Good defaults

The user wants to complete actions quickly.

Problem

The user wants to complete actions quickly.

Solution

Providing good defaults is key for great conversion rates. If users need to enter data, provide smart defaults instead of leaving fields empty or just choosing the first available value. Defaults can have a big impact on form completion.

Use this when you can do qualified guesses on the what the user might choose.

Use data that is available to you, like location settings, language, current date & time, without asking the user.

Be contextual, derive good defaults by common sense.

Certain defaults can be invisible, like location of the user, language settings. For editable fields only show options that are relevant to the task at hand. Let the user easily update the fields.

Use this with Social Login and grab as many defaults as possible, like name, contact details, avatar.

Providing suggested values or “multiple defaults” makes sense in some cases as well. When collecting donations, having suggested amounts increases the average donation value.

Something seemingly insignificant as a checkbox default like opt-in or opt-out does make a huge difference.

Learn from your customers, adjust defaults based on their historical data and usage.

Avoid defaults for fields which could be sensitive or politically charged, such as gender or citizenship. Users could get offended if you assume certain things.

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Form
Form
Suggested values
Suggested values
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Multiple defaults
Giving feels good
Multiple defaults
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Problem

The user wants to complete actions quickly.

Solution

Providing good defaults is key for great conversion rates. If users need to enter data, provide smart defaults instead of leaving fields empty or just choosing the first available value. Defaults can have a big impact on form completion.

Use this when you can do qualified guesses on the what the user might choose.

Use data that is available to you, like location settings, language, current date & time, without asking the user.

Be contextual, derive good defaults by common sense.

Certain defaults can be invisible, like location of the user, language settings. For editable fields only show options that are relevant to the task at hand. Let the user easily update the fields.

Use this with Social Login and grab as many defaults as possible, like name, contact details, avatar.

Providing suggested values or “multiple defaults” makes sense in some cases as well. When collecting donations, having suggested amounts increases the average donation value.

Something seemingly insignificant as a checkbox default like opt-in or opt-out does make a huge difference.

Learn from your customers, adjust defaults based on their historical data and usage.

Avoid defaults for fields which could be sensitive or politically charged, such as gender or citizenship. Users could get offended if you assume certain things.

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