A customer’s decision about whether or not to stay on a business website or purchase products depends largely on their ability to navigate the website, which makes User Interface all the more important. If a website is poorly designed, hard to navigate, or just all-around offensive, kiss that sale goodbye.
Here are some of the most common culprits in that regard.
Lengthy Fill-In Forms
Nothing kills enthusiasm faster than trying to fill in 30 different blanks to receive a .pdf download. At the least, an opt-in form should have two forms: email address and name. Anything more than that has the potential to turn away prospective leads. While a company never wants to leave important information on the table, they also need to minimize their ask if they want to maximize their leads.
Poor Font Selection
It’s immediately clear upon visiting a website whether or not a website creator has actually been to design school or simply watched a few Youtube videos on it. Fonts are usually the most notable giveaway. Companies need to limit the number of fonts that they use, reduce the amount of “impact” fonts, and keep a font selection that’s in tone with the webpage (don’t use a calligraphy font if the company sells hardware, for instance).
Clashing Colors
The psychology behind color selection is fascinating. Acting as a pleasant backdrop to the website itself, color choice should add to and stay in step with the company mission, rather than detract from it. Special consideration also needs to be taken with those who are color-blind or suffer from poor eyesight. If the colors are especially awful, that could deter a visitor completely.
Contrasting Design Elements
Generally, one of two mistakes are made in this area: either too much planning or not enough. If a site is over-engineered to the point of being obnoxious or slapped together as a hack job done right before launch, it’ll show. Instead, focus on getting only the important information on the website first and add to as necessary. Also, it’s important to design the website not just for desktop but also mobile users, who are continuing to make gains in the marketplace.
Conflicting Operating Systems
Pages appear differently on Android than they do on iPhones, both in terms of design and functionality. When designing a website, companies should steer away from a custom design process that only caters to one or the other, and look for a one-size-fits-all solution that will work on both platforms.
