Common UX Mistakes That Drive Users Away

IA collapse - the erosion of the external-facing organization of information -- seems to be getting worse. It's not a new problem, but it is becoming more burdensome as brands force customers to use their apps instead of a web browser. Apps promote feeds, making it hard for users to drive the experience themselves. If users see something they want to review again later, it's unlikely they will ever find it. Many apps now lack even basic search or comprehensive navigation. Everything is curated, and users are out of luck if what they need isn't there or is buried under a kebab menu because it was deemed clutter. Information architecture isn't taught in UX boot camps or promoted through internal KPIs such as feed subscriptions. We've seemingly lost the ability to organize information from a user's perspective, which was once a core skill in user experience. To solve the problem, we must recognize that it exists and consider who it impacts. In that spirit, I invite you to share experiences where you can't find things you need in apps. Why do you suppose that happened?

Ever tapped the wrong button on a healthcare app because they were all crammed together like a bad game of Tetris? That’s not just annoying. It’s a usability failure. And in healthcare, that means missed refills, skipped messages, or abandoned appointments. Ease of Use is one of the most overlooked (but most critical) dimensions of digital patient experience. When interfaces are hard to tap, guessy to navigate, or visually overwhelming, patients drop off—or never engage to begin with. Here are 5 UX fixes to make healthcare tools feel effortless across devices: 1️⃣ 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝘃𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 Follow the Don’t Make Me Think rule. If a button looks like plain text, it’s not a button. If users have to guess what’s clickable, they’ll guess wrong. 2️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘁𝘆 Use common patterns that feel natural. Patients shouldn’t have to “learn your interface” just to book a flu shot. 3️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗽 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 Especially for older adults and low-vision users, tap targets should be at least 1 cm x 1 cm with adequate padding. This isn’t just best practice — it’s accessibility 101. 4️⃣ 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘆 Support natural gestures — swiping, pinching, tapping — especially for scrolling long results or zooming into care instructions. 5️⃣ 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀 Use bright colors for actions that move users forward. If everything is bold, nothing is clear. Prioritize clarity over decoration. When digital care is easy, patients trust it. When it’s clunky, they opt out. 💬 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀: Well-designed UX reduces patient errors and data-entry mistakes, which means fewer compliance headaches for your team. 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘀? Let’s apply the PX Scale and uncover where friction is hiding: https://lnkd.in/gVd7Vd-z Because in healthcare UX, friction isn’t just a design flaw — it’s a barrier to care. #HealthcareUX #DigitalHealth #PatientExperience #UXDesign #AccessibilityMatters #DesignForOutcomes #ComplianceByDesign

81% of ecommerce sites still fail at mobile UX in 2025 While performance has improved year over year, most sites still fall into the “mediocre” category. A few takeaways that stood out to me from a recent usability study I read: - Category overcategorization is still a mess. 75% of sites break product types with shared attributes into separate categories instead of using filters. It kills browseability. - Navigation still confuses users. 95% don’t highlight where the user is in the site hierarchy — a small fix that can greatly improve orientation. - Search isn’t smart enough. 58% can’t interpret abbreviations or symbols. If “3pc” doesn’t match “3-piece,” you’re making customers think too hard. -Visual context matters. 70% don’t offer 3+ product thumbnails in list views, and 63% don’t show social images on PDPs. That’s missed conversion. -Keyboard behavior is overlooked. Something as small as triggering the right keyboard type for phone or email fields can improve mobile conversion — yet 63% of sites don’t. If these problems resonate with you and you're looking for Inspo, check out Lowe's, American Eagle, Kate Spade and Williams Sonoma, B&H and Urban Outfitters! The example below is from Lowe's and is an excellent way to provide scope suggestions in search that are both visually distinct and aligned with actual product categories helping customers narrow their search. Source: Baymard #ecommerce #mobileux #uxdesign #digitalcommerce #onlineshopping #conversionrateoptimization #productdesign #cx #baymard #usabilitytesting #mobilefirst #retailtech #userexperience #uxresearch #mobilecommerce

Your users aren't dumb - your UX is fighting their brain's natural instincts. Ever wonder why that "perfectly designed" feature gets ignored? Or why users keep making the same "mistakes" over and over? Listen founder, you're probably making these costly cognitive bias mistakes in your UX: Avoid: • Assuming users remember where everything is (they don't - it's called the Serial Position Effect) • Cramming too many choices on one screen (Analysis Paralysis is killing your conversions) • Making users think too hard about next steps (Mental fatigue is real) • Hiding important info "just three clicks away" (Out of sight = doesn't exist) Instead, here's how to work WITH your users' brains: 1. Put your most important actions at the beginning or end of lists (users remember these best) 2. Limit options to 3-5 choices per screen (users actually buy more when they have fewer choices) 3. Use visual hierarchies that match real-world patterns (we process familiar patterns 60% faster) 4. Keep important actions visible and consistent across all pages (our brains love predictability) Great UX isn't about being clever. It's about being obvious. Your users' brains are lazy - and that's okay. Design for how they actually think, not how you wish they would think. --- PS: What's the most counterintuitive UX decision that actually improved your conversions? Follow me, John Balboa. I swear I'm friendly and I won't detach your components.

Here's an example of a dispensary website that takes 8 (far too many) clicks just to get to the menu. A large portion of my day is spent browsing dispensary websites (go figure) and I see a lot of different approaches to e-commerce out there. Some good, most mediocre or bad. Not only does this one take an extreme amount of clicks just to shop, but there are several other problematic UX issues here including: - Laggy UI, notice when I tried to select a location - Confusing design, no clear call to actions on any page - 3 different menu platforms including one on a sub-domain - Forcing users to login to checkout decreases conversion rates (usually) - Cannot easily switch between locations or med/rec menus - Multiple age gates for unknown reason Even worse, if you google "dispensary lodi nj" the first result you see is for an Apothecarium landing page (/dispensaries/lodi) that has no shop / menu button on the page!! Only an address and list of hours for that location. You still have to go through the same process of selecting the location from the drop down and taking 8 clicks to get to the menu. SEO only works if your website does, and that is the most important part of SEO.

Most brands think checkout is where they lose customers. Reality check 👉 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. 🔻 At the top of the funnel (ToFu): Your site loads too slow → Customers bounce before they even see your products. Navigation is confusing → They don’t know where to go, so they leave. Messaging is vague → They don’t see why your product is different. 🔻 In the middle (MoFu): Product pages are vague → They don’t feel confident to buy. Hidden shipping costs → They hesitate and second-guess. Too many choices → Decision fatigue kicks in, and they leave. 🔻 At checkout (BoFu): No Apple Pay or PayPal → They don’t feel like digging out their card. Long forms → Too much effort, so they quit. Surprise fees → Trust is gone. And even 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 they buy? A bad post-purchase experience means zero repeat customers. Stop focusing only on checkout. Your funnel isn’t broken at one stage. It’s leaking customers everywhere. So track where people get stuck and fix friction at every step. One click too many is one customer too few. Friction is costing you sales. The question is—where? #Ecommerce #CustomerJourney #UX #Conversion Follow me for weekly updates on the latest tools and trends in UX and productivity.

Bad UX: Because nothing says, "we don’t want your business" like a 15-second load time and a confusing CTA. You ever visit a website and feel like you need a map, a compass, and a therapy session just to find the contact page? I’ve seen it all: → Buttons that don’t look like buttons. → Navigation menus that lead you 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 from the site. → CTAs that read like vague life advice → Fonts so small you need a microscope and a prayer to read them. Here’s the truth: You can drive all the traffic in the world, but if your UX is a mess, your website’s just a very expensive digital paperweight. → Clear messaging → Intuitive design → Lightning-fast load times → A path that leads users straight to action That’s the difference between a site that “has potential” and one that 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 converts. Because your website shouldn't just look pretty—it should 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮. --- Follow Jeff Gapinski for more content like this. ♻️ Share this to help someone else with their UX Video Source: r/Unexpected

Some UX mistakes aren’t advanced. They’re just persistent. Designers keep falling into the same traps—not because they’re careless, but because bad defaults look “normal.” → Designing for desktop first (even when 70% of traffic is mobile) → Using hero sliders that look great but convert terribly → Prioritizing visual polish over usable flow → Forgetting mobile nav until the handoff phase These aren’t dramatic fails. They’re slow bleeds. And they add up—confused users, bloated handoffs, broken funnels. These are 4 of the most common traps I still see (and what to do instead). Because before you worry about delight, you need to fix the defaults. Are there any you'd add to the list? 🤔 #uxdesign #webdesign ——— 👋 Hi, I’m Dane—I love sharing design tips + strategies. ❤️ Found this helpful? Dropping a like shows support. 🔄 Share to help others (& for easy access later). ➕ Follow for more like this in your feed every day.