Tips for effective menu design: Part II

4. Use the construct, “You can say….”

If your application is speech-enabled, use the construct, “You can say….” to list the menu options.

Example:

System: You can say, “Books,” “Magazines,” or “Newspapers.”

5. Avoid the construct, “For X, say X, for Y, say Y, For Z, say Z.”

Simply rewrite the menu prompt as, “You can say, X, Y, or Z”. In cases where you can’t find the X, Y, or Z wordings that will accurately convey the meaning of the options, then use the construct “To A, say X, To B, say Y, To C, say Z,” whet “To A” would briefly explain what the option means.

Example:

System: To get your current balance, say, “Check balance,” to open a new account, say, “Open account,” to transfer funds from one account to another, say, “Transfer funds.”

6. Don’t use, “Please select from the following options”

A tired phrase that needs to be retired.

7. Never allow holes in your DTMF choices

We say that a menu has a hole if the options presented are not sequential. A menu that offers the user the option to press “1,” “2,” or “4,” has a hole. A menu that offers the options, “1,” “2,” and “3,” does not.

8. Mark position in the menu tree

A simple, “Main menu,” played prior to listing the menu items will reduce user confusion as to “where” they are in the dialog. The menu position marking becomes even more important as the user is led deeper into the menu tree. When you are leading a user down a menu path, list a menu header whenever you traverse a path and then list the sub-menu options. In case of a no-input or a no-match, then list the full path prior to replaying the menu prompt.

Example:

System: Main menu: you can say, “Check balance,” “Withdraw funds,” or “Transfer funds.”

User: Transfer funds.

System: Transferring funds. Which account do you want to transfer funds from? You can say, “Checking,” “Savings,” or “Money Market.”

User: Savings.

System: Transferring funds from Savings.

9. Avoid mixing voice and DTMF menu choices

If your application is voice enabled, avoid cramming your menu prompts with instructions on how to pick menu items by voice and by DTMF. Avoid, for instance, wordings such as, “You can say ‘check balance’ or press 1, ‘open account’ or press 2, or ‘transfer funds’ or press 3.” Instead, first offer the leaner voice-only menu, “You can say, ‘check balance’, ‘open account’, or ‘transfer funds’,” and only if the users seems to have trouble with it, revert to the mixed prompt, “You can say ‘check balance’ or press 1, ‘open account’ or press 2, or ‘transfer funds’ or press 3.”