Use case summary

Challenge

As part of Sage Intacct’s move to a new product framework in 2023, I led an effort to establish a new content pattern for the delete confirmation dialog.

In the old framework, users were not given any warning message when they selected a delete action, and because the delete actions in the product are permanent deletions, this caused a lot of stress for customers. We knew we needed to fix this problem in the new framework, and one of the fixes was to require all delete actions to have a delete confirmation dialog. So, many teams began creating the dialogs, but there was a lot of inconsistency, and many of the variations were creating confusing user experiences. When one of the permutations made its way into a bi-weekly UX writing collaboration meeting I led, I knew that I could use it as a teaching moment that could lead the team to create a pattern that would ease customer confusion and simultaneously help teams scale and deliver the new dialogs.

Approach

I led the content design team through a series of short exercises to help us come up with a pattern we could use moving forward.

To do this, the first thing I did was to review best practices for modal dialogs. I did this by sharing the UX Writing Best Practices Checklist, by Bobby Wood. Next, I led the team through a voting exercise, where we looked at one of the recent variations of the delete confirmation dialog, and we voted on whether it met the criteria in the checklist. Finally, I ran a timed writing exercise, where we each rewrote the dialog and then discussed our ideas. Through the exercise and discussion, we agreed on a pattern for the 3 parts of the dialog: title, body copy, and button labels.

Outcome

The delete confirmation dialog we created became the new pattern for teams to use.

The new pattern was documented in the company style guide and the Figma development specs.

Impact

Customers are now consistently warned with clear and consistent messages when they are about to perform a delete action.

Role

Lead Content Designer

Impact

Customers receive clear warnings before they perform a delete action.

Outcome

UX designers and content designers use a pattern to create consistent delete confirmation dialogs.

Workshops

Miro dot voting and writing exercise

Focus areas

UX writing best practices

Confirmation dialogs

Result

We created and documented a new delete confirmation dialog pattern in the style guide and Figma development specs.