How Using A ‘Swipe Left/Swipe Right’ Format Can Make For A More Enjoyable User Experience
I’m sure as a smartphone owner you have at one time utilized a mobile application that requires you to swipe left or right depending on your interest in the offering. The most common example of this style of application is Tinder. For those of you unfamiliar with the most popular dating app of the past decade, it has very simple rules. As a user, you are presented with the profile of someone you may wish to date. Swipe to the right, and you’ve signaled that you are interested in the person, while a swipe left hides that person, never to be seen again. Recently there have been more apps than ever created in this fashion for a variety of different purposes. The following are the reasons this format has gained popularity, and when it can be used appropriately.
One of the main reasons behind the swiping methods rise in popularity is its familiarity amongst its users. Many people have used an application of this style, and if they haven’t, they have at least heard of it. The swiping method has been featured in many TV shows and movies over the years and is no secret to the millennial generation. When a user is presented with this format of application they know what to do with it immediately. This is helpful because it removes any learning curve, which could cause your application to lose users.
The next reason this is a great way to format an application is due to the fact that it’s exciting. With each flip of a page, you are exposed to new options and potential experiences. Recently creators have been opening up to unique ways of including this swipe method, and it has produced many different results. Some of the most interesting ones include a cat adoption application, where you swipe right or left on adoptable cats in hopes of finding the perfect friend. There are versions of this format where users swipe trying to find a platonic friend in which they can hang and share similar interests. A recently created a prototype of a food delivery app where the user swipes through different local take-out options until they had generated a shortlist of desirable food choices.
One of the main reasons for the success of this application style is simply because it is easy to use. It reduces the number of choices the user is forced to make at that moment, and all the information is delivered on one single page that you can either approve of or deny. This format delivers the information straight to the user without them having to navigate the application, and it doesn’t permit any opportunity for them to get hung up or distracted. It also plays well into the hands of developers hoping to market off the ability to promote specific offerings. With all of these reasons making this a productive and profitable method for offering options to users it is sure to become even more widely used.