Labor Perception Bias
Source : https://growth.design/case-studies/labor-perception-bias
People trust and value things more when they see the underlying work.
People dislike waiting in general, but if your users have high expectations (e.g., money transaction, migration, analysis, reporting), they become skeptical if the waiting time is too short. That’s why displaying a labor screen right after a key action can improve your UX.
For “benevolent deceptions” (fake waiting times), there are important ethical rules.
1Labor Illusion Effect, Psychology of Design (2021)
2Visibility of System Status, NN/g (2022)
3Fake progress bars, The Atlantic (2017)