Avoid These Common Mistakes When Creating Your Franchise Website
User experience (UX) design is an essential part of any website or app nowadays. And even if you hire an expert web designer, some mistakes are inevitable. However, most errors can be avoided.
But what are these big UX design mistakes, and how can we avoid them? Websites are still one of the most important factors in your online presence. As such, a good design that is easy to navigate and visually appealing will boost the chances of converting a potential lead. But a few simple, avoidable mistakes are all that stand between you and that from happening.
1. Improper Balance Between Functionality and Aesthetics
There are two factors to good user experience – great visuals and solid functionality. Ignoring one without the other would negatively affect the overall experience, meaning that without good visuals, even a great product will fail. And the same is also true for the reverse.
That is why your UX design should strike the perfect balance between the two, or else you will end up frustrating users. And while it’s true that functional requirements hold an edge over visuals in priority, it’s usually very subtle.
Too many visuals can distract users, which can be frustrating. And bland visuals will result in boredom. Your visuals should be attractive enough to keep the user’s attention, while still leaving them free to navigate.
2. Failing to Address User Feedback and Needs
To get a truly great user experience, you need to listen to your potential customers. Many products often see a beta release, where the product is released to a small group of people who test its functionality and offer feedback.
Now, if you fail to do so, or ignore the feedback you get, you will end up creating something that would be exactly opposite what the users desired. Therefore, its imperative that user feedback is given priority when discussing what changes need to be made. Otherwise you will end up with a functional product, that fails to attract your potential consumers despite working well.
3. Too Many Distractions like Popups
Distractions can be the bane of good visual experience. Many websites and apps go overboard when using elements like popups. Now, in moderation, popups can be a great tool to bring the user’s wandering attention back to the screen. But if done too many times in succession, it will frustrate the user.
Imagine, you are browsing the internet a few years ago, connected to the dial-up modem. You enter a URL in the search bar and wait for the site to load. But, as soon as it loads, suddenly a large number of popups appear on the screen, covering the content you want to view. Would you be distracted, and frustrated?
To put it simply, use popups with less frequency, and make sure that they are easy to close for the users.
4. Ignoring the In-Between States
This is one of the often-ignored pitfalls that is rarely addressed but is the cause of many a product failing to show its true impact. The in-between stages are those that occur in unusual scenarios like a screen gets stuck or there is a lack of response from the server. In such cases, how does your product address these issues?
As part of the full user experience, you need to cover every aspect of it. You need to prepare for everything, from states that you can see and interact with. And the best way to do that is to build high fault tolerance into your product so that it can address them without affecting the overall experience.
5. Using the Latest Design Trends Without Checking for Sustainability
Many design trends are often here for a little while and are gone before the seasons turn. That is why designers are told not to jump onto every design trend out there as it may end up not lasting. Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t keep up with trends. But what you shouldn’t do is implement these trends into your design without thinking about their sustainability in the long run.
A great example of this is the flat designs of the early 2010s. It was a trend that was considered an offshoot of minimalist design. However, it soon went out of style as its elements were not consistent with UX principles, making it hard to differentiate between interactive and static design elements.
Why is Good UX Design Important?
UX design is all about customer-centricity. It is designed to engage the user through great functionality and awesome visuals. And if the users can have a great experience with the product, they will be likely to use it again, as well as recommend it.
However, a bad UX design will end up frustrating the user. And chances are that they will not only avoid the product themselves, but they may also tell others to avoid it. Therefore, avoiding mistakes that can affect your UX design negatively should be avoided at all costs.
Now, there are many great UI/UX design tools available which can help you not only create but also test your UX designs, making it easier to create beautiful, highly-functional software products.
Making a great user experience is all about building trust and credibility and driving quick adoption to convert potential users. It also helps in retaining existing customers by showing that you can address their concerns and give them the product that they desire.
Huzaifa Khan is a content marketer at Baritechsol, a software development company. He’s a passionate blogger who is interested in technology and marketing-related topics.