[leapius]

I really like the idea of 'sneaking' in a confirmation surreptitiously somewhere where they might take more notice. I do agree with your idea that if you confirm right at the point of initial data entry, the user could question if the program is itself an idiot. This is the problem with double address entry on the same form as well (is this program deaf or something?!).

In thinking through this problem I was actually applying it to a real-world scenario I am dealing with right now; Shipping / email address entry for a checkout. Barrier to entry (to making a sale) has to be very low and easy enough to complete an impulse purchase quickly. (No user accounts or registration - just let me buy the damn thing already!)

In this scenario I figured having a pop-up upon submission would not usually be expected (i.e. this is not an account registration) and so would maybe surprise the user into reading it.

However, I definitely agree when confirmation boxes are situated in well-trodden interface routes, they are pointless and annoying.

[chilldream]

Interesting. You got me thinking how to apply "Undo not warning" to this kind of situation and this is what I came up with as a first pass. It's purely speculative but maybe you'll find some inspiration:

Automatically verify everything you can. (billing ZIP matches credit card provider, email at least vaguely resembles an email address, all required fields are filled, etc). Raise a warning only if something is obviously wrong.

If the user hasn't yet chosen something like shipping options, consider making it a second step. Then you can have a pageflow along the lines of:

-User inputs basic information (name, address, email, financial details, everything necessary to know what they ordered and how they will pay for it) -User is taken to a page where it asks for shipping options, with user's stated mailing address printed right next to the form. Have an obvious way to fix the address from this page. -Print the user's email address near the mailing address for the same reason (if you feel the need to justify it, you can have a checkbox that says "send a receipt to email address" or "use email address for package tracking)

After an order is complete, take the user to a page that says "Your confirmation number is foo. Please save this page for your records. We will also send a receipt to email_address." The most visible thing on the page besides that message is their order, with the shipping address in bold. The next obvious is a link on this page they can click if something is wrong. Even if you never use the confirmation number for anything, it gives the customer an excuse to be observant without making them feel stupid.

Have a generous cancellation policy. If someone contacts you saying an order is wrong and you're positive which order they're talking about, let them cancel it. Worry about malicious cancellations only if they prove to be a real problem.

[leapius]

Nice ideas! Some of them I had already implemented the same way in fact. Currently I have shipping and billing in one step - the only reason I could see for not splitting them up is that they can be different people / addresses so making them repeat an email address there might be confusing.

Right now an order number is displayed on completetion as you have described (and also emailed to them) so it's not fatal if the email address was wrong as they have a chance to note the order number down by other means. I do like the idea of telling them where the information has been emailed and giving them the option of re-sending it to a corrected address.