10 Surefire Ways to Annoy Users
Sometimes, UX design isn’t all fun and games.
In today’s fickle download-and-delete culture, there’s a lot at stake. Users demand high-quality design and functionality, but some companies just aren’t getting the memo.
Here’s a list of some of the most rage-inducing design decisions even the most well-established companies make. Join us in expressing our utmost frustration.
1.Forcing App Downloads — A few years ago, everything was all about browser-based functionality. Nowadays, many of our favorite websites are force-feeding users to download their apps. Of course things oftentimes work best on an app, but limited device space and other factors sometimes makes a well-designed mobile site much more convenient. Plus, who really wants to take up precious storage space with that stupid reference app you use once a year? We’re looking at you Pinterest.
2. Login Walls — Thankfully, the design community — or at least the marketers pushing bad design decisions — seem to be taking note of those high bounce rates. No one wants to be forced to sign up to a website they’ve never even used before, and it seems rather shameless to require someone to enter all of their personal information just to do a quick price match or a bit of window shopping. Get a bunch of sign-up forms with e-mail addresses like thisisannoying@youreajerk.com? It’s time to rethink your strategy.
3. Unnecessary Push Notifications — Really, though, is there any other kind? Unless you’re telling me my house caught on fire or my bank account’s in the negative, it’s not push-worthy. On the same note, there are plenty of apps out there that tend to over-push the push, constantly nagging users about rethinking their decision to restrict push notifications. The bottom line is that users simply don’t want to be bombarded with unnecessary notifications.
4. Hounding Users for Reviews — Reviews are no-doubt valuable to users, whether in e-commerce situations or in the App Store. In and of themselves, reviews are not the problem. The problem is relentless requests for app reviews that pop up mid-gameplay or mid-browse. The occasional request is okay, but a pop-up every single session is just unnecessary. Remember, good design asks not what the user can do for you, but what you can do for the user.
5. Limited Content — Lately there have been a lot of websites, including Yelp and TripAdvisor, offering only “snippets” of their web pages. Both of these sites allow users to view only three reviews while accessing the site on mobile browser and require app download to see the full spectrum of reviews. This goes back to our point about forcing app downloads: sometimes it’s best to make your app campaign subtle and continue to focus on mobile usability.
6. Obtrusive Ads — Ads, like review requests, aren’t intrinsically bad. In many environments, they’re necessary for the service to operate, and that’s just fine. The problem comes when ads are pushy, cluttered and noisy. A couple of well-placed and unobtrusive ads are A-OK, but when you’re forced to hunt for content, it’s a no-go. Plus, there’s just something sort of pathetic about an ad-heavy page. And don’t even get us started on autoplay ads.
7. Passive Aggressive Opt-Out Messages — Why is this suddenly the hottest trend in web design? We’ve seen it a lot lately: you have the option to sign up or X-out, with a snarky opt-out message like “No thanks, I hate deals/knowledge/whatever we’re hawking.” Passive aggressive marketing messages are never a good idea. The last thing you want to do is offend your user, even if it seems relatively harmless.
8. Slideshow Content — This one’s just a no-brainer these days. With mobile use at an all-time high, slideshow content is a guaranteed way to ensure high bounce rates. User simply don’t want to have to click through to find answers, and they’ll fast abandon your site if they feel you’re putting them to work. It doesn’t help that slideshow-laden pages are pretty much always over-cluttered with ads.
9. Apps that Require Sign-Up—Sometimes it makes sense, like in the case of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, where you can’t see content unless you’re already a user. Apps that fall under the category of reference, productivity and games, though, should consider the sign-up process optional. On the same note, apps should always give users the option to sign in via e-mail and not force them to use Facebook or their Google account to sign in.
10. A Complicated Unsubscribe Process—When a user spends the time to scroll to the bottom of an e-mail in search of the unsubscribe button, they’re typically looking to do just that—unsubscribe. A complicated opt-out process, one where the option to completely unsubscribe from further communications isn’t placed front-and-center on the opt-out page, is a great way to annoy your uses so they’ll never sign up for your mailing list again.
What other design trends are getting under your skin lately? Let us know. If you want more examples of design that users hate, check out this awesome subreddit.
