that a character count requirement is in place. Thus, the user enters in his or her desired text and only becomes aware of the character limitation after they attempt to proceed to the next step. The notification indicates to the user that the character count limit is 215 (as if they were expected to know) and also that their message has been “trimmed” to meet this limit. As you can imagine, users do not respond well to this type of surprise.
To improve the user experience, this site should indicate the character limit upfront, before the user attempts to enter a message. A character counter is also recommended and allows the user to determine how many characters they have remaining. In addition, the site should not allow the user to enter text beyond the character limit. For example, since the character limit above is 215, the user should not be able to enter a 216th character.
The following example is a good implementation of the text box. Not only does the site inform the user of how many characters they have, it also counts down as the user types. Additionally, this site has gone even further to enhance the user experience by adding an ‘Expressions Exchange’ link to help those with writer’s block or who just aren’t feeling creative. Several of our users have indicated that the ability to choose from pre-existing phrases or messages is helpful and appreciated. Allowing a user to choose text also serves the added benefit of the user not having to wonder whether or not their sentiment will fit within the permissible character limit.
Additional features that help provide a positive user experience:
- The addition of a spell check feature.
- An appropriately sized text box to show the majority, if not all, of the text which has been entered.
- Providing an approximate number of words that can be included. For example, ‘No more than 230 characters (about 20-25 words).
Ensuring that users are provided with clear instructions as to how many characters are allowed, and ideally, with a real-time character counter, should result in less user frustration and may even encourage users to utilize this type of feature or ‘Tell a Friend’.
Article written by: Ircka West and Sabrina Klein ~ Usability Analysts