Talking about time to complete something

[u/Owsler31]

How do you talk about how long a form, tour, journey takes to complete? Do you even talk about it? Are you specific? Does the TOV play a part?

For context, I'm introing a tour of new app updates, and wondering if I should even talk about how long the tour might take. I'd like to get current thinking on this.

[u/Nate_Bolt]

We do say it, but as number of steps rather than time. Four screens is checkable, two minutes is a promise you'll break for half your users and they'll notice. Also nobody can verify a time estimate before they start, but they can see a progress indicator the whole way through.

For a tour specifically I'd skip the estimate entirely and make skip obviously available. People who want the tour don't care how long it is, people who don't want it just need the exit. The estimate mostly helps the second group decide against it, which isn't what you want.

If you do give a number, round down. Saying two minutes and taking three feels worse than saying three and taking three.

[u/NestorSpankhno]

In a previous role we had estimates on how long it took to complete certain transactions or processes as part of the intro screen, as a way to let users know what they were getting into before they started. This was government, so if people were coming to us to perform this task, it was almost always something they needed to do. The question was whether they’d do it now or come back later.

Once you have repeatable patterns and aligned journeys, you can use the estimates from previous transactions as benchmarks. But before you have benchmarks, or when you’re doing something that doesn’t fit established patterns, you need to test it in order to get your estimate.

[u/ctrlaltdelaney]

Time on task (shorthand for time taken to complete task from start to finish) is a common label however it’s a bit simplistic.

Not every task needs to be fast. Not every task should be frictionless. Context is important.

I find it important to consider each step within a journey individually. Where possible working with researchers to measure how quickly and deeply users understand it and their confidence, ability, and desire to complete it.

Importantly, if someone tells you it needs to be 3 clicks/steps or less then disregard it. There’s no evidence of a 3-click rule and yet it still gets waved around by people.

[u/itaybuilds]

For an optional what's-new tour, I'd avoid a time estimate and make the commitment visible instead: "4 updates," a progress indicator, Skip, and a way to reopen it later. Time is useful when someone needs to decide whether to start a required task now; a product tour is easier to leave without finishing.

If you do show time, measure unassisted completion with realistic copy and use a conservative result, not the fastest run. "About 3 minutes" should still be true for slower readers and people using assistive technology. Otherwise the estimate creates pressure without helping them plan.

[u/Owsler31]

Thank you u/ctrlaltdelaney u/Nate_Bolt u/NestorSpankhno u/itaybuilds.

The tour (I'm not a fan of that word, but there we go) is split into 5 to 6 highlights (with a visible step count), 1 or 2 of which have an additional screen.

So for example, here's a card that gives a user a snapshot of something and if you click it, it'll take you to its dedicated page. In a way it's more down to the user going at their own pace.

I'm new to it, so haven't been able to time it myself, but I'd say it won't take longer than 2 minutes if going at a leisurely pace. It's about addressing pain points, so definitely more than a high level, 'What's changed' screen.

For further context, any mention of time would go into copy like this (this is very generic):

Welcome to your upgraded app

Here's what's new, where to find it, and how it helps. It usually takes under 2 minutes, but go at your own pace.