---
title: 'Product Confidence: What is it and how to achieve it?'
teaser: 'Build stronger products by creating clear intent behind design decisions.

  '
tags: design
author: Ryan Coughlin
published_on: 2017-01-30
---

Six months ago a coworker noticed I kept using the phrase “product confidence”
throughout design critiques and discussions. It got me thinking, _what does
product confidence mean?_

My initial thought was that product confidence is a function of white space,
type, and colors that support any given interaction to achieve a task. While
those aspects help build product confidence, it needs a backbone to rest on.

### How to identify it

The backbone of product confidence is **clear intent**, both in information
architecture and interaction. A confident product:

- Only cares about pertinent information in the correct format.
- Has deliberate user flows.

When a user executes a set of tasks in an app, product confidence invokes a
strong feeling of trust and clarity.

### Example

The original definition of product confidence started to evolve when
[Tyler](https://twitter.com/gravdanger510), a designer here at thoughtbot, was
working on a mobile insurance claims application. He was showing us wireframes
that let a user start a new claim. Throughout the flow a user was prompted to
supply a handful of information to submit a claim. We landed on a screen that
prompted users to take a picture of the insurance card.

I asked him: “Why do you need a photograph, could a user type in the
information?”

He replied: “The claims agent encounters a significant amount of typos and
incorrect information when reviewing claims.”

A few things came from this:

1. In research, we found it was easier for users to take a photo.
2. Scanning cards has become standard practice.
3. Typos and errors were mitigated by supplying a photo.

Manually inputting information was creating issues, slowing down process times
and frustrating customers. There is an important human element at work here: the
mindset of the user. Being involved in an accident leaves the user a bit shaken
up, raising the probability they will make a mistake on the next field. **By
eliminating manual data entry for the user, the app helped increase both the
user’s experience and the insurance company’s efficiency.**

This made me revisit how I defined product confidence. A product with strong
visuals can give a user “oh this is nice” first impression - which can help a
user feel at ease, but in the end product confidence is a matter of thoughtful
design decisions that address user needs.