How to Identify Common Website Usability Issues

You may be setting yourself up for problems if your website isn’t structured around a well-thought-out hierarchy or site-mapping strategy. That’s because many ecommerce website usability issues stem from inadequate planning.

To determine how easy it is for visitors to achieve their goals within your website, ask yourself three fundamental questions:

How long does it take pages to load?

Too long and would-be visitors could leave your site before the page even loads. And then quickly head off to the competition to make a purchase.

This means you not only lose a potential customer, they’ll leave feeling put off and frustrated. In other words, they won’t be back. But you can reduce page loading times by doing things like optimizing images and CSS files, and browser caching.

Does it make a good first impression?

The visitor’s initial impression is not only affected by how the site’s pages load, but also by how the front page is structured. So you want to make sure your front (or landing) page has a smooth look and tone.

Of course this applies to all the pages on your site, because without consistency your message (that is, brand) will get lost in the resulting confusion.

To prevent these kinds of website usability issues, you should use a similar layout, color selection, and font on all your pages. This creates a familiar feeling. Moreover, make sure all your facts and information are in a compact format that’s easy to read.

Can users quickly find what they need?

The rule of thumb is it should be within three clicks. And this is important because the average visitor will spend less than one minute trying to locate what they’re looking for. So keep it simple.

Many common website usability issues can be overcome with a few common sense approaches. For example, you’ll want to ensure that:

Website pages are able to explain themselves
Things are where users expect them to be
The site is accessible, user friendly, and easy to navigate

Because, in the end, it’s the simplicity, consistency, familiarity, and relevancy of your site that will define its usability, while also providing its direction.