Why Your Users Aren't Listening (It’s Not What You Think)
There’s a right moment for everything, and sometimes good design is just about noticing those. Last night, I had been watching a show and about to turn off my TV when a notification popped up on my Apple TV: “Charge your remote now”
What a perfectly timed message!
It didn’t interrupt the show. It didn’t ask for attention when I was deep into what I was watching. It waited until I was done. Until my brain had shifted modes from consuming to wrapping up. The request was timed to match my context. That’s rare, and it felt strangely thoughtful.
The difference between charging it now and doing it some time later was effectively zero for me, but for my future self, it would be the difference between the TV working and not working.
Designers often obsess over how we say something. What the words are. Whether the button is red or blue. Where to place the button. But we often forget to think about when we say it. And timing, in design, often matters more than phrasing. The same prompt can be helpful or annoying depending purely on when it arrives.
I saw this when I worked with Skandiabanken. We’d sometimes promote new features or products right after users finished something. Like after they had paid a bill or logged out. And strangely, conversion rates were good, even though the customers had to log in again. Why? Because their minds were clear. They weren’t trying to do a task anymore. They were just… done. And when you catch people at that moment, they are far more open to noticing something new.
Contrast that with what happened today at the store: I opened my payment app to pay for something, and a notification took over the entire screen. I swiped it away instantly, didn’t even read it. They interrupted me mid-task. So instead of engaging with their message, I treated it like an obstacle to remove.
We talk a lot about empathy in design. But empathy isn’t just understanding what someone wants and how to present it. It’s also knowing when they’re ready to hear it!
