Common Website Mistakes That Hurt User Experience

• By Muhammad Adil Altaf
• 06-03-2025
• Web Development

A company website has a purpose and that is portraying an impactful image. With digital business presence emerging as a mandatory factor, it is important to have a professional website in place. It is always good to create a website using a state of the art designing tool to convert it into a fully working website. Using a quality plugin for converting Figma to Tailwind is a good tip in this case.

Here are some common mistakes that need to be avoided for improved website ranking and increased ranking.

1. Sharp Flashy website themes

It is important to understand that website traffic rate depends on how comfortable a user feels while browsing it. One of the errors is adopting a color scheme not pleasant to the eyes. For instance, using sharp pink as the background color for a landing page can be lethal for website performance. Color schemes need to be selected after considering important parameters.

The age group of the targeted audience matters immensely. A website for elderly medical care should have soft shade combinations considering that most potent clients will be above 55. Sharp colors would irritate their ageing eyes.

Product segmentation and category needs to be analyzed. A dairy product should ideally not have a black centric theme. A good tip for designers is glancing at the designer themes of competitors to get an idea. There is nothing bad about thinking out of the box but being relevant is integral.

2. Avoiding the Use of AI Centric Website Building applications

AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools have completely altered the website design mechanism. These days, you can find the Best Website Builder without Ads and let it do the job for you. Let us dive deeper on how these tools can help designers.

Automated website designers are equipped with the latest UX/UI design trends. One does not have to imagine the ideal user experience from scratch and spend several hours on it. Website builders provide you with benchmark templates with ideal user experience details. For something specific, designers need to give prompts.

Website builders allow you to customize the default layout. For example, if you are not ok with the background theme and everything else seems relevant, you can alter it. There is absolutely no need to use complicated code fragments. Most features are simply drag and drop.

3. Non Responsive Website

It is important to understand that all users will not use the same device to access a website. Smartphones are ruling the digital world and offer a lot more convenience than laptops / desktops. Therefore if a website is not responsive, the user will get a distorted view.

A non-responsive website does not adjust its view automatically according to the screen size. For instance, a user will have to scroll endlessly to click the “add to cart” feature if the ordering page is accessed on the smartphone instead of a computer.
Responsive websites are mandatory for quality user experience. These pages auto adjust the view according to the screen size of the user. Ideally, designers should opt for mobile first design considering that a big chunk of users will not use desktops/laptops.

4. Complicated Site Mobility

Most users who access websites are not tech savvy. Their aim is browsing through the options with ease and finding their desired feature. For instance, visitors need to procure a pair of jeans from an e-commerce website. When he visits the landing page, it becomes very hard for him to locate the product page. This can convince him to exit the website and seek alternatives.

Website visitors are only interested in getting to their desired online product / service or option in the shortest possible time span. If they have to search extensively then most exit right away. Most of them would not consider returning to the website considering the poor user experience.

Designers should give importance to the ease of access more than the flamboyance of the design. There is no point in offering advanced website options when the user finds it hard to stay. Such websites usually have a high bounce rate which means users do visit but do not return.

5. Low quality Product Images

Human psychology studies show that people are more attentive towards images rather than text descriptions. They only go through the written material if the image is convincing enough. An example would provide better understanding.

Consider that a buyer visits an electronic product website in search of a LED Television. He does find his desired model but the picture does not have clarity. The button combinations are not clear and the color scheme is hard to check. In such cases, he would immediately browse for another website selling the same product.

Users would not spend time reading multiple lines of text and ensure that the product is as per requirements. High definition images are important so that buyers can get a clear view. If product pictures are unclear, relevant editing / fine tuning techniques should be used prior to uploading.

6. Inconsistent Text Placements, Sizes and Styles

Can you trust a website that uses three text styles on the same page? The answer is No. Inconsistent text shows an approach of unprofessionalism. It simply gives the impression that the brand is not professional to offer quality user experience. Hence, people do not trust such brands as they fear ending up with replica or substandard products.

A website is the digital footprint of any brand. Online buyers will not come and check the product physically. They would only trust what is written. Inconsistent text styles develop a lack of trust.

Designers should ensure that the same text style / size is used across the websites. The use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) works well to centralize text style.

7. Real Product Pictures not uploaded

Buyers these days are smart enough to judge whether real product pictures have been uploaded on the website or not. Unfortunately, a lot of brands use animated images to make the product look appealing. However, buyers do not count on this. They fear that the real product may be substandard if actual pictures have not been provided.

8. Heavy Design themes impacting loading time

For buyers / onsite visitors, the best website is one which loads in the shortest span. Websites with heavy design themes take a long time to load. In addition to that, if the user is not using a high end device, the landing page may go into non-responsive mode.

Non responsive web pages are a big turn off for any user. Page loading issues are not due to connectivity problems or database disconnections only. At times, the landing page has such a heavy theme that it does not upload at all. Why does it happen in the first place?

Overburdening the website pages with animations is a major error. This is because these animations load from scratch every time a user browses the website. The users who click the link first may get a better user experience but as the count increases, the loading time increases as well. Eventually the website crashes and visitors are unable to view pages.

Designers should ensure the uploading of animated videos / images. The website should be accessed in real time to determine loading duration. Similarly, while testing, multiple users should access the website at the same time to determine how it is performing.

9. Popups covering the Website options

Most brands generate revenue by allowing popups on their websites. However, a suitable designer approach results in the declining rank of their pages.

Popups should appear in such a way that they do not impact usability. Most people do not even click popups fearing that it may be a virus source. The situation becomes more frustrating when the popup disables actual website menus until clicked. Even after clicking, it generates linked popups and the user eventually clicks the close button.

It is important to understand that a user visits a website to check what the actual brand has to offer. He/She may not be interested at all in a pop-up appearing at the bottom offering a lucrative offer.

Secondly, a lot of users link continuous irritating popups with website reliability. They report it as spam and avoid accessing it again.

10. Unattractive Call to Action texts

Why do so many brands face issues of users visiting the landing page but not progressing to the linked product pages? One reason is the boring “call to action” text on the buttons.

There is nothing attention grabbing about “Submit”, “Click to Proceed” and similar button texts. Designers need to think out of the box. The text should convince users to click the button instead of simply acting as an instruction manual.

Being unique does not mean being overly promotional and unrealistic. Designers should strike a balance between believable and unique. Using call to actions like “click to get a million dollars” or “click to win a villa” are big NO. They generate the feel that a scam is waiting on the other side of the click.

11. Low Color Contrast is a killer

Suppose that you visit a website where the background page color is one shade lighter than the menu bar color. This would make it immensely hard to focus on the text or differentiate between the colors.

There should be a high contrast between different website sections. The goal is that visitors do not have to strain their eyes to differentiate. Vibrant shades attract users and they blend well with softer colors.

For instance, if the background page color is light pink and the menu bar is dull red, a good overall contrast will be produced. Eventually, users will get an impressive experience.

Summing It All Up

Design is a key part of any website. However, attracting users does not mean paying attention to aesthetics only. To get things right, designers need to put themselves in the shoes of visitors. Keeping the right color scheme means users would be comfortable about staying on the website and paying revisits.

Responsiveness is not an added advantage but a necessary component. Gone are the days when people visited websites while sitting dedicatedly in front of their laptops. Today, it is more about convenience and minimal effort. Mobile responsive websites provide impeccable experience to visitors. They do not have to deal with long scrolls, large text fonts or distorted images.

Apart from the overall design theme, the user journey decides how a website will perform. Visitors strongly prefer websites which do not have any loading problems. They do not have to deal with “Page Not Found” or “Server not Responding” issues.

Animations are good but only if they do not harm the overall UX. In addition to that, they should add value. Users should be convinced about clicking the “buy” button or proceeding with their desired service after viewing them. Appropriate testing of the website helps in combating this problem.

Text syncing is an important factor as well. A big chunk of designers do not pay any attention to this aspect. They use an inconsistent approach where different styles and sizes are used. Users take this as an amateur / careless approach and avoid trusting such brands.

Lastly, websites have a level of importance these days. Today, no one has the time to physically visit shops and stores for purchasing things. People strongly prefer buying online which can be done while relaxing on the sofa. Successful brands give the highest importance to the user journey. They ensure that visitors do not have to struggle for checking options on the website.

Too many popups ruin the user experience in a major way. This is because people are unable to reach their desired link. Particularly when these popups paralyze the actual page features, users are convinced about exiting the website and not revisiting.