Detect if I'm fed up

Daniele Catalanotto
Apr 22, 2022


A Service Design principle to better react to customer's emotion automatically.

My laptop trackpad is a poor guy. When I'm on a website and am angry because a button doesn't work, I click, click, click and click like a mad man. Or when I'm lost on a website, I scroll up, down, back up, back down, up, and down... What happens between me and my trackpad is true for many other people:

The movements of your computer mouse can show your emotions (1).
Reactful is an app that detects if a user is confused or hesitant based on mouse movements.

And we can use that information! Back in the days when I was in an agency, we used this insight on the donation form of an NGO website. When someone went up and down frenetically or clicked many times in the same spot, a message showed up:

Need help with your donation? Call us at this number to talk to a human directly.

You can find many other ways to detect when someone hates your service. For example, when someone calls your hotline twice or more on the same day, they need some extra love.

(1) Takashi Yamauchi and Kunchen Xiao's research goes deep into this subject. Tools like Reactful help you to detect this automatically.


Little side notes

  • This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
  • I was able to reduce the lengths by 40.92% compared to the first version.
  • Once adapted, even more, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
  • As always feel free to share comments, feedback or personal stories to improve this principle.
Like 3
Patrick Marcelissen
May 2, 2022
I like this one. For me clear to read. My recommendation would be some tip to prevent it, besides using the tool. Like testing on dead ends for example.
Guy Martin
May 18, 2022
Thanks for letting me know about Reactful!  What a great idea.

Some phone systems can detect frustration as well, and when you start swearing or just saying "operator" or "agent" or "human" they will bypass the tree and put you through to a person.  Which reminds me of
- a website (mainly for the US) to help people navigate company phone systems more effectively and provide other tips the companies themselves should do.
Daniele Catalanotto
Jun 4, 2022
Thanks Guy for that additional information, that will help me for the next iteration in order to show that it is something we can also apply in other channels :) 
Daniele Catalanotto
Aug 13, 2022
So here comes version three of this principle 

My trackpad is a poor guy.
When I'm on a website and angry because something doesn't work, I click, click, click and click like a mad man. Or when I'm lost on a website, I scroll up, down, back up, back down, up, and down... Researchers (1) know that this doesn't happen to me.

The movements of your computer mouse can show your emotions.

And we can use that information! Back in the day, we used this insight on the donation form of an NGO website. A message showed up when a visitor went up and down like crazy or clicked many times in the same spot. It said something like:
"Need help with your donation? Speak with a human at this number."

This is something you can do in plenty of different ways (2). So let me ask you this:
How could you automatically detect in your service or product when someone has an issue? How can you show them then some extra love?

Footnotes

(1) Takashi Yamauchi and Kunchen Xiao's research goes deep into this subject. Tools like Reactful help you to detect this automatically.

(2) Some hotline systems can detect frustration too. When you start swearing or just saying "operator" or "agent" or "human" they will bypass the robot tree. So you get directly to a person. Thanks to community member Guy Martin for that extra example.

Daniele's personal notes

  • This is the third draft of this Service Design Principle
  • This principle has been reduced by 15.66% compared to the second draft (without the footnotes).
  • I've added a footnote with an example provided by community member Guy Martin, thanks mate!