After having to completely refill my credit card information to TicketWeb 3 times in order to complete an order (Bright Eyes, Cursive, Cat Power), I took a few minutes to write them about their need for better Contingency Design. Here were my points:
- Initial client-side verification of fields, while not authoritative, would have saved grief on try #2
- If you must break that Back button, then give pass-thru links that will prepopulate appropriately
- This (pass-thru) should be happening anyway so that invalid field entries are highlighted (session state should be retained so that automatically loading the entry field step should prefill appropriately)
I have no doubt about 37signals claims 40% sales increases. If I was feeling the slightest edgier (and believe me, I’ve been on edge) I would have threw in the towel after the second try. Seeing as TicketWeb claimed over $15 in service charges, they can probably afford to send someone to a workshop.