Visitors decide whether they like a website in less than 0.5 seconds. This decision has nothing to do with the content and everything to do with its visuals.
That’s how much time you have to make an excellent first impression — or how quickly visitors can abandon your site and look elsewhere.
Your website acts as a critical point of interaction between your brand and potential customers. Yet, many businesses underestimate how profound the design impact can be on their online success. Poor web design can be a silent killer of your brand’s online presence, significantly hindering your growth and customer engagement.
But why is this the case, and how do website design flaws actually hurt your business? This comprehensive blog delves into the common design mistakes that could be costing you more than just your audience’s attention.
The Cost of Poor Web Design: Common Web Design Flaws and How They Hurt Your Business
Here are some characteristics of poor website design and how they negatively impact how your visitors interact with your brand online:
1. Complex, Busy Layout
A study by GoodFirms revealed that almost 85% of web designers believe crowded designs are the biggest mistake small businesses make.
True enough, busy and cluttered layouts can confuse visitors about your business’s purpose and eventually drive them away. A Forbes Advisor study revealed that 61% of website visitors say they’ll switch to a different site if they can’t find the information they’re looking for within five seconds. What’s even more concerning? They may turn to a competitor’s website instead.
2. A Boring, Lifeless Design
While you don’t want your web design to be overwhelming or complicated, that doesn’t mean it should be boring. Without a personalized, on-brand design, you’ll likely blend in with the crowd — and lose leads to competitors with more unique websites.
Investing in a custom website design is worth considering to distinguish your brand from competitors. You want to begin with building a brand style guide for your website to create a distinctive look that truly represents your business. If you don’t know how or where to start, don’t fret; a web design company can also help with this.
3. Slow Loading Times
Today’s users are becoming increasingly impatient. So when your web pages are slow to load, your potential customers may give up on interacting with your content or services out of frustration.
Studies have shown that 47% of users expect pages to load within two to three seconds. Every second of delay can significantly increase bounce rates and ultimately hurt your conversion rate.
That said, page load speed isn’t only a critical factor in user experience but also an essential factor for search engine optimization (SEO). Google prioritizes fast-loading websites in its online rankings, so failing to improve your site speed can keep you from climbing up the search engine results pages and establishing a noticeable online presence.
4. Mobile Unfriendliness
In the last quarter of 2023, mobile devices accounted for 59% of all website traffic worldwide.
With more people using their mobile phones to access the internet, mobile responsiveness is no longer optional for businesses. Users are five times more likely to leave a site without mobile compatibility.
On the other hand, a significant 74% of internet users are more inclined to return to websites that are responsive on mobile devices. With Google favoring such websites, keeping your site mobile-friendly can also enhance your online presence. The best part? You enjoy many responsive web design benefits, including higher customer satisfaction, increased time-on-site and improved search engine rankings.
5. Confusing Navigation
Is your website user-friendly and easily navigable? Almost 40% of users look at a website’s layout or navigation links during their first visit. If you fail to provide a clear and intuitive layout, you’re keeping many of these first-time visitors from finding the information they need — and acting upon it.
Unfortunately, this design impact frustrates users and hampers their engagement with your website, driving them to check other sites instead.
6. Content Clutter
It can be easy to get carried away with adding content to your web design. After all, what business owner wouldn’t be eager to highlight all the good things about their product or service?
However, whenever you’re tempted to stuff your website with all kinds of information, remember: Users don’t read — they scan.
They simply search for specific points or anchors to guide them through your webpage’s content until they find what they’re looking for. As such, putting blocks of text without clear headings or visuals to break up the paragraphs can detract from the user experience.
The key is offering scannable, engaging content to improve engagement and reduce bounce rates.
7. Missing or Confusing Call-to-Action (CTA)
According to Sagapixel, seven out of 10 small businesses with websites don’t have calls to action. Unfortunately, this oversight can hurt your business in many ways. Without clear and communicative CTA buttons, you miss the opportunity to connect with your visitors.
The lack of accessible contact information on your website may raise questions about your credibility among visitors.
Moreover, when users don’t know what to do next on your website, they may eventually look elsewhere.
A Crystal Clear Comms study revealed that 44% of business-to-business (B2B) buyers would abandon a website without clear contact details, including a phone number.
The Role of UX in Web Design and Engagement
User experience (UX) refers to how a person feels when interacting with a digital interface like a website. It encompasses various aspects, including how easy it is to use, how pleasant it is to interact with and how efficiently it allows users to accomplish their desired tasks.
Zippia’s research highlights a critical insight: 88% of online consumers are hesitant to revisit a website following a subpar user experience. What’s more, this dissatisfaction often drives almost nine out of 10 consumers to purchase from competing brands.
Just as an unpleasant experience has consequences, so does a pleasant one.
Data reveals a striking fact: 90% of users will likely revisit a website after a satisfying experience. Meanwhile, websites emphasizing outstanding user experience see their visit-to-lead conversion rate soar by more than 400% compared to those with subpar designs.
ADA Compliance and Accessibility
Another essential topic worth discussing when it comes to website design and user experience is accessibility.
Keeping your site accessible to all users isn’t just a legal requirement. Adhering to the American Disabilities Act (ADA) lets you build an inclusive website that is seamless for all users, including people with disabilities or limitations. Of course, it also broadens your audience and contributes to a stronger business impact.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) establish these four standards for ADA compliance and complete website usability:
• Perceivable: Your site’s information and user interface components must be presented in ways all users can perceive. This includes efforts like providing text alternatives for non-text content and video captions.
• Operable: The design should focus on keyboard accessibility, allow enough time for reading and prevent elements that might trigger seizures.
• Understandable: An ADA-compliant website operates in predictable ways and presents information clearly and simply.
• Robust: A “robust” website works well on multiple assistive technologies. Its content should be flexible enough to accommodate various browsers, devices and assistive tools.
At the end of the day, website usability and user experience are all about accommodating your end users. If you’re not designing for them, who are you designing for?
6 Tips for Effective Web Design
With everything we’ve discussed, creating a successful website requires more than an aesthetically pleasing one. Instead, it demands strategic thinking and an understanding of how design can impact user experience. A well-designed, effective site looks great and functions seamlessly, ensuring website usability for visitors. But the question is: how do you create one?
Here are seven essential tips every business owner should consider to achieve effective web design:
1. Make Your Website Easy To Scan
Here are some tips to help you get started with designing an easily scannable website:
• Write in shorter paragraphs, add subheadings and use images and bulleted lists to make your content easier to read.
• Pick your fonts carefully. You want a typeface that’s easy to read across different devices and screen sizes — and aligns with your brand’s look and feel.
• Limit the number of text colors you use and ensure they contrast with your background color.
The less effort visitors need to scan and understand your website, the more seamless and pleasant their experience will be.
2. Prioritize Mobile Responsiveness
A responsive, mobile-friendly design is one that performs flawlessly across various devices. It seamlessly adapts its layout to fit the screen size of whatever device a visitor is using for an optimal viewing experience.
Mobile compatibility is often achieved through employing mobile-responsive HTML templates or developing a dedicated mobile version of the site.
As you ensure your website’s mobile friendliness, it also helps to check how it performs across different browsers. Open your website in various browsers and observe how your content is displayed. Your efforts will reap responsive web design benefits for both your users and your business.
3. Use Visual Hierarchy
As you work on your design and embark on your website optimization project, remember that your goal is to lead users to take your desired action. However, this process should feel intuitive and enjoyable for them — which is where visual hierarchy becomes helpful.
Visual hierarchy is all about arranging elements on a website so that they instinctively direct visitors’ attention toward the most critical parts first.
By following the laws of visual hierarchy, you naturally lead your audience through the journey you want them to take on your website.
4. Create a Functional Navigation
Effective website design doesn’t make visitors search extensively or think critically about what to do next. As you work on your site’s navigation, here are some helpful tips worth keeping in mind:
• Streamline the primary navigation and put it at the top of the page for better visibility.
• Add a navigation menu in your site’s footer.
• Place a search bar prominently near the top of the page for easy searches.
• Add internal links throughout your web content and ensure the destination of each link is clear.
• Keep the naming and placement of your navigation elements consistent on every page.
The best part? A well-structured website navigation can also support your website optimization efforts for improved search rankings. Solid navigation improves your site’s indexability and crawlability, increasing your chances of performing well on search engine results pages (SERPs).
5. Include CTAs
A call to action (CTA) is any phrase, button or link designed to prompt users to take action, like purchasing a product or subscribing to a newsletter. You want to ensure you have CTAs across all pages, especially in those built to persuade visitors to perform a specific action.
When you strategically position your CTA buttons on your website’s main page, you not only encourage visitors to engage in the desired action but also convert more casual browsers into committed customers.
6. Be Consistent
Lastly, maintain a uniform appearance and atmosphere throughout your website for enhanced user experience and business impact. This includes ensuring consistency in backgrounds, color palettes, fonts and your writing voice across all pages.
Consistency in your web design helps set user expectations and makes it effortless for visitors to navigate your website. It ultimately solidifies your brand image and builds trust among potential customers, both of which help increase engagement and conversion rate in the long run.
Your website is often the first point of contact between your brand and your customers. Ensuring it’s designed with user experience, functionality and aesthetics in mind is crucial to your online success.
If the thought of steering away from these design flaws feels overwhelming or you’re unsure where to start with your website optimization, Thrive Internet Marketing Agency is here to help. We’ve been designing functional, conversion-driven and memorable websites since 2005, and we’d love to do the same for you. Whether you need a robust WordPress website or a captivating eCommerce platform, we have the expertise and experience to bring your vision to life.
Let’s work together to transform your website into a powerful tool that reflects the quality of your brand and engages your visitors. Contact Thrive today for a website that stands out from the competition and drives your business forward.
