Four ways to avoid creating a bad user experience

You could have the greatest product or content in the world, but if your brand offers a poor online user experience, people aren’t going to stick around.

Competition for your attention has never been fiercer with flashy adverts and rapid content creation all hoping to garner your click. They say that war is the mother of invention, and that Darwinian mantra has created the slickest online experience for users to date. However, there are still some bad examples out there. Here are four things to avoid.

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Clunky user interface

User interface, or UI as the tech folk call it, is a really important factor in your online offering. Having a website that is difficult to understand, tricky to navigate, or presents hurdles when a user searches for something specific, represents the trifecta of website evils. Users have more choice than ever, so why would they persevere with a difficult online portal or website? Rivals will welcome them with open arms.

A pair of metrics to measure this is bounce rate and average time on a page. If your bounce rate is high, people aren’t exploring the website with a low average time on page providing further evidence a redesign might be needed.

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Lack of optimisation

The vast majority of online traffic comes from mobile devices. We’ve all experienced websites that don’t fit on your screen properly or the text is far too small – this is caused by the website not being reactive. In short, reactive websites adapt to the screen size they are displayed on, always ensuring the content is displayed correctly. It’s essential that a modern website is reactive due to the myriad of devices used for browsing. From smartphones to a PlayStation, make sure your online offering is fit for purpose.

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Attack of the pop-ups

Nothing ruins a user experience right before it starts than pop-ups. Sometimes these are great assets to direct people to something new or highlight special offers, but being bombarded by them isn’t pleasant. In fact, many people run for the hills if they are presented consecutively, not even giving your content a chance.

On some websites it can be difficult to restrict the amount of pop-up or banner adverts as they are revenue generators but overload the user and there won’t be anyone there to view them in the first place.

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Poor brand representation

Ensuring that your website, social media or any other online presence reflects your brand image is essential. Outdated logos or even the incorrect brand colours and fonts, could lead people to think this isn’t the real deal. Keep on top of updates and make your online spaces a true reflection of the business.

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