UX principle #8 - flexibility and efficiency.

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Have you ever noticed how Airbnb allows you to quickly scan homes, look at the price, rating and check photos? You don't actually have to click on the rental or open up multiple tabs to check out each item, the platform is flexible, therefore, it’s flexible for the user.

Flexibility doesn’t just follow a linear path, it's about knowing your customers and giving flexibility for different customer intents. So, while one customer intent might be to just browse a website and see what they sell, another customer intent might be to buy a specific product.

Now when it comes to efficiency, how do you make it easy for those different customer intents to fulfill their tasks? If someone wants to browse how do you make it easy for them? If someone wants to book a movie ticket, how do you make it easy for them to view the movie times?

Here’s a great example of a customer browsing and buying a movie ticket. They scan the app for the movie they want to see, and on the same screen, they can select the day, time, book and pay. So many user journeys addressed, in an efficient way.

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So, to recap, customers have different intents when it comes to online behaviour, some want to browse, others want to buy. You need to think about all customer intents and make the experience efficient and flexible for the user.

Tomorrow, UX Principle #9 - consistency, clarity and standards. Stay tuned.

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