Wizard is a quite common interface pattern that is used for guiding user through a number of steps. I’m sure you have seen one when installing programs in Windows.

One of the steps of Windows Live setup wizard

In advertising software wizards are frequently used to guide user through a campaign creation process, ‘cause it can be tricky when you face it for the first time. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft do have such wizards as well as SmartPPC 6.

SmartPPC 6 cost per click campaign creation wizard

Besides campaign creation advertising software must provide a way to edit already created campaigns which is usually implemented with the use of different kinds of small (e.g. in-place) editors.

Edition of already created Ad Group in Google Adwords

This practice, when you have one way to create something and another way to edit it, isn’t perfect. It leads to an inconsistent user experience which in turn ends up with a bad habits getting and double user interface complexity.

It would be much better to have one interface for both creation and edition of campaigns. This would help new users to become extended ones faster. But how can one interface be used if we need to guide new users and give fast edition tools to experienced ones?

We have found a solution — it is a “Tutorial wizard”. So, SmartPPC 7 will have one interface for both creation and edition of campaigns which is pretty cool.

We haven’t invented anything new, we have just adopted a very common idea that has been used for years in computer games, especially strategic ones.
In such games you are often offered to start playing with a tutorial campaign in which you are being guided through the game interface and features.

Total War Empire tutorial campaign

SmartPPC 7 will use exactly the same idea of guiding. It will have an interface for edition and it will guide you through the same interface while creation campaigns.

This is a very raw prototype of how it may look like. The list of campaign ad groups in edition mode:

Group selection step in the campaign creation wizard:

As you see a wizard is just a semitransparent layer which guides you through the campaign edition interface.

There are some problems in program implementation of the Tutorial wizard, but I’m sure our programmers will handle them and, with our soft, advertisers will have an opportunity to fulfill their every everyday tasks fast and consistent.