Common UX mistakes that confuse users and lower retention
After years of working on digital products, I've learned something crucial: even the most visually stunning design means nothing if users can't figure out how to use it. And yet, I constantly see the same mistakes repeated across websites and apps, driving users away faster than you can say "bounce rate."
The truth is, retention isn't just about keeping users around—it's about creating experiences so intuitive and delightful that people can't help but come back. When you make UX mistakes, you're not just losing visitors. You're losing potential advocates, customers, and the opportunity to build something truly valuable.
So let's dive into the most common UX mistakes that are probably costing you users right now, and more importantly, how to fix them.
1. Ignoring Visual Hierarchy and Information Architecture
Here's where many designers—even those with impressive skills—trip up. They create beautiful layouts without considering how the human eye naturally scans information. When everything on your page screams for attention with equal volume, nothing gets heard.
Users scan in predictable patterns (the F-pattern and Z-pattern aren't just designer folklore). If your most important content isn't aligned with these natural eye movements, you're making people work too hard. And here's the kicker: they won't work hard. They'll just leave.
The fix: Establish a clear visual hierarchy using size, color, contrast, and spacing. Your primary call-to-action should be impossible to miss. Secondary information can be more subtle. Think of it like conducting an orchestra—every element has its moment, but they can't all play fortissimo at once.
I've seen projects transform overnight simply by reorganizing information according to user priorities rather than business priorities. When these two are aligned, magic happens.
2. Overcomplicating Navigation
This one kills me because it's so preventable. Designers sometimes get creative with navigation—hiding it, making it "innovative," or structuring it in ways that make sense to them but confuse everyone else.
Your navigation should be boring. Really. It should be so intuitive that users don't even think about it. The moment someone has to stop and wonder "how do I find X?" you've lost them. And don't even get me started on hamburger menus on desktop sites or navigation that changes from page to page.
The fix: Keep your main navigation visible, consistent, and limited to 5-7 main categories. Use clear, descriptive labels—not clever or cutesy ones. "Services" is better than "What We Do" (unless you're in a creative industry where that actually makes sense). Test your navigation with real users, not just your team who already knows the site inside out.
The wealthy companies that dominate their industries? They often have the simplest navigation structures. There's a reason for that.
3. Ignoring Mobile Users (Or Treating Them as an Afterthought)
We're deep into 2025, and I still encounter sites that are clearly desktop-first with mobile as an afterthought. This is wild because mobile traffic has dominated for years now. If your mobile experience is clunky, slow, or requires zooming and horizontal scrolling, you're actively pushing users away.
Mobile isn't just a smaller screen—it's a different context entirely. People are on the go, potentially distracted, using touch instead of a mouse. Your design needs to account for all of this.
The fix: Design mobile-first, or at minimum, give mobile equal consideration. Make touch targets at least 44x44 pixels. Ensure text is readable without zooming (16px minimum). Test on actual devices, not just Chrome's device emulator. And for the love of good UX, make forms short and easy to fill out on a small keyboard.
4. Creating Friction in the User Journey
Every unnecessary step, every confusing form field, every unclear button—these are friction points that make users drop off. I constantly see registration forms asking for information that isn't needed yet (or ever), checkout processes with seven steps when three would do, or confirmation dialogs that pop up for every little action.
Think about it like this: every interaction has a cost. Users have limited patience and attention. If the cost of completing an action feels higher than the perceived benefit, they'll abandon it.
The fix: Map out your user journeys and ruthlessly eliminate unnecessary steps. Ask yourself: does this form really need 15 fields, or can we collect additional information later? Does this process really need five pages, or can we consolidate? Every removed friction point is a win for retention.
One of my favorite projects involved streamlining a signup flow from eight steps to three. Conversion rate jumped 67%. Three minutes of work to identify and remove friction, weeks of testing to get it right, and suddenly the entire business trajectory changed.
5. Poor Loading Performance
Here's a harsh truth: users won't wait for your beautiful design to load. Every second of delay costs you users. Studies show that 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than three seconds to load. Three seconds!
Designers often focus on visual richness without considering the performance impact. Those gorgeous hero videos, unoptimized images, and fancy animations? They might be killing your retention.
The fix: Optimize everything. Compress images, lazy-load content that's below the fold, minimize JavaScript, use modern image formats like WebP. Work closely with developers to ensure your creative vision doesn't compromise performance. There are plenty of ways to make stunning designs that load quickly—it just requires intentionality.
6. Inconsistent Design Patterns
When buttons look different on every page, when forms behave unpredictably, or when the same action requires different interactions in different parts of your product—that's when users get confused and frustrated.
Consistency builds familiarity. Familiarity builds confidence. Confidence drives retention. When users learn how one part of your interface works, they should be able to apply that knowledge everywhere else.
The fix: Create and maintain a design system. Even if you're working solo on smaller projects, document your patterns. Use the same button styles, form elements, spacing rules, and interaction patterns throughout your entire product. This doesn't mean everything looks identical—it means everything behaves predictably.
The most successful creative professionals I know maintain strong systems while still producing innovative work. The system frees them to be creative where it matters, rather than reinventing the wheel constantly.
7. Neglecting Error States and Edge Cases
This is where the real UX skills shine through. Anyone can design a happy path—the journey where everything works perfectly. But what happens when something goes wrong? When a search returns no results? When a form submission fails? When a page doesn't exist?
I see designers who create beautiful main flows but completely neglect error states. Then users encounter a generic "Error 404" page or a cryptic error message, and the experience falls apart.
The fix: Design for failure. Every interaction that can fail needs a thoughtful error state. Make error messages human and helpful—explain what went wrong and how to fix it. Create custom 404 pages that guide users back into your site. Show empty states that encourage action rather than just displaying nothing.
These details are what separate good designers from great ones. They attract users and keep them around because they feel taken care of, even when things don't go perfectly.
8. Overwhelming Users with Choices
The paradox of choice is real. When you present users with too many options, decisions become paralyzing. Whether it's a product catalog with 47 filters, a homepage with 15 call-to-action buttons, or a settings page with hundreds of options, too much choice leads to decision fatigue and abandonment.
The fix: Curate ruthlessly. Guide users toward the best options rather than overwhelming them with all options. Use progressive disclosure to show advanced features only to users who need them. On e-commerce sites, provide smart filters and sorting options. Make one primary action obvious on each page.
Think of yourself as a curator of experience, not just a presenter of features. The wealthiest companies in tech understand this—look at Apple's approach to product options or Google's famously sparse homepage.
9. Forgetting Accessibility
Accessibility isn't just about compliance—it's about inclusivity and, frankly, good business. When your design isn't accessible, you're excluding 15-20% of potential users. That includes people with visual impairments, motor difficulties, cognitive differences, and more.
But here's what many designers miss: accessibility improvements often make experiences better for everyone. Clear contrast helps all users, not just those with vision issues. Keyboard navigation helps power users. Clear language helps everyone understand your content.
The fix: Build accessibility in from the start. Ensure sufficient color contrast (4.5:1 for normal text). Make your site fully keyboard navigable. Use semantic HTML. Add alt text to images. Test with screen readers. Follow WCAG guidelines. It's not optional—it's fundamental to good UX.
10. Not Testing with Real Users
This might be the biggest mistake of all. Designers—myself included—sometimes fall in love with our solutions. We create something we think is brilliant, and we don't want to hear that users find it confusing. But our intuition, no matter how well-developed our skills are, isn't enough.
I've watched designers argue for hours about whether a button should be blue or green, then discover through testing that users couldn't find the button at all because it was in the wrong place. We get so close to our work that we lose perspective.
The fix: Test early and test often. You don't need elaborate usability labs or huge budgets. Five users testing your design will uncover about 85% of usability issues. Watch real people use your interface. Notice where they hesitate, where they click the wrong thing, where they give up. Then iterate based on what you learn.
The most successful projects I've worked on all had one thing in common: constant user feedback integrated throughout the process, not just at the end.
11. Ignoring Context and User Intent
Users don't arrive at your product in a vacuum. They come with specific goals, often in specific contexts. A user booking a flight is in a very different mindset than someone browsing travel inspiration. A user managing their account settings has different needs than someone making their first purchase.
When designs don't align with user intent or context, confusion follows. I've seen beautiful designs fail because they pushed users toward what the business wanted rather than supporting what users actually needed in that moment.
The fix: Understand the context of every interaction. Use analytics and user research to understand what people are trying to accomplish at different points in their journey. Design flows that support these goals rather than fighting against them. Sometimes this means creating different paths for different user types or situations.
The Real Cost of UX Mistakes
Here's what it all comes down to: UX mistakes don't just annoy users—they cost real money. Lower retention means lower lifetime value. Confused users mean higher support costs. Poor mobile experience means lost conversions. These aren't abstract concepts; they're direct hits to your bottom line.
But the opposite is also true. When you get UX right, when users flow through your product effortlessly, when they accomplish their goals without friction—that's when retention soars. That's when word-of-mouth spreads. That's when you build something sustainable and valuable.
Moving Forward
The good news? Most of these mistakes are fixable. You don't need to rebuild everything from scratch. Start by identifying your biggest friction points—look at your analytics, watch session recordings, talk to users. Pick the most impactful issue and fix it. Then move to the next one.
Design is never finished. It's a constant process of learning, iterating, and improving. The designers who build the most successful projects understand this. They stay humble, stay curious, and stay focused on the user experience above all else.
So take a hard look at your current projects. Where are you making these mistakes? Where could you improve? Your users—and your retention metrics—will thank you for it.
Remember: great UX isn't about adding more features or making things prettier. It's about removing obstacles, creating clarity, and making the path from intention to accomplishment as smooth as possible. Master that, and you'll not only attract users—you'll keep them coming back.
Max Snitser
Whether it's website design and development, app design and development, digital product design, or luxury branding and upscale design, my goal is to create designs that are aesthetically pleasing, visually appealing, and functionally intuitive. With a mastery of user experience (UX) and user interface (UI), I craft solutions that bring ideas to life, produce high-quality work, and build strong relationships with clients.
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