Good UX is harder to find but it does exist

Sometimes I get fed up with the amount of bad UX that's out there. It's much easier to find than good UX and therefore I find myself writing about it more often than good stuff. There are plenty of good lessons to be learned from bad UX but it is nice when you come across something genuinely good and that's what happened to me recently so I thought I should share it.

It's not unusual for me to order things from the internet - in fact I do more shopping there than anywhere else these days. Delivery companies are hit and miss to say the least but for a while DPD have stood out for me as a good example of user experience in the delivery sector.

The main reason for this is that some time ago they started sending me a text saying when my delivery would happen down to the hour. For example - "Your order will be delivered today between 14:22-15:22 by DPD driver Keith". They also give me the option to reply to the text and have the package delivered to a neighbour or reschedule for another day.

This is really nice for package recipients because the last thing they want when they're having a package delivered is to have to stay in all day hoping the package will arrive. More recently, I've had emails from DPD too with a link to a website that provides even better information. When I click on the link in the email I see this.

For me this is a brilliant linking of various technologies to improve the UX. The vans are all satellite tracked now and linking that data with the data from the handheld computers you have to sign to acknowledge delivery means DPD can tell me which delivery the driver is currently on and how long it will be before my delivery. This also means I can keep an eye out for the driver if I live in a place that's harder to find. That should ultimately cut down on the number of failed deliveries that they then have to put extra effort into - a win for the company.

As I said at the beginning of this article - it is really nice to find something that makes me go "wow, that's a great idea". I just wish it happened more often!