sreeramTwo weeks back, I had written a rather important mail to a friend; it was about a potential career opportunity for him, the email included the said potential employer in CC. Soon after I left for Google I/O and this was out of my mind.
The potential employer pinged me couple of days back to enqure more referrals for the same said position, so I got curious and asked them what happened to the gentleman I already referred? Only to hear that my friend never responded!
He’s a good chap, a thorough professional and that fact made me call him right away to check why he never bothered to respond whether or not he’s interested in the opportunity.
His response is where the UX story fits now.
Me: Hey man, how are you? Just calling to check if you got my email introducing to a potential employer?
Friend: Im well. Ahem, no, i havent received any email from you, which ID did you send it to?
Me: Your only ID that I know, the hotmail one
Friend: Oh! I recently signed-up for Twitter and my inbox is filled with notification emails, let me dig through and get back to you?
Me: Ok, look forward, let me know if you want me to resend the email. Cya.
In my mind, a single thought was running in constant loop; is my friend lying? Besides, doesn’t all social media notification emails go to ‘social’ folder / tab on your email account? And then it stuck. Only gmail has that feature, and God forsaken Hotmail has no such smart folders!
So, a best UX (user experience) is when you no longer notice how it is built, but you are intuitively using a feature without even realizing its there at the first place. It is almost like oxygen and breathing, you notice it only when there’s a lack of oxygen!
Talking of Google I/O 2015, Sundar Pichai mentioned that Gmail now has a billion users. No wonder right, or is it to the sparse hotmail users living under the rock?
Here’s my two minutes of silence to all the lost opportunities for people who use products with crappy UX.