Recency Effect

The most recently encountered items are remembered better than those in the middle of a sequence.

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Cognitive

The Recency Effect is the other component of the Serial Position Effect, also studied by Ebbinghaus and later by researchers like Murdock (1962). Items at the end of a sequence are still in working memory and therefore more accessible for recall. In UX, this means the last interaction a user has with your product — the confirmation screen, the thank-you page, the closing animation — disproportionately shapes their memory and willingness to return. Combined with the Peak-End Rule, recency is a powerful tool for experience design.

Why It Matters

The recency effect is a cognitive bias where people remember the last items in a sequence more easily than those in the middle, directly influencing how users perceive and recall their experience with a product. In UX, this means the final moments of an interaction — a confirmation screen, a closing animation, or the last step of onboarding — disproportionately shape the user's overall impression. Designing strong endings is just as critical as designing strong beginnings because the recency effect determines what users carry away from the experience.

Real-World Examples

Delightful order confirmation screen

An e-commerce checkout ends with an animated confirmation screen showing the order summary, estimated delivery date, and a cheerful illustration. The positive final impression offsets minor friction earlier in the funnel, like a lengthy address form. Post-purchase survey data shows that users rate the experience higher than the sum of its parts because the ending was memorable.

Summary step in a multi-part form

A loan application presents a clear summary of all entered information on the final review page before submission. Users remember this well-organized review screen as the lasting impression of the process, boosting confidence and reducing post-submission anxiety. The summary step also reduces errors by leveraging recency to keep the most important details fresh.

Counter-example

Error page as the final interaction

A travel booking app processes the user's payment successfully but then crashes on the confirmation screen, displaying a generic error message. Despite the booking going through, the user's lasting memory is one of failure and uncertainty, prompting them to call support and leave a negative review. The recency effect turned a successful transaction into a perceived disaster.

Role-Specific Guidance

Common Mistakes

• Teams often invest heavily in first impressions like onboarding flows and landing pages while neglecting the final moments of an interaction, not realizing that recency weighs just as heavily in the user's memory. Another common error is ending a flow with a generic success message or a redirect to an unrelated page, wasting the opportunity to reinforce a positive impression. Designers also sometimes place the most important information in the middle of a list or sequence where it falls into the serial position trough, forgotten by both the primacy and recency effects.