3 deal-breaking UX bloopers and how to avoid them

On the one hand, user experience (UX) in the digital world can be complex, and good UX typically rests on a myriad of interacting factors that work together to create an overall positive experience. But too often we’ve seen UX lapses that create hard stops and dead ends for users. Here are our top three, and what you can do about them.

1. Sending customers that don’t fit your ideal into the void

This is when customers who don’t map onto your sales process or customer journey aren’t given viable options for the next steps.

Take something like retirement calculators. The ideal target customer will be presented with a range of retirement products to invest in. But what about the customer that hasn’t invested enough in their retirement to date? Are they offered an appropriate alternative route, or just booted off the journey?

Another example is someone who doesn’t have, say, a South Africa identity number, or another specific piece of information that unlocks the rest of a process. These users need clear instructions on how to proceed, not to be left hanging or directed to an all-purpose support channel.

2. Offering too many choices

Just because it is possible to offer customers unlimited choices and options online doesn’t mean you should. In fact, we’ve seen this become so overwhelming, with customers unable to make meaningful comparisons and work out what is best for their needs, that they abandon the process. Instead, do some of the work for them, and present relevant buckets of options that are easy to compare in terms of value and benefits.

3. Failing to replicate real-life interactions online

Some sales, especially grudge purchases, are not straightforward. The customer needs more information and objection-handling to move them along the sales process. An example of this is an extended motor warranty. Superficially the additional cost may seem excessive, but when compared with the potential cost of repairs, the cost becomes more palatable. This “in real life” conversation needs to be replicated online for a successful sale.

Today, with more sales and user engagements taking place online and the reduced availability of an offline fallback, these UX failures can be catastrophic. Typically, they have a common cause: spending all your time thinking inside out, and never getting a view from the outside in, from a representative range of people.

Sure, there are tools that can tell you what people do on your site. But to truly break out from your organisation’s echo chamber you need to understand why people do what they do, from a practical, cognitive, and emotional point of view. Then, triangulate this insight with best practices and industry experience.

Want to stop stopping your user in their tracks? Tap into Realm Digital’s UX Lab capabilities to identify and fix the deal-breaking UX mistakes you’re making.