Usability Kudo of the Day - Easy logins

Logging into websites is not always easy. Every so often you just forget which username and password. And if you try to many combinations, sometimes they lock you out (just to make sure you’re not a spambot trying to hack into the site).

Something great happened when I tried to login to my staples.com account today. After three (failed) attempts at entering the right combination, a box appeared that asked, “Need Help?” and suggested using the lost password function. The box also provided a chat, an email address and phone number for customer service. Right there under the login form.

Soon I was chatting with support and they helped me reset my password. No extra clicking or searching – talk about usability and great customer service. Enough so I wanted to share on my blog.

Now for a strange twist, as I’m writing this I realize how great it would be to get a screen shot of this helpful, perfectly timed help box. I have tried a bunch of times, to fail logging in but I it doesn’t appear. What an awesome usability feature to have on a website; yet, here I sit with no proof. Here's to hoping it reappears, and soon.

Way to go Staples - you get the Bright Orange Thread Usability Kudo of the day!