UI UX Design Mistakes to Avoid on Your Website and App

The most common UI UX design mistakes on small business websites and apps are hidden navigation, long forms, text that is hard to read on a phone, slow screens, clutter and buttons that do not say what happens next. Each one makes a visitor work harder than they should, and most visitors simply leave. This guide explains these UI UX design mistakes in plain language and shows how to fix each one without rebuilding everything.

Why UI UX design mistakes cost you customers

UI means what people see: colours, buttons, fonts and layout. UX means how it feels to use: can a person find the price, send an enquiry or complete a payment without confusion? A site can look beautiful and still be frustrating, which is why UI UX design mistakes often hide in plain sight. The owner knows the business so well that they stop seeing the problems.

For Indian small businesses the stakes are practical. Many customers arrive from an Instagram link or a Google search on a mid-range phone, on a mobile network that is not always fast, and they decide within seconds. If the page confuses them, they close it and message a competitor on WhatsApp instead. You pay for that lost visit through ads, effort or time, so fixing these mistakes is one of the cheaper ways to get more from the traffic you already have. No fix guarantees more sales, but each removes a real obstacle.

Navigation and menu mistakes

Navigation is where UI UX design mistakes show up first. Typical problems are menus with too many items, clever names nobody understands, and important pages buried two or three clicks deep. A visitor looking for "Contact" should not have to guess whether it sits under "Connect", "Reach us" or "More".

• Too many menu items. Keep the main menu to roughly five to seven clear labels such as Home, Services, About, Gallery and Contact.
• Vague labels. Use plain words that match what people search for, like "Pricing" or "Book a visit", instead of branded jargon.
• No way back. Every inner page needs a visible logo link to Home and a clear route to the main enquiry action.
• Hidden menus on desktop. A hamburger icon suits phones, but hiding the whole menu on a laptop screen makes people miss your pages.

A quick test: ask a friend to find your phone number and your main service within ten seconds. If they hesitate, the navigation needs work.

Form mistakes that kill enquiries

Forms are the point where interest turns into a lead, and they are one of the costliest areas for UI UX design mistakes. Long forms asking for address, company size, budget and a long message put people off when they only wanted a quote. Every extra field gives a visitor another reason to quit.

Ask only for what you need to reply, usually name, phone and a short message. Add the rest later on a call or WhatsApp chat. Label every field clearly instead of relying only on grey placeholder text that vanishes when someone starts typing. Use the right keyboard on phones, so a phone number field opens the number pad. Show errors next to the field in plain words, such as "Please enter a 10 digit mobile number", and never wipe out what the visitor already typed after a mistake.

Also tell people what happens after they press send. A short line like "We reply on WhatsApp or phone after reading your request" removes doubt and sets expectations honestly.

Mobile UI UX design mistakes

Most small business visitors in India open pages on a phone, so mobile UI UX design mistakes deserve the most attention. A site that merely shrinks the desktop layout is not the same as one designed for thumbs and small screens.

• Tiny tap targets. Buttons and links packed close together cause mis-taps. Give each tap area comfortable space.
• Text that needs zooming. Body text that is too small forces pinching and sideways scrolling.
• Sideways scrolling. Wide images or tables that spill past the screen feel broken.
• Pop-ups that cover the page. A full-screen banner on first load, especially one that is hard to close, drives visitors away.
• Call and WhatsApp buttons missing. On a phone, a one-tap call or chat button is often the most useful element on the page.

Always test on a real phone, not only by resizing a desktop browser window.

Low contrast and unreadable text

Light grey text on white, white text over a busy photo, or pale colours on a bright background all count among the sneakiest UI UX design mistakes, because they look elegant on a designer's large monitor. Outdoors in sunlight on a phone, the same text can almost disappear. Readability also matters for older customers and anyone with weaker eyesight.

Choose a strong difference between text and background, keep body copy at a comfortable size, and avoid long lines of centred text. Do not use colour alone to carry meaning, for example showing errors only in red. Add a short written message too. If you publish in Hindi or another regional language, check that the font actually supports the script properly and that characters do not break or look cramped.

Slow screens and heavy pages

Speed is part of the experience, not just a technical detail. Giant uncompressed images, auto-playing videos, many fonts and stacked plugins make pages slow, and slow pages feel like bad design even when the layout is fine. Owners often miss this because their own office connection is fast.

Compress images before uploading, use modern formats where your platform supports them, and load only the fonts you actually use. Remove plugins or scripts nobody needs. On apps, avoid loading every screen's data at once and show a simple loading state so the person knows something is happening. Our guide on website speed optimization tips goes through the practical steps in order.

Clutter and unclear calls to action

Many pages try to say everything at once: three banners, five offers, a chat widget, a pop-up and a scrolling ticker. When everything shouts, nothing is heard. Clutter is common because owners hate leaving anything out.

Give each page one main job. A services page should lead the reader toward asking for a quote, a product page toward buying, and a contact page toward sending a message. Make that one action visually obvious, and label buttons with what will happen, such as "Get a free quote" or "Book a table", instead of a generic "Submit" or "Click here". Use white space to separate groups of content, and keep supporting actions quieter than the main one. If your words need work as well, read how to write website content that converts.

Missing feedback and confusing errors

People need to know that the system heard them. A button that does nothing visible after a tap, a payment step with no confirmation, or a "Something went wrong" message with no next step all create anxiety. This is especially serious around payments and UPI flows, where users worry about being charged twice.

Show a clear state after each action: a loading indicator, a success message, or a specific error with a way to try again. Confirm orders and enquiries on screen and by message or email. Write error text in everyday language and say what the person can do next. Empty states matter too: an empty cart or empty search result page should suggest an action instead of showing a blank space.

Quick checklist to spot UI UX design mistakes

You do not need a design degree to audit your own site. Work through this list on your phone first, then on a computer.

1. Five-second test. Show the home page to someone new for five seconds and ask what you sell and what to do next.
2. Find the contact. Can they reach your phone number, WhatsApp or form in two taps or clicks?
3. Complete the main task. Place an order or send an enquiry yourself and note every point of confusion.
4. Read in sunlight. Step outside and check that text is readable on your phone screen.
5. Count the form fields. Remove any field you do not need to give a first reply.
6. Check speed on mobile data. Load the page on your phone with Wi-Fi off and see how long it takes.
7. Try to break it. Enter a wrong phone number, leave fields blank and tap back, then see how clear the messages are.
8. Look at the whole page. Scroll slowly and ask whether each block earns its place.

Fix the problems closest to enquiries and payments first.

UI UX design mistakes in apps versus websites

Websites and apps share many UI UX design mistakes, but apps add a few of their own. Onboarding is a big one: forcing sign-up, long tutorials or many permission requests before the user has seen any value. Ask for permissions, such as location or notifications, only when the feature needs them and explain why. Another app mistake is hiding key actions behind gestures that nobody discovers. Keep core actions visible and use familiar patterns for the platform your users are on.

Consistency matters more in apps because people use them repeatedly. Buttons, icons and spacing should behave the same on every screen. If you are planning an app, see our notes on the difference between a web app and a website to decide what you really need before design begins.

How to fix UI UX design mistakes without a full redesign

Not every site needs a rebuild. Many UI UX design mistakes can be fixed step by step: shorten the menu, trim the form, enlarge the text, compress images and rewrite button labels. Start with the pages that bring the most visitors, usually the home page, the main service page and the contact page.

A fuller redesign makes sense when the structure itself is the problem, for example when the site is not mobile-friendly at all, the platform is outdated or the content is organised around what you want to say rather than what customers want to know. If that sounds familiar, our guide to website redesign signs and checklist helps you decide. Whatever you choose, results depend on your audience, offer and traffic, and no design change can promise a fixed number of leads.

When to get professional UI UX help

If you have fixed the obvious issues and visitors still leave, a professional review can spot patterns you cannot see. A designer will usually look at user flows, wireframes, visual hierarchy and how real people behave on the key pages. Cost depends on the number of screens or pages, research depth, number of revisions and whether you need design only or development as well, so it is a custom quote based on scope rather than a fixed price. Ragnar Studios offers UI UX design services for websites and apps, and you can share your requirements on WhatsApp for a quote. Bring screenshots of the pages you worry about and a note on what you want visitors to do.

Frequently asked questions