Effort: Medium
What to notice
Show what has been decided and what remains uncertain, beyond a step count.
Where it fits
- Fits
- Users completing multi-screen assessments, estimates or applications.
- Use it when
- When earlier choices affect later results and warrant review.
- Avoid it when
- When checkpoints would repeatedly interrupt a short single-screen task.
How to build it
- Summarize entered facts at a meaningful boundary.
- Pair uncertain items with direct edit links.
- After review, identify the next task.
Measure
- Main metric
- Share of eligible users finishing the next stage without unresolved errors
- Guardrail
- Data loss when editing and review burden
- How to measure
- Allocate comparison groups before exposure and use equal follow-up and eligibility. Track Share of eligible users finishing the next stage without unresolved errors alongside Data loss when editing and review burden.
When it backfires
Avoid repeated ceremonial checks; summarize information users can act on.
Alternatives
Theory behind it
Progress monitoring
Record and review actual behavior after setting a goal.
Well supported
Recognition over recall
Make necessary options visible rather than requiring users to remember them.
Practitioner framework
Evidence limits: An editorial web application; conversion effects on this interface are unmeasured. Domains and interventions differ, so web retention effects need separate measurement. Check the burden of recording itself.