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10 ways to annoy your site visitors

March 25, 2008

Getting visitors onto your website is one thing, keeping them there is another. Make life as easy as possible for them. A frustrated visitor will not stick around, will not come back and will not recommend your site to others.

Here are 10 common ways to annoy your visitors:

No clear statement of the site’s purpose.
Navigation and links are not obvious.
Broken links.
Distracting and irrelevant imagery, animation, sound and wording.
Inconsistent signage, colouring, conventions and messages from page to page.
Lack of orientation and clear signposts within the site.
No site map and/or site search.
Obscure or missing information such as contact details, prices and delivery charges.
Asking for unnecessary information on registration forms, purchases, etc.
Careless errors with spelling and grammar.

Or to put it another way – don’t confuse them, don’t put doubt in their minds, don’t put barriers in their way and do serve it up on a plate.

The offences are not in any particular order of importance. Needless to say, there are plenty of others (I’ll see if I can come up with another ten soon). Each offence will deter some people more than others. But any of them could cost you customers.

Filed in: Usability