Mistakes on brand websites: what not to do

Creating a website design, many people are guided by large brands and adopt far from the most useful elements from them. Yes, yes, even such well-known companies as Zara or Coca-Cola are also mistaken. Therefore, it is important to be able to analyze the site interface and understand which features will make it user-friendly and which ones will harm. Today, using examples, we will look at errors on brand websites.

Uniqlo

The website of the Japanese clothing brand is updated frequently, but not all problems have been fixed yet.

• You need to register to buy a product. Even by clicking on the “Quick order” button, we see a window for authorization on the site. This is not good, because the user needs to enter personal data, come up with a password… The easier it is to place an order, the better. Ideally, cancel registration or simplify it by adding an authorization function through social networks.



• The slider is overloaded with information, it is impossible to skim through it. It is better to combine the photo of the model and the price so that the user understands how much a particular product costs, and then goes to its page. The link to the catalog of down jackets in the lower right corner is clearly superfluous. Plus, it’s hard to guess that it leads exactly there, and not to the page with the description of the materials.



• This may be due to translation difficulties, but the titles of some sections are not obvious. For example, “Tops” are popular models, not women’s tops. At the same time, the page “50 products from customers” also has a list of favorite things of site users. It turns out that their content duplicates each other. It is better to leave one section and call it “Bestsellers”.



• The search form is lost against the general background of the site. You need to make it bigger and place it on the right side of the header. This will make it easier for people to find the products they need.

Vitek

At first glance, the site of the Russian company seems to be very elaborate, but it also contains errors.

• The site loads up to 30 seconds on mobile devices, and up to 6 seconds on computers. This is very slow and inconvenient for users, and also bad for SEO. The problem lies in unoptimized images.

We wrote about other services for website analysis in the article about competitor analysis. This also works for your site. See what errors there are and how you can fix them.



• As you move through the sections, you’ll notice deep nesting. For example, to see models of irons, you need to follow the path: “Catalog” – “Home Appliances” – “Clothes Care” – “Irons”. The “Clothing care” section can be removed, and the list of products from it can be added to the side menu. So buyers will quickly find the right equipment.



• It is not possible to sort models in the catalog by popularity, price, and other parameters. There are filters, but this is not enough to find, for example, the cheapest product. Standard sorting buttons will not reload the page, but will make it easier to search through the catalog.



• Viewing products in the mobile version of the site is inconveniently organized. It is impossible to enlarge the photo and view the equipment in detail. The desktop version has such a function, for this you need to hover over the product.



• Product cards are not informative. There are no customer reviews, forms where you can ask questions to the manufacturer, descriptions of equipment with advantages. And by clicking the “Buy” button, we get to a third-party online store.
• Products cannot be compared. This could be useful as some models are similar in performance. When there is no such function, the user has to open several tabs and compare products manually. On smartphones, this is even more difficult.

Zara

The case when a minimalistic and stylish site is not always user-friendly.

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• The main page is a video slider. Due to the fact that it is black and white, light navigation elements are difficult to see. Therefore, if you use a slider with a photo or video, make a universal navigation that will work on any background.

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• Like the Vitek brand, filters are provided here, but there is no sorting by cost, popularity and newness.

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• The search form is large and prominent, but there is no button to submit a request. In addition, when you click on the form, the site redirects to a separate blank page. It could host popular search queries and tips for buyers.

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• It is not possible to buy products on the Zara website without registering. Users are prompted to fill out a large form. Let us remind you once again that it is better to simplify the creation of a personal account. For example, add registration by mobile number, bonus card, email address or through an account in social networks.
• Page nesting is quite high. For example, if you want to know about the conditions for returning goods, the path on the site will be: “+INFO” – “Help” – “Exchange and return” – “How to return”.

Coca-Cola

Let’s consider the New Year’s version of the Coca-Cola website, which appeared at the end of 2019. In short, she came out pretty, but not very comfortable.

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• The site is overloaded with graphics and takes a long time to open, especially on mobile devices. If you want to use complex animation, think about how much it will weigh in advance.
• When the site loads, the music automatically turns on. Yes, it creates a New Year’s mood, but what if the user opened the page during a boring meeting and forgot to turn off the sound of the smartphone? A good example is the Zara website, where a person decides whether they want to watch videos with sound. It is disabled by default.

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• The panorama of the New Year’s street is difficult to scroll both in the desktop version and on a smartphone. It is better to replace it with a slider so that the user can navigate through the locations with one click.
• Photos of gifts are too small to see them in detail. Perhaps this was done in order not to overload the site once again. But detailed information and additional photos could be an incentive to participate in the action.

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A year has passed, and Coca-Cola has improved! The new site is no longer full of graphics, it loads quickly even from smartphones, a slider has appeared to move through sections in one click.

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Checklist for checking your website

Examples of bad and good design help you learn from the mistakes of others. Therefore, catch a small checklist for pumping your site.

1. Optimize download speed

If the page takes longer than 3 seconds to load, the user will close it before they see the design you’ve been working on for so long. A large percentage of bounces reduces conversion, and the position of the site in the search results worsens. Therefore, optimize images, and do not complicate the design.

2. Simplify your order process

Remove the required authorization or add a simple registration. If you do not have a bonus system, then you do not need a personal account.

3. Help to review the product

Show it from different angles, add 3D photos, video reviews, photos on the background of other objects to the site to understand the real size.

4. Improve catalog navigation

Use filters, sorting, search form. Get rid of highly nested pages to shorten the user’s path to the product.

You may have a question: if there are so many flaws on brand websites, why do people still use them? The downsides in usability are outweighed by the popularity of the companies themselves. If you want to buy a Zara skirt recommended by your favorite blogger, you can spend an extra 15 minutes and register on the site. But this does not mean that small companies will be forgiven for such mistakes. If the user is not specifically looking for your brand, but simply chooses an iron, he will go to a competitor who has product comparison, sorting and a clear catalog. Conduct an audit of the site, look at it through the user’s eyes, ask relatives and friends to test it and tell them what they didn’t like. Only in this way will you make the site a tool that works for sales.

If you need help, please contact Exiterra specialists. We will analyze your site in all respects. We will find shortcomings and errors, we will make the site earn.