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Users confuse search field with new question input.

I have search analytics turned on for my Askbot site in Google Analytics, and I notice that occasionally a user will confuse the search field with an input to ask a new question.

Here's an example of a "search" that was recently performed on the site:

Compared to the USA, is the cost of livg higher or lower in Chile? Thank You

I think this might be due to the fact that the "Ask Your Question" button is so close to the search input that people may think that the two are linked, especially since the search button doesn't look like a button:

Screenshot of search bar / 'Ask Your Question' interface from homepage

I don't know exactly what is happening, but I think users are entering a question in the search field, then pressing the return key expecting to create a new question on the site.

It is a very rare problem (happens maybe once per month).

todofixthis's avatar
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todofixthis
asked 2013-01-22 09:33:02 -0600, updated 2013-01-22 09:36:47 -0600
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1 Answer

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Some ideas for how this might be solved:

  • Change "Ask Your Question" to "Ask a New Question" or similar. Removing "Your" from the question text gets rid of a possible reference to something the user has already typed.
  • Add a divider or some other element to make it more obvious that the search form is separate from the AYQ button.
  • If the user clicks on AYQ, copy anything in the search field into the body of the new question.
todofixthis's avatar
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todofixthis
answered 2013-01-22 09:36:01 -0600
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