CARE-FU
CARE-FU is a checklist for designing any part of user flow. It runs through five questions: does the user understand why this action helps them (Context), do they know how to do it (Action), do they get feedback that it worked (Response), do they see how it improves the rest of their experience (Enhancement), and is there a safety net for users who didn't or couldn't act right away (Follow-Up).
Definition
A five-point evaluation heuristic for any affordance that prompts user action, checking Context, Action, Response, Enhancement, and Follow-Up.
The five checks
For an affordance asking the user to do something, run through:
- Context: Does the user understand why taking this action benefits them?
- Action: Does the user know how to take the action itself?
- Response: Does the user receive feedback on the effect of the action — success, failure, error, progress?
- Enhancement: How is the rest of the user's experience or sub-transition enhanced by this action being taken? Demonstrated, not just promised.
- Follow-Up: What happens for users who didn't or couldn't act immediately? Is there a safety net?
Context and Response are the two letters most commonly missing in practice. Context fails when an affordance exists at the right place but doesn't tell the user why to engage with it — a button without a reason. Response fails when an action fires but the user can't tell whether anything happened, or what to do next.
Surfacing gaps
CARE-FU surfaces gaps; it doesn't certify quality. An affordance missing one letter doesn't automatically fail, and an affordance nailing all five doesn't automatically succeed; whether the affordance fits the user's intent and the moment are separate questions CARE-FU doesn't address. What CARE-FU does reliably is catch the holes a team would otherwise ship past. Running through the five letters on any affordance that prompts action tends to surface at least one weakness the team hadn't named.
Example
The empty-state CTA on a SaaS dashboard reading "Connect your data source." Run CARE-FU:
- Context: usually absent. The button doesn't tell the user what connecting a data source produces for them — what they'll see, what changes, why now.
- Action: usually clear. Click the button.
- Response: often partial. The OAuth flow opens, but progress through it is opaque and post-connection confirmation is weak.
- Enhancement: often missing. After connection, the dashboard frequently still looks empty until further configuration the user wasn't told about.
- Follow-Up: usually absent. A user who clicks away mid-flow gets no email, no in-app nudge, no recovery path.
Four letters out of five surface gaps. The button shipped; the sub-transition didn't.