If I could fix 1 thing about Screwfix

Screwfix's systems are undeniably slick, but if there was 1 small improvement I could make it would be a text formatting tweak in both their self check-in interface and the SMS message notification.

User journey

When my order is ready I get a notification to my phone, travel to the shop and use the self check-in tablet to enter my order number...

A designer has put a lot of thought into this simple interface. They've split the form into 12 input boxes, rendered in a space-separated 4-4-4 format, the first one locked to contain "A" to help the user identify which number they need to enter.

It's beautiful, but this effort is undermined by the piece of code that constructs the SMS notification....

The 12 character code is displayed with no separators! It's frustrating as I am stood in the shop, switching my eyes from screen to phone to screen, I lose my place multiple times.

Solution

There are myriad examples of making long numbers easier to read: telephone numbers, sort codes, post codes, your NHS number. Different companies build systems to support these and we all follow formatting conventions.

I would love to just get my grubby hands on 2 bits of code in Screwfix. First, I'd break up the number in the text message to be in a hyphen-separated 4-4-4 format. Why hyphens and not spaces you ask? So it doesn't break over multiple lines on a small screen. See, I've thought about this.

Next I would put the same hyphens between the groups of boxes on the self check-in interface.

I would probably also sweep through the code that generates the collection note paperwork, mobile app and the screwfix.com website as well to make the display format consistent...

I would bet a Freddo Caramel that this change would fly through usability testing as a proven improvement. I reckon tradies regularly scribble order numbers on bits of paper or send screenshots when asking a mate to pickup an order. If the customer isn't reading it, the staff member on the desk is; someone's being made to think slightly harder than necessary.

I wonder if I can get this idea seen by someone with influence ?