Don't hold your users hostage

One of the biggest pitfalls with UX and metrics, is collecting information at the expense of the end user.

When I am browsing a site and a modal pops up, requiring action from me - you’ve taken me hostage. I now must click a button to close said modal.

You’ve impeded my experience with the site at the expense of collecting metrics. We invented Cookies so we could store temporary data on an end-user’s browser.

Let’s use those cookies to store a UserSawMessage=true on rendering of a message and if we need to collect that, go for it. By using that cookie, you can also program your site not to show that “survey”, broadcasted message, or modal. Don’t force the user to interact with said component.

You shouldn’t take your end-users hostage in order to collect metrics. No amount of data collected could ever truly represent your user base.

See this site that I devised to showcase why.