Why Great Marketing Can’t Overcome Bad UX

by Nick Brown, Guest Contributor

There is one very important aspect of marketing that too many people forget. Namely, marketing will help you get seen, it will lead people to you, but it’s never a guarantee that they will stay. No matter how amazing your ad campaigns are, no matter how cool your logos, your slogans, your ideas seem to be, this all doesn’t really guarantee that you will make that one sale, that you will get conversions.
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This may seem paradoxical. After all, so many companies invest so much money into their websites, their work, and their marketing efforts. So why aren’t you making sales? Well, look at your UX. The experience of the user always comes first, and if he or she senses that their experience will not, in fact, be good, well, that means you’re in a bit of a bind. A poor user experience, an improperly set up website, it will all scare away even the most passionate of the consumer. In the end, all you ended up with is a dissatisfied consumer, and money wasted on marketing.

Below we will go into more detail on why marketing can’t overcome bad UX, what bad UX is, and quick notes on how to fix this.

Image Source: Kaleidico

Too much stuff
Now, everybody needs a website, no matter what type of work you are in. But, the quality of the website matters of course as well. Namely, some people think that quality means implanting as much stuff into your web page as possible. Unfortunately, the only thing you will achieve with that is a cluttered page and headaches for your users. 

Namely, a website that has too many features on it is very difficult to navigate. People will have a hard time finding what they are actually there to find, which will then lead to them simply switching onto something else. High bounce rates are the norm, not the exception, in situations like these. Namely, keep things simple, actually think what the basics are, what your foundations are. Your landing pages should hold their calls to action, their headlines, as well as some info on what your products or services provided. Fancy graphics, videos, and gifs should be used sparingly, with care. 

Poor page speeds

Image Source: Erwan Hesry

Attention spans are limited, and you can only do so much before people get bored. Nowadays people aren’t as patient as they were, and no matter how amazing your website is, no matter what kind of unique website design you have going on, people won’t really appreciate it if it takes ages for pages to load, and for them to see what you actually offer. 

You basically have a three-second window for your page to load. If that passes by, well, then you are in trouble. People will just jump ship and switch over to some other site. If they think using your website is a chore, if they have to spend ages waiting on it to load, then you won’t really end up with conversions.

We suggest you spruce things up, by removing images that are too large or just reducing their size and quality. Switching to a better host might do the trick as well, as well as just removing unnecessary clutter from your pages (see above).

Lack of responsiveness and optimization
A large number of people browse the web not through their computers, but by using phones and tablets. Namely, this is where responsive design comes in. It’s a vital part of good UX design because it doesn’t leave anybody in the dirt. A poorly optimized page might look good on a desktop computer, but might be absolutely unnavigable on a phone or tablet. Responsiveness and optimization will fix this issue. In order to get the conversions you need, you need to set things up properly. Present your website in the right manner, leave some room and functionality for tablets and for phones.

Brevity is the soul of wit
Maybe something as simple as optimizing your landing page can do wonders for your conversion. And one of the best ways you can do just that is by reducing the amount of text that is present on your page. Namely, people are daunted by a huge amount of text. They lack the time, the energy, and the attention spans needed to actually read entire seminar papers on one page. We are not trying to be condescending here, we don’t think people are dumb. What we do think, however, is that unnecessary text means your point has not been presented properly. 

Namely, both your landing page and any content article and page on your website, need to present information clearly. Use bullet points, notes, stay direct and clear. We already mentioned a type of minimalism that you should implement in your design, and consider that the same thing should be applied to text you use.

Conclusion
Do you now know how to handle poor UX design? Your marketing efforts are admirable, but in the end, they won’t matter much if you can’t make a sale. Indeed, if your user is annoyed, if he or she has to wait for several minutes for a page to load, you can be certain they will move on. They will not enjoy reading walls of texts with superfluous information and will be wary of any website lacking in reviews and comments. Remember – your marketing efforts got people through your door, but you have to think long and hard on how you’re going to keep them there.

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