3 Tips for Cloud Providers to Enhance User Experience: Windows Azure Case Study

Posted by Kenny in Cloud Computing

Don’t get me wrong, Microsoft; I love you guys. I think you stumbled on Windows Vista, but Windows 7 really made up for it. And your Microsoft Office Suite really makes life easier, though it could be a little less expensive.

But something you really need to improve is the Windows Azure user experience, especially for free trial members. Today, the key to user experience is simplicity. On websites, marketers want as little clicks as possible between a customer entering the site and purchasing a product. Here’s some tips for cloud providers on improving User Experience when signing on a new customer:

1. Sign Me Up Quickly, Please

No one likes deciphering those incomprehensible texts found on the “confirm you’re a human” pages; by the time I’m a pro at that, I’ll call myself a cryptographer. Look at the image below. Does it somehow make me more human if I can decrypt a longer series of random letters? Or is it possible that, if I can do the same for 3 letters, that can still, quite likely, prove that I’m somewhat human?

2. I’m Done Signing Up, Don’t Ask for More Information

I already went through the painful sign-up process. Now that I’ve entered my cell-phone number on my account, and verified my email, and you even told me that I’m ready to start my simple free trial, you’re going to ask me to verify my account again? Blood levels are rising, Windows. But I’ll play along and pretend I’m more patient than I am. Let me pull out my cell phone.

3. If It’s a “Free Trial” Don’t Ask for My Card Info

Seriously? Look at that image below; it’s worse than the first application I had to fill out (the one that got me my username, not the one that I had to fill out to verify my account the first time and not the one I had to fill out to verify that my account is verified). If this is a free trial why are you so eager grab my card information? Getting a bit suspicious, Windows. Sure, it might be the way some others do it, but aren’t you supposed to be a trend setter?

I’m not pulling out my wallet, reaching for my card, and wasting more time typing in all that credit card information; in fact, I’d rather put my time into writing a blog post on how cloud providers should enhance user experience for a satisfied customer, of which I am not.

This is an example of how you just lost a customer.