Chronicle of training for hotkeys

Recently, we have made life easier for mouse havers on Poisk@Mail.Ru and GoGo.Ru projects, making it possible to navigate between search results pages using the arrow keys (+ Ctrl). At the same time, we have provided a combination of Ctrl + Enter to accept search engine recommendations, such as a suggestion to correct a typo in the request, go directly to the site (for example, to request “ habrahabr.ru ”) or show the entered address on the map.

However, it turned out that it is not enough just to add some usability innovations — people ignore them, acting within the framework of a habitual pattern of behavior. And in order to achieve some noticeable effect, we had to think about how to convey to the minds and hearts of users the fact of the existence of a new remarkable feature.

The set of familiarization materials was initially supposed to be modest - they just made inscriptions right next to the page list (see screenshot), and to calculate the effectiveness of the innovation, they added a parameter to the links opened with hotkeys.


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However, users, you guessed it, ignored the innovation and continued to click on the “previous page / next page” links on the machine, without paying any attention to the informers located directly next to these links.

Then it was decided to put into battle heavy artillery - banners that perform an exclusively educational purpose. To the right of the search results for queries that did not assume contextual advertising, the following messages are displayed:



They were incomparably more noticeable and brighter than dry text information near the list of pages, but the effect was comparable. The vast majority of users who saw the banner (and sales if more than once), however, were in no hurry to give up their habits.

As a result, we still found a solution, to which, however, up to its implementation, we were rather skeptical. The designer instantly made drawings of the corresponding buttons on the keyboard and replaced them with text labels. It turned out like this:



First, we decided to show a new version of half of the audience. The effect was unexpected.



The number of users using hotkeys to flip pages has jumped sharply. Then we opened graphic prompts for all users, and the result was not long in coming. To date, the number of people using keyboard shortcuts for navigation has increased tenfold. And with a slightly lower pace, this indicator continues to grow day by day.

It turns out that all we needed was an illustrative picture in the right place that did more than informers and banner advertisements combined.

In the comments to this post, we welcome the statement of our own experience of informing users about small features, as well as bright thoughts on the topic.