Interaction cost

Interaction cost are work, costs, and other expenses, sometime dues to complete a task or interaction. This applies to several like:

• Economy: Interaction cost of a purchase are the interaction cost of completing this task and differ in costs for customer and vendor. The way of payment may differ in transaction cost and interaction cost. Reducing it for customers can be a service of the vendor.^[1] Higher interaction cost might make customers decide to change the vendor.^[2] Customers prefer to have choice about their interactions cost.^[3] In self-checkout, work is moved to the customer.
• Politics: Specific interaction cost can be increased by law for political effort.^[4]
• User interface: In a computer menu with a graphical user interface, some designs require more clicks from the user in order to make a selection. With a dropdown menu, one click (or touch or hover) may reveal the hidden menu, and a second click is required to select a menu option. If the entire menu were displayed all along, as in a navigation bar, only one click would be required, but the menu would occupy more screen space. Sub-menus require even more care from the user to make a desired selection.^[5]

Further reading

• (German) Klaus Lange and Frank Sippel: Verwaltungsautomation und Bürgerservice: Ansätze zur Aufhebung eines Widerspruchs, Springer, Wiesbaden 1986, ISBN 978-3-531-11850-5 doi:10.1007/978-3-663-19766-9
• (German) Torsten Blecker: Unternehmung ohne Grenzen: Konzepte, Strategien und Gestaltungsempfehlungen …, Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag 1998, ISBN 978-3-8244-9021-9 doi:10.1007/978-3-322-95311-7 P. 272, 285

References