Anticipatory means to take care of in advance. When we talk about the amazing anticipatory design trend, we’re talking about programs and websites that anticipate; we’re talking a customer experience that has already anticipated their need. Being able to already have thought of the customers wants and needs lets you satisfy those opportunities exactly and seemingly with ease.

Anticipation makes customers feel great

When a program suggests just the right thing at the right time, it is a huge win. Trust is built by an efficient and accurate user experience. The software gets out of the way and the user moves swiftly toward their goals.

One great example of this is when Amazon added the “Customers Also Purchased” section to their site. Now as you’re shopping for new running shoes, you’re being shown socks, in-soles, and phone bands as well. Even if you didn’t know you needed a sweat-wicking shirt, your needs have been anticipated. The quarter after they implemented the feature, they saw a rise in sales of 29%. As the user types, the software quickly accesses favorites and search history that match, even trying to anticipate your search as you type.

The powerful lesson of this great feature is that user behavior has absorbed this innovation and now expects it. Most people now click on to the address bar in all browsers and just start typing. They expect the best possible match to appear, every time! This trend has consumers feeling great, but it doesn’t always go perfectly.

Computers don’t mind the extra work

Terminator, Matrix and many other sci-fi plots depict subservient robots rising up to take control from their human creators. At least at this stage, this is merely entertaining fiction. Software can search among thousands, even millions of locally stored records a good deal faster than the blink of an eye. It is as if the processors are sitting their waiting, daring good programmers to bring it!

Accuracy by default — When software anticipates well, it also offers the correct solution based on previous uses. This feature means that one doesn’t have to worry about or be delayed by misspelling a site’s domain.

Human interaction is energized by anticipation

There is no judgement from the computer’s point of view. It is fun, even romantic to anthropomorphize the computer’s point-of-view. The winning exchange is between the developer and the end client, the user.

The user should never consider that there was a developer or a team of developers planning and anticipating options. The interaction should play out either as expected or like magic. Seth Godin pointed out how positive the word anticipation is compared to anxiety. It is bold move to anticipate how the experience goes for anyone else. To highlight the right thing and delight the user of the experience is the highest achievement.

Anticipation is the word one uses when they approach a holiday or the opening of a present. There is no reason why a well designed experience should be frustrating. Sometimes the inexperienced user has anxiety. The appeal of a simple, predictable and easy result satisfies the anticipation and advances the relationship to expectation. Expectation is one step toward trust.

With trust comes responsibility

To remove perfectly acceptable options that might be desired is the opposite of what is being described. There is nothing more frustrating to have an expectation met with no possible solution. Or worse, when an update removes the exact option that the user desires in the name of more streamlined options.

“No one ever uses that feature anymore, let’s phase it out,” would be a dangerous statement in a design meeting. Far better to leave the option that is already there within an advanced set of options that power users can access.

It is forgivable to move less used options to a second-tier panel. If the majority or common users like things done one specific way with a majority of options pre-selected by default, success can abound. This is what Apple does. Most PC and Android users like to have the options readily available and are wary of an interface that is so streamlined. They’ve paved the road to delight the majority. This generality should not anger Mac users. The real delight that makes the Apple experience satisfying for so many is that you can open up those panels and tailor that streamlined experience to your will.

Apple’s Spotlight feature is a great example. Hitting the command button and the spacebar brings up a similar form of magic to the one mentioned earlier. Start typing and it immediately offers up the best matches throughout the harddrive and beyond.

The downside

The visitor must not feel that their experience is manipulated. The forcing of their behavior, especially in a direction that appears to be trying to control the experience is a sure way to turn off your users. You can see the anxiety, the apprehension in the comments following this related article. What program let that commenter down?

Can you make one solid prediction at a time? It is not preselecting. It is definitely not done by limiting. By only facilitating, to the best of your abilities, will keep your end clients, your true customers, feeling unencumbered and delighted. They will return time and again to experience your magic.