Image Credit: The Verge

Great UX is no longer a nice to have, it's a necessity.

In addition to working with clients in UX design, we often provide ongoing support to ensure that their UX continues to drive their business goals and growth. Through adjustments and strategic use of UX, you can avoid significant, negative impacts to your business.

High bounce rates, abandoned shopping carts, and app uninstalls are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the consequences of bad UX. Studies show that 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load – and when any of these things happen you can bet on users finding a better alternative in today’s competitive landscape. UX isn't just about aesthetics; it's about functionality, usability, and ultimately, user satisfaction – which is why you can’t afford to ignore doing it well.

The significant cost of ignoring UX

Most often poor UX will lead to a domino effect of negative outcomes:

• Lost revenue: A clunky interface or confusing navigation can frustrate users and drive them to your competitors. Customers are often spoilt for choice and will choose those with a superior user experience – in a heartbeat!

• Negative reviews: Unhappy users are vocal users, and the word spreads fast. Negative reviews and feedback can damage your brand reputation and deter potential customers from considering you, let alone choosing you.

• Increased support costs: When users can't figure out how to navigate your site or complete a task, they often turn to customer support, increasing your operational costs, and acquisition costs due to lower conversion rates.

Image: Poor UX leads to negative reviews

5 Common UX mistakes to avoid

Let's dive into some of the most common UX mistakes that can drive users away:

1. Ignoring the users’ basic needs: Designing based on stakeholder preferences or internal assumptions rather than real user needs is a recipe for disaster. Overloading interfaces with unnecessary features or prioritising "cool" design over usability will only confuse and frustrate users.

   Top Tip: Conduct thorough user research to understand your target audience's needs, behaviours, and pain points and create the optimal journey for each customer type.

2. Cluttered and overwhelming design: Bombarding users with excessive information, pop-ups, or simply a ‘busy’ design will increase the mental load for users – essentially making it too hard to find or complete the task. Users who struggle to find what they need quickly, will lose interest - fast.

   Top Tip: Embrace whitespace, prioritise essential information early on the page, break up large amounts of content into digestible chunks and use visual cues to guide the user through the optimal journey.

3. Unclear navigation and poor information architecture: Confusing menus, inconsistent labelling, and a lack of clear hierarchy make it difficult for users to find what they're looking for.

   Top Tip: Design intuitive navigation, use clear and consistent labels, and create a logical information architecture that reflects user expectations. Avoid using internal ‘names’ for things, instead speak the same language as your customers.

4. Ignoring accessibility: Failing to design for users with accessibility needs excludes a significant portion of your potential audience. Inaccessible websites can also lead to legal issues.

   Top Tip: Follow accessibility guidelines (WCAG) to ensure your website is usable by everyone, including those with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments.

5. Long load times: In today's fast-paced world, users expect websites to load quickly. Slow loading times frustrate users and lead to high bounce rates and lost opportunities.

   Top Tip: Optimise use of video and images, streamline code, and leverage caching techniques to improve website speed.

Image: A cluttered design makes it difficult for users to find what they're looking for.

Bad UX practices in specific contexts

• Forms and onboarding: Asking for too much information upfront or using unclear instructions in forms can deter users from completing the process.

  Top Tip: Simplify forms, or create them in stages and steps, inform users what they will need to have ready (e.g. driving licence) to complete the form and how long it will take as well as how far they are through the process with a progress indicator bar if it’s a long form.

• Mobile UX neglect: Failing to optimise for mobile devices is often a major flaw and even more often the reason for abandon carts and low conversion – people literally put your site in the ‘too hard basket’!

  Top Tip: Prioritise mobile first and responsive design, making sure the simple things work well, e.g. button sizes are easily tappable, and the content avoids horizontal scrolling.

Image: A simplified, mobile-optimised form design with staged questions can lead to higher completion rates.

Red flags during the UX design process

We often see the following five similarities with businesses that fail to do UX well:

UX design is an ongoing process of learning and improvement.

By understanding common pitfalls and best practices, you can create a user-centred website that drives engagement, conversions, and business success. Remember, investing in UX is an investment in your customers and your brand. Don't let bad UX drive your users away - drop us a line and talk to our UX experts for a review and optimisation of your website or digital products today!