Web Design Disasters That Drive Clients And Agencies Crazy
By Joel Black on 06/23/2016
The more marketers monetize web design, the more annoying their strategies become. From ubiquitous pop-up windows to infuriating, registration demands that lock clients out of sites, there’s no end to the digital tantrums advertisers can cause among users.
The Pop-Up Screen of Death
Pop-up advertising is based on the pattern interrupt technique, which snaps lulling brains to attention by doing something unexpected. Just because consumer attention is in short supply, doesn’t mean annoying them with your web design is a solution. 99% of buyers don’t part with their cash the first time they visit your site, let alone during the first three seconds of reading your home page. Pop-ups have developed such a toxic reputation that they’re known as malware in certain circles. Less-intrusive pop- unders are a web design alternative, but nothing beats entertaining content that negates the need for cheap tricks. Some pop-ups, if done well, will add value by offering an offer that is related to the content when the user intends to exit, as a last effort to try and give the user something of value.
Pre-visit Registration
97% of online purchases are abandoned before buyers reach the checkout screen. Sign-in barriers (any unnecessary steps between the customer and your sale) are one of the largest contributors. Most visitors click out of a site within only eight seconds, so asking them to register before they know anything about your business will cost you a fortune in lost sales. Google churns out millions of results for most searches, so if you don’t have the titanic global reputation of websites like Forbes and Facebook, your odds of retaining visitors with this web design technique are negligible at best. In some cases it is important to get user information to tailor the experience, when inventory is very large and you want to make sure the user gets the right fit, as in reKindess. So whether it’s on the front end or the back end, make sure you ask for the right information at the right time.
Auto-Play Videos
Facebook’s returns for video adverts rose exponentially as a result of the auto-play web design feature, but the network’s users can disable it easily. This goes a long way towards making sure the medium has true potency. Text-rich websites that aren’t a part of the daily lives of their users are better off giving their visitors the option of clicking the ‘play’ button.
Bait and Switch Advertising
Using dishonest web design to gain customer loyalty is like trying to attract bees with salt. Bait and switch marketing is not only ineffective, but often illegal, too. False or irrelevant keywords won’t earn new readers, and delivering a landing page that’s the opposite of what you promised is one of the quickest ways to obliterate your reputation. These days, web design needs to be as ethical and transparent as your human resources department.
Mobile Failures
Mobile usage overtook desktop in 2014. If your web design isn’t optimized for all devices, you may be losing 51% of your potential buyers. Technological evolution is moving at a rapid pace in the web design industry. Strategizing a long term plan that takes upcoming devices and environments into account is a budget-friendly way to keep your site relevant.
Audio and Video
Videos produce a 90% return on investment, so few businesses can afford to leave YouTube out of their campaigns. Background music is another story altogether. It’s an excellent way to inform your users that you’re a newbie website builder with a fetish for using up too much bandwidth.
The Insecure Web Designer
If users have clicked into your website, they intended to. A splash page confirming whether they want to enter is a useless web design barrier that puts a damper on your users’ moods, which is unlikely to affect the ease with which they part with their cash.
When it comes to web design and marketing, Forbes says, “Don’t settle for duct tape when you need a screwdriver.” There are hundreds of efficient marketing tactics to choose from, so there’s no excuse for using those that make your visitors dash for cover at your competitors’ sites.
