Changing software licensing agreement layouts will likely not only make them much more understandable, but, according to many researchers, they may also make users like them a lot more as well. End-user licensing agreements, also commonly referred to as EULAs, that contained simpler language and were divided up into several pages were found by participants taking part in a study to enjoy an increased amount of understanding among end users.
By simplifying these layouts by removing jargon, utilizing bullet points, and spreading out terms in various areas, will be able to help improve general understanding of all of the different legal contracts, with the help of an austin lawyer, that people are often asked to both read and provide consent to every day.
Those who were able to review the agreement that had been paraphrased ended up having a better attitude about the contract itself, which is commonly referred to by researchers as a halo effect. This type of effect provides individuals with a tendency to make judgments based on particular attributes or details.
This study showed changes made to a contract would have a halo effect, which was reflected by the general improvement in attitudes toward the agreement itself. In other words, the layout is able to put a form of halo on a contract, which can help improve both legal understanding and attitudes.
Grouping together information on separate pages, which is a process known as chunking, is another simple way to help improve memory and concentration. This is considered to be a rather old psychological strategy for this type of thing. While more people were found to have spent time checking out the paraphrased agreement, the increased amount of comprehension was found to not be related to exactly how much time these people actually spent reading the agreement itself.
The amount of goodwill that’s generated by different agreements is also extremely important for people who tend to be more worried about online security and privacy. Agreements that are paraphrased can not only help software companies with the most annoying areas of the general signup process, but they can also help improve general online safety for users.
The researchers ended up recruiting a total of 52 participants for their study that they conducted. These participants were asked to install a computer program called Reflexology, which was reportedly designed to measure their overall reflexes. Prior to this program launching, participants were offered three different options in terms of licensing agreements:
*Traditional EULA
*EULA requiring a user to scroll through the entire agreement before accepting it
*Paraphrased EULA
The researchers measured the amount of time that users spent examining the agreement itself. Once the contract was agreed to, the participants were also asked about their general attitude toward the agreement before being tested about their comprehension.