Flickr a few months ago created a good idea: they inject a div into the landing page of login that allows them to send arbitrary messages to you that you can dismiss. I definitely think more websites should do that.
Imagine my surprise when I found this notification today:
Umm, guys according to your records and mine, my Pro account won’t expire until June 6th. It’s March 22. This isn’t exactly a good thing to be sending to your paying customers. A two word change would do wonders: “…your Pro account has expired†to “…your Pro account will be expiring soon.†As it is, it appears your messaging system clearly has the wrong Type II type error in it (erring to your advantage instead of mine).
What sort of impression does that give me of Flickr’s priorities?
Hmm, it appears that the notification has disappeared from my account even though I haven’t dismissed it. (I was going to view source to look to see how they did the rounded rectangle code and it was gone.)
Guess it was a bug in their system.
What sort of controls do you put in a messaging system to minimize Type I errors from happenning? This is something I need to think about more.
Yes, the rounded corners are certainly intriguing… I’m always up for new approaches…