This email comes to you courtesy of a mistake I made last week.

I tried to turn around a request on a short timeline, and I forgot an important detail: the form I created didn’t trigger a confirmation email for people who submitted it.

The result: the executive director received messages from six people stuck in limbo.

Our process lacked a thoughtful feedback loop.

How do you know something works?

Our lives are filled with feedback loops.

When you press the up arrow next to an elevator, it lights up.

Your phone vibrates when you get a text.

Bread “pops” up when it has finished toasting.

Lights, beeps, chirps, clicks, pops… these interactions are how designers communicate: “Your input was received.”

How would you feel if you pushed the up arrow next to an elevator and nothing happened?

A little anxious, right? You might push it again. If it still doesn’t light up, you would assume no elevator was coming. If the elevator arrived 30 seconds later, you’d be surprised. (Even though you asked for the elevator. Ha!)

This anxiety all stems from an incomplete feedback loop. When the arrow doesn’t light up, you assume your message was lost. (Just like those six people who emailed the executive director last week.)

But now imagine the experience with a sign above the button that reads: “Elevator is working normally, but the light bulb in the up arrow is out.” You would press the button and wait for the elevator as usual. When it arrives 30 seconds later, you would go on without incident.

It's about physics

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

From infancy, humans test everything. What will happen when I push this? Or if I drop this? What about when I bite my dad on the nose? (Thanks to my 2-year-old for testing that out.)

Humans test the world to understand it, and it constantly talks back to us.

If we want to design a process that humans will trust, we must follow the patterns they’ve come to expect.

When we deviate, we stress people the hell out.

Strong feedback loops are…

Multi-modal

When you lock your car using a key fob, you know it's locked because four things happen simultaneously.

• Auditory – Your car chirps.
• Visual – The taillights flash.
• Mechanical – The door locks snap into place.
• Tactile – The button depresses and releases with a satisfying click.

When you experience all the signals at once, it reinforces your confidence in the process. If only one signal were present—say, a chirp—you might miss it entirely in a loud parking lot. And because these signals happen immediately, you don’t wait or wonder—you know.

Accessible

Multiple layers of feedback loops in different modes is powerful because success is possible in so many contexts.

If you are deaf, or the environment is too loud to hear the chirps, you can still tell your doors are locked because of the flashing taillights.

You might rely on the loud pair of chirps if you're visually impaired.

If you're skeptical of fancy gadgets like a key fob, the simplicity of the mechanical “kerchunk” of the lock snapping into place should reassure you.

Designing for accessibility means ensuring feedback reaches people in multiple ways, regardless of ability or environment.

Resilient

Strong feedback loops are also resilient when things break. Even if your taillights are broken, the chirp still delivers the signal.

If your taillights are broken and your chirps are out(?), (lol, I do software, not cars), you can still know that your car doors are locked because you can see the manual lock indicator through the window.

Car locks are an example of robust design that remains effective when components break.

To earn trust, build trustworthy systems

Whether you are building relationships with donors, clients or volunteers, you must build trust. This starts with designing a trustworthy process.

Here’s the checklist I’ll use before I ship another form for a client.

[ ] Does the person have all the information they need to complete the form?

[ ] Is every question on the form necessary?

[ ] Are we capturing contact information to send the confirmation message to?

[ ] Will the person receive confirmation via our feedback loop in at least two ways?

[ ] Is the form usable on mobile devices?

[ ] Are expectations for follow-up clearly articulated?

[ ] Does our process hold us accountable for following through on those expectations?

If the answer to all of these is yes, your form is ready to be shipped.

What pre-flight checklist do you need before your process goes live?

Until next time,

Ted