Are you killing your customer’s user experience (UX)?

Google loves content and takes into account the user experience element of websites when ranking them in search results. If that is so, why are there so many websites insistent on providing the worst possible experience for their visitors?

This is only my observation but I spend a lot of time online and have noticed that this is becoming epidemic. On a large proportion of sites that I have visited, I am greeted with…

• a popup, lightbox, signup box or something else equally intrusive and I haven’t even been there for one second! Now I’m annoyed, so it’s good bye or should I navigate through half a dozen clicks and then goodbye? Hmm.
• a “this page is not available for you” popup that obscures most of the page. The news sites of the old, mainstream media are particularly bad at this. You found an article online and click on it to read further and bingo…can’t read it. Why bother. I’ll just go somewhere else to get the info. Nobody subscribes to news sites. If you own a news site, may I suggest you go back to selling advertising and providing useful content.
• A full width cookie policy banner that takes up a third of the screen….geeez!
• Other annoying little things, like chatbots, “so and so bought something one minute ago” continuous steam or popup, assistance popups, etc, usually in conjunction with the above.
• And the latest design craze…top header and navigation bar that takes up another third of your page. That may or may not be a problem but when they’re fixed/sticky, they’re really annoying because again, you’ve lost you viewing ability.

The worst case scenario is when you combine them all into one! Now, you’re probably thinking, who would do this? Surprisingly, it is getting more and more common. Hence…this article. I can’t stand it any more. Help me please!

The image above is a typical example. After all the junk, you’re left with 30% of useable viewing area (in the yellow).

Marketing/Copywriting/Design 101- Above the fold is prime real estate. Why are you obscuring up to 70% of your page and annoying the hell out of your visitor?

Do I use any of those tools? Sure. I use pop ups, sign ups, cookie, privacy policy, lightboxes, landing pages, sticky menus, whatever. But there is a time and a place for all of that and a way to do it. You certainly wouldn’t have it all at the same time. The last thing you want to do is alienate your visitor or potential customer. They are looking for you and you sent them away!

What is your experience? Let me know.