Your website is often the first point of connection between your business and potential customers. While eye-catching design can draw people in, it’s the user experience (UX) that determines if they stick around, build trust, and choose you over your competitors. Over the years, I’ve seen some common UX mistakes that push potential clients away. Let’s break them down and learn how to avoid them so you can create a website that’s easy to use and keeps people coming back.
1. Poor Readability
The aesthetic doesn’t mean accessibility. A beautiful website is great, but if people can’t read your content easily, you’ll lose them. One common issue is the use of low-contrast color schemes, like Morandi tones — those muted, pastel-like colors that look chic but can be tough on the eyes. While these colors give your site a modern vibe, they often don’t offer enough contrast between the text and background, making it hard for users to read.
Another aspect to consider is the use of fancy or decorative fonts. While they can add character to your site, overly intricate fonts can be difficult to read, especially in smaller sizes.
Solution:
Strike a balance between style and usability. Use tools to check the contrast ratio of your text and background. If you want to use softer colors, pair them with darker text for better readability. Choose fonts that are clear and legible, and avoid overly decorative ones for body text. Also, make sure your font size is large enough — at least 16px for body text. The goal is to create a design that looks good and works well for all users, including those with vision challenges.
2. Cluttered Navigation
Have you ever landed on a website and had no idea where to go next? That’s often due to cluttered or confusing navigation. When there are too many menu items or everything is buried in dropdowns, visitors get frustrated and leave. Your navigation should guide users smoothly, not make them feel lost.
Solution:
Keep your navigation simple. Limit the number of items in your menu to the most important pages. Group similar pages under clear categories, and avoid creative labels that confuse visitors. Consider adding a “sticky” navigation bar that follows users as they scroll, so they can easily access the menu no matter where they are on the page.
3. Lack of Mobile Optimization
Today, browsing the web on mobile devices is more common than ever. With more people using their phones to access websites, having a site that isn’t optimized for mobile is a significant oversight. If your site doesn’t adapt to different screen sizes or has small, hard-to-tap buttons, it will frustrate mobile users and drive them away. Moreover, this can negatively impact your search engine ranking, as Google now prioritizes mobile-first indexing.
Solution:
Ensure your website is fully responsive. This means it should look and function perfectly across all devices, including smartphones and tablets. Pay attention to elements like button size, font readability, and page load times on different screen sizes. Make sure your site is touch-friendly, with easily tappable elements, and no need for users to pinch and zoom to read the text.
4. Slow Load Times
Users expect websites to load quickly. In fact, if your website takes more than a few seconds to load, most people will leave before it even appears. Slow load times can be caused by large images, heavy scripts, or unoptimized hosting, and they lead to both a poor user experience and a drop in search engine rankings.
Solution:
Speed up your site by optimizing images (reducing their size without losing quality) and using more efficient formats. Also, minimize your code by getting rid of unnecessary CSS, JavaScript, and HTML. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can show you what’s slowing your site down. A faster site means happier users and better SEO.
5. Ignoring Accessibility
Making your website accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities, is crucial. Unfortunately, many websites overlook this. From missing alt text on images to poor keyboard navigation, these small issues can make your site unusable for people with vision or motor impairments.
Solution:
Follow accessibility guidelines like WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Make sure all images have alt text, check that your site works with screen readers, and test your site using only a keyboard to see if it’s navigable. Tools like WAVE can help you spot accessibility issues. When you make your site accessible, you create a better experience for everyone.
6. Overwhelming Forms
Forms are a great way to collect information from your users, but long, complicated forms can scare people away. If they’re faced with too many fields to fill out, they may decide it’s not worth the effort and leave without completing the form.
Solution:
Keep your forms short and to the point. Only ask for the most important information, and break longer forms into smaller steps if necessary. Make sure each form field is clearly labeled, and use autofill options where possible to make the process faster for users. A simple, user-friendly form leads to higher conversion rates.
7. Forgetting About Micro-Interactions
Micro-interactions are the small animations or feedback users see when they interact with elements on your site — like a button changing color when hovered over, or a confirmation message after submitting a form. While they may seem minor, micro-interactions can make your website feel more polished and responsive.
Solution:
Add subtle, thoughtful micro-interactions to enhance the user experience. For example, add hover effects to buttons, use loading animations when data is being processed, or show a simple confirmation message when users submit a form. These small details create a more engaging and intuitive experience for users.
Final Thoughts
Good UX is all about making your website easy to use, enjoyable, and efficient. Avoiding these common mistakes will help you create a site that not only looks good but also works well for all your visitors. Whether you’re building a new site or improving an existing one, focusing on user experience is the best way to keep people coming back.