10 Reasons for Bad Website Design in 2024 & How to Avoid Them + Improvement Tips
Why Website Design & Functionality Matter in 2024
In 2024, user expectations for website performance and design have never been higher. A website is no longer just a digital storefront; it’s a very critical component of your brand and business strategy. For instance, studies show that 88% of users are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience, and poor design choices can severely affect how your website ranks on search engines like Google.what UX and UI are? and how to deliver a positive UX and UI is the key to 2024. Let’s dive in and look at some of the common web design fails and, more importantly, how to fix web design issues.
After all, today’s users expect a website to load quickly, work smoothly on mobile, and be easy to navigate. A broken website with bad website design frustrates visitors, hurts your business through low conversion rates and high bounce rates, and leads to significant blows to important SEO rankings This is especially crucial for businesses like e-commerce web development company, where every second counts in keeping users engaged and turning them into paying customers. Understanding what UX and UI are? and how to deliver a positive UX and UI is the key to 2024. Let’s dive in and look at some of the common web design fails and, more importantly, how to fix web design issues.
1. Slow Loading Speed
Example:
Imagine landing on a site, excited to check out its products, but it takes an eternity to load. Frustrated, you click away to the competitor’s page. This is a common problem, and it’s well on its way to costing businesses big time.
Why it isn’t good:
According to Google, when your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, you lose over half of your visitors. A slow website also has an adverse impact on your SEO rankings. It reflects poorly on user experience because most customers lose their patience waiting for a page to open, thus reducing your conversion rates.
How to fix this:
Compress images to reduce the size without diminishing the quality of the image. Compress image files using JPEG or WebP to optimize them for the web and keep file sizes lower. Make sure to use a content delivery network, which means faster loading, seeing that this will serve your content from the closest servers to a user. Run periodic audits of your website using a website audit checklist to highlight elements slowing it down, whether due to oversized images, unoptimized code, or even too many plugins.
Actionable Tip:
Finally, check your website speed with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights; it gives you suggestions to optimize it. Please pay special attention to the TTFB parameter because it reflects the time it takes for the server to respond. You can implement lazy loading on pictures and videos so they only show up once users scroll to their locations
2. Poor Mobile Optimization
Example:
You have designed a great desktop version of your site, but once users try to access it through their phone, it becomes a complete disaster: the buttons appear too small, the text too tiny, and the images out of place.
Why it isn’t good:
More than half of the world’s web traffic is accessed via mobile. A poor mobile experience can equate to a high bounce rate and lost conversions. Mobile users are less patient with slow-loading, hard-to-navigate sites, which means if your site isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you are losing customers.
How to Fix It:
Employ a mobile-first web design tips strategy design. In other words, the website should be responsive; that is, give priority to the mobile experience, keeping in mind ease of use on desktops too. Mobile navigation should be kept uncluttered: buttons large enough to click easily, are legible, and spacing promotes readability.
Actionable Tip:
The reason is straightforward: Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check your website for problems that could affect your mobile visitors. Monitor your mobile traffic closely, testing across multiple devices and browsers to ensure a consistent experience. Avoid bad website design by being proactive in addressing mobile responsiveness issues.
3. Complicated or Confusing Navigation
Example:
You arrive at a website and can’t find what you’re looking for because the top navigation is overburdened with categories, drop-downs, and submenus. You leave after a few minutes of puzzlement.
Why it isn’t good:
Poor navigation increases bounce rates. This is also supported by the study, which found that 94% of users say easy navigation is what they want most when they come onto a website. If users can’t find what they are looking for, they likely go and search elsewhere, hence losing potential business opportunities.
How to fix this:
Keep a simple, intuitive menu structure. Limit the number of menu items involved and make sure your most important content is no more than one or two clicks away. Make sure vital pages such as “Contact Us” or “Shop” are easily accessible. Consider placing a search bar that will let users find information from your site quickly, especially if you are maintaining a big or content-based website.
Actionable Tip:
Use heatmap tools like Hotjar to understand precisely how visitors interact with your navigation and adjust based on user behavior. Restructure your navigation based on feedback that users have given you about your site, and make sure you’re not overwhelming them by providing too many options- streamline your dropdown menus for less confusion.
4. Cluttered & Overloaded Design
Example:
You land on a homepage that’s brimming with banners, text, pop-ups, and videos- all screaming for your attention. It’s overwhelming, and you have no idea where to focus.
Why it isn’t good:
Too many elements create visual clutter, confusing visitors and preventing them from taking meaningful action. Users form their very first impression of your website in just 50 milliseconds. If the page seems chaotic or overwhelming, they are likely to leave without further exploration.
How to fix this:
Use whitespace to let your design breathe. A clean-less-clutter design helps the user maintain focus on your key message and reduces cognitive load. Prioritize your calls to action and direct users’ visual flow to them with a stark visual hierarchy communicating where the user is supposed to click next.
Actionable Tip:
Perform A/B testing, try different layouts, and find out which one works better for you. Try reducing the elements on key pages and see if users retain and convert better. Reducing elements on key pages may enhance retention and conversions, proving the value of fixing bad website design.
5. Broken Links and 404 Errors
Example:
You click on a link to learn about a service, but you get routed to a 404 error page. Irritated, you leave.
Why it isn’t good:
Broken links not only hurt user experience, but they also wreak havoc on your SEO rankings. Search engines ding your ranking for a website that has a lot of broken links because it is a sign of poor maintenance. And when visitors find broken pages on your website, trust in the reliability of your site is lost, as is credibility.
How to fix this:
Run regular link checks using Screaming Frog or Google Search Console. Immediately fix broken internal links and internally redirect any missing pages to similar content. By setting up 301 redirects on permanently moved pages, users and search engines alike will be directed to the right content.
Actionable Tip:
Create a friendlier 404 error page that will walk these visitors back into useful content rather than abandoning them. Add helpful links, a search bar, or some friendly message directing them to your site’s most popular sections.
6. No Clear Calls to Action (CTAs)
Example:
It’s a beautifully designed site; however, there is no clear direction for what a user should do next with the “Buy Now,” “Sign Up,” or “Contact Us” buttons.
Why it isn’t good:
Without direct calls to action, users need to guess what to do next. This can reduce conversions. Users who can’t immediately understand how to engage with your site by making a purchase, signing up for your newsletter, or contacting you will more likely leave without doing so.
How this gets fixed:
Make the calls-to-actions pop through the use of contrasting colors. The CTAs themselves should also be very action-oriented, such as “Start Free Trial” or “Get a Quote.” Those are concise yet clear as to what happens when they click.
Actionable Tip:
Test CTA button placements to see which generates the most conversions. Experiment with color, wording, and placement for the optimum CTAs
7. Auto-Playing Videos or Music
Example:
You land on a site, and out of nowhere, a video starts to play at a very loud volume. You scramblingly reach for the mute button, but that’s enough to disorient you away from the page.
Why it isn’t good:
It’s intrusive, can annoy visitors, and raises the bounce rate. In most cases, a visitor may not want to be suddenly taken by sound or to begin playing a video if they are in quiet surroundings or on limited data. It also slows down the loading of your page.
How to fix this:
Whenever possible, avoid auto-play or use media that is muted by default. Letting the user be in control of media should be done through play buttons rather than videos or music starting off automatically.
Actionable Tip:
Short loops that are silent and captioned can be a much more engaging alternative for annoyed users. This is so much friendlier to users because they’re leaving the decision to them as to when or if they want to play the media.
8. Inconsistent Branding
Example:
Your entire website is all over the place: every page has a different font, color scheme, and placement of the logo. It’s so disconnected and does not come off as professional at all.
Why it isn’t good:
Branding inconsistency confuses the user and dilutes your brand identity. Lack of coherence across pages may make your website seem amateurish and lower user trust. Consistency in design builds brand recognition and credibility and makes your brand professional to deal with.
How to fix this:
Stick to a consistent color palette, font, and style guide across all pages. Make sure your logo, colors, and typography are consistent throughout your site, which extends to having a cohesive visual identity.
Actionable Tip:
Create a brand style guide to help you keep consistency across your website and in all marketing materials. This should be a document that outlines explicitly the colors, font, logos, and design elements that you will use so that, when you build out new content or pages, you aren’t confused about what to use.
9. Hard-to-Find Contact Information
Example:
You browse through a page looking for a phone number or email and can’t seem to find one, so you don’t get in touch with the business.
Why it isn’t good:
This makes it very difficult to contact you, and this erodes trust; chances are you are likely to lose a sale. Your customers who may want to buy from you will give up or might assume that your business is not trustworthy or available.
How to fix this:
Include easily noticeable contact details or a “Contact Us” button on each page. Ensure that all your contact information, such as the phone number and email address, is visible to your website visitors.
Actionable Tip:
Use live chat for quick, effortless customer service. This will provide customers with an instant contact point, thereby improving customer satisfaction and potential conversions.
10. Ignoring Accessibility
Example:
A website that uses text that is too small to read lacks sufficient color contrast or omits alternative text for graphical elements, forcing people with disabilities to struggle to use the site.
Why it isn’t good:
Poor accessibility exposes users and may even violate legal standards, such as the ADA. These exclusions not only reduce your potential audience but also could result in fines or even a lawsuit against your organization. Websites should be designed in such a way to include people with disabilities related to visual, auditory, and cognitive impairments.
How to fix this:
Make sure the text on your platform is easily readable, using good color contrast with fonts that can be enlarged for readability. Then, make your website keyboard-navigable and screen-reader-friendly by adding descriptive alternative text to images. Add captions to videos and add transcripts to any audio to help people who struggle to hear.
Actionable Tip:
Follow an accessibility testing guide. Consider WAVE or Lighthouse. Ensure that your website follows WCAG-Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to assist in maintaining legal safety and creating an inclusive online presence.
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Conclusion: How to Avoid Bad Website Design Mistakes and Improve UX in 2024
The year 2024 expects something more from website users than just looking good. They expect seamless, fast, intuitive experiences. Also, keep in mind that learning about such web design & development services mistakes will raise your website performance by huge leaps when it comes to retaining visitors for longer and improving website UX with SEO for more conversions.
If you don’t know where to get started, consider researching how to work with a website design and development service or conducting a comprehensive website audit checklist to identify areas where you can make improvements. From mobile-first web design best practice tips to an in-depth website accessibility guide, there is no shortage of resources to help perfect your site. Small adjustments can sometimes make all the difference when trying to enhance the UX of your website and achieve online success for your business.
Contact us
For website design improvements, reach out to Microcode Software at contact@microcode.email
Frequently Asked Questions
Usability testing helps find user pain points and provides assurance that a website is easy to use; it enhances the design based on real user testing feedback.
A poorly designed website will harm the reputation of a brand, reduce conversions, and ultimately keep prospective customers away from the brand.
Improve navigation, load speed, and responsiveness on mobile devices. Ensure design aligns with user needs and today's trends.
A slow website only adds to the list of bounce rates, frustrated users, and low engagement, hurting overall customer satisfaction and conversions in general.
Bad design does hurt SEO: It ensures high bounce rates, high mobile performance issues, and lower search rankings due to a poor user experience.
