Top 10 Web Design Flaws That Alienate Mobile Users

Mobile users are the most common type of internet user these days and because of this, they are not a group that you want to alienate or frustrate especially with your web design. While this is often done unintentionally, it still happens far too often which ends up being bad for your business. As a web design company that has been crafting award-winning sites for over a decade, we wanted to share our Top 10 Web Design flaws that alienate mobile users.

Design Flaws that Alienate Mobile Users

1. Hiding Navigation – if people can’t easily find navigation buttons how will they get to where they want to go? This seems like a no-brainer and yet on some sites you can’t quickly or easily find navigation options. Navigation must always be obvious and intuitive otherwise users will get frustrated and leave.
2. Slow Load Speeds – This is a killer to desktop users, but even more so for mobile users. Mobile networks are getting faster but not fast enough to overcome glacier-like load speeds. If you aren’t loading in 3 seconds or less then you are in danger of losing users and the possible conversions that goes with them. Plus load speed is included in how Google looks at search results along with customer satisfaction so slow loading will affect you directly on two fronts.
3. Use of Gestures – Many people have gotten used to swiping and tapping because of the increased use of these items with touch screens and operating systems, but they are not always universal. There are different types of swipes and tapping can have various effects depending on the built in options within the mobile browser which then happens before your action could take place. Testing is important to make sure your site works on all types of browsers and devices, especially when using gestures.
4. No Zooming –It can be funny to watch someone try to zoom in or out on a site that has zoom disabled, at least for a few minutes. Then they get irritated at the site along with you for laughing at them. You should always have zooming enabled because it makes everything easier to see when needed.
5. Blocking Content – Have you ever seen content blocked on a mobile site because they want you to download the app instead? That is annoying and alienates a lot of users. Don’t force users into an action such as providing their location, downloading an app, or signing up just to view content. Google announced they will start penalizing people for this in 2017 because people can’t get the content they expected in their search results.
6. Bad Carousel Design – For those ecommerce sites that use a carousel, there is a right way and wrong way to do it in the eyes of a mobile user. Often on a mobile device a user only see the first slide and will ignore anything else. Navigation can also take a hit depending on the options you provide compared to the mobile browser. These things need to be considered at the mobile level first and then built up for the desktop site.
7. Funky Web Fonts – Fonts can be tricky if you are inexperienced with them. If they don’t load in the proper order it can slow down the entire load.
8. Tap Points are Tiny – If you use tapping as an action or navigation option, make sure the tap point is large enough. Designers use pixels to determine a tap point, but this then needs to be considered based on the standard used by mobile web browsers otherwise your tap point could end up being smaller, and harder to use, than you expected.
9. Untappable Phone Numbers – Why? If you have a phone number listed on your website set them as a link that opens a phone call along with device detection for mobile users. If not, then users have to quickly memorize the number before trying to dial it which is a design flaw as it adds an unnecessary step.
10. Too Much Social Media – If a little is good, a lot is better, right? Not always when it comes to social media buttons and how they can clutter up a small mobile space. It’s not just the size of the button on the space but also how it affects the load speeds. Plus, mobile users don’t often social share from a website like they do within an app so often it is just a waste of time, space and energy.

The bottom line is the mobile user is the one you should be catering too. If your site has any of these Top 10 web design flaws that alienate mobile users then you are doing your business more harm than good as you might be unintentionally turning away business that could instead be helping increase your profits.

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