Delight is dead — be boring instead

During the first few weeks of March 2020 lockdown, two different people sent me the same screen grab. It was PetSmart's email subject line: "Woot woot! We got your order.”

It was the moment I realized that delight was finally dead.

But who killed delight? The pandemic didn’t help, but the problems started long before that. Way back in 2010, The Harvard Business Review published an article entitled, “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers.”

But not everyone thinks delight should die. In May of 2019, Jared Spool defended delight by saying that any UX experience that avoids frustration and exceeds expectations is delightful. I don’t agree with Spool’s elastic definition of delight. Neither does the Nielsen Norman Group, who believes that “Only when a product is functional, reliable, and usable can users appreciate the delightful, pleasurable, or enjoyable aspects of the experience.”

Digital delight is doomed to fail. Unlike real human persons, coded interactions can’t replicate in-person spontaneity and charm. Worse, creating “functional, reliable, and usable" experiences is hard work — which is why we sometimes try and cheat by plastering cheap delight to hide the cracks.

I've experienced firsthand the perils of cleverness and delight, which is why I’ve spent the last few years focusing on the invisible parts of user experience that are absolutely critical. I call this boring UX, and it’s the focus of my talk. What it is. Why it’s valuable. Who’s good at it. How you and your team can be more boring, and when it has the biggest project impact.

Woot woot! Delight is dead. Let’s be boring instead.