Thursday, July 14, 2011

What is your expiry date?

Recently when doing some online transaction using my credit card, something struck me ... I realized that the form asking for my credit card information was quite weird, and probably incorrect.

Here is a sample layout of what I am talking about:


Here, I am asked to enter the details in this order:
  • Credit card number 
  • Card holder's name
  • Expiry date 
  • And so on ...
As I was entering the information, I ended up questioning myself ... whose Expiry Date??? The card's or mine??? 

Simply based on the flow of information asked for, it is quite easy to associate the Expiry Date with the earlier field - the Card holder's name. Right?

Wouldn't the layout be better this way instead:
  • Card Holder name
  • Card number
  • Expiry date
  • CVV number

Or, another way can be:
  • Card number
  • Expiry date
  • CVV number
  • Card Holder name


I checked all my 10-15 (credit / debit / membership) cards that I have. All of them have the issue date / expiry date / validity period associated with the card number, and not the card holder's name.

This leads me to believe that no one did a usability check, or, in this context, shall we call it a reality check when designing the credit card form like the one shown above. 

I would have not let this design / layout get through. What would you do?

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