So you need to give bad news to users…
summary
Claims five concrete tactics for writing bad news: understand dysregulated brains and a brain‑dollars cost model, surface a single clear action (subject line and change your password now with a prominent button), add concise “breathing” reassurance and a real link to details (empathyadvocacy.org), give a time frame like try again after 3pm Eastern or “try again in five minutes,” and apologize with direct wording such as we're deeply sorry for this inconvenience to you; rewrites and banners aim to reduce cognitive load and improve compliance.
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chapters (28)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:40Core tenet: never write for calm people
- 1:34Dysregulation in brief
- 2:22We all get dysregulated
- 3:00We're bad at compartmentalizing
- 4:36Cognitive bandwidth
- 6:08Distorted sense of time
- 7:03Difficulty in processing information
- 7:42Think about a recent time
- 8:48Highlight action
- 9:10A poor example
- 9:58Reworking toward action
- 10:39Waiting is an action
- 11:02Each thread has a cognitive cost
- 11:37The "brain spending" analogy
- 12:24Taxes & surcharges
- 14:12Going brain-broke
- 15:16Treat people as people
- 15:48Injecting a little respect
- 16:13Careful balancing acts
- 17:50"Breathing" statements
- 19:21The vicious void
- 20:05A warning banner example
- 20:44Strengthen the bridge over the void
- 22:50Sharp users don't buy them
- 23:32Apologizing with bravery
- 24:30Default to this mindset
- 25:10Join me in bringing more empathy to the world
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