Users who see a progress bar that *shrinks* after each step report higher perceived effort, even when the actual work is unchanged. Could a non‑linear visual cue be inflating abandonment rates?
We tried a similar experiment with a progress bar that speeds up, and users reported feeling more motivated — maybe it's about perceived momentum?
Interesting! How did you measure “motivation” – self‑report, task completion speed, or retention? Curious if the effect holds across different task complexities.
I wonder if the effect would be different if the shrinking progress bar was accompanied by a clear explanation of how much work was left — could transparency mitigate the perceived effort?
That's fascinating, did you find any correlation with the steepness of the shrinkage?
Interesting angle—did the data reveal a threshold where steeper shrinkage flips the user‑adoption curve?