Common UX Mistakes That Can Cost You

Even the most polished products can leak profits when common user experience (UX) mistakes frustrate users, drive them away, or leave revenue opportunities untapped. Great UX gets people excited, boosts sales, and turns casual users into loyal fans, but bad UX? It frustrates users, drives them to competitors, and wastes money. Here are some of the biggest UX pitfalls businesses fall into—and how you can dodge them like a seasoned pro:

1. Ignoring Mobile-First Design

It may seem antiquated for 2025, but its relevance is as strong as ever with mobile web browsing accounting for over half of all web traffic. Poor mobile experiences can lead to frustrated users bouncing and taking their money elsewhere. The fix? Design mobile-first. Go beyond making sure your product looks “good enough” on mobile and design for the mobile user. Think about where they are and how they’re using your product. Are they at home on a computer? Are they on a train or in a car? Are they a parent trying to quickly do something while watching children?  Keep navigation intuitive, interfaces touch-friendly, and load times snappy.

2. Overloading Users with Choices

Ever stood in front of an ice cream counter with 50 flavors and panicked? That’s decision fatigue, and it’s not great for efficiency, even if it’s as simple as choosing what’s going in your waffle cone. When users face too many choices, they’ll often choose none at all. Oftentimes what this says to a user is that “we don’t know you well enough so here are all the things you could possibly do”. Instead, guide them toward key actions. While booking a flight can be stressful, most websites try to simplify the process by showing you default recommendations highlighting the “best value” or “shortest duration” after your destination search. By using these intelligent defaults and allowing users to filter and clearly navigate options, it helps customers make confident decisions and avoid analysis paralysis. Streamlined navigation, clear visuals, hierarchy, and tools like filters and recommendations make decision-making breezy. Remember: less is more.

3. Skipping User Research

Because it can save time and reduce immediate costs, conducting user research is a commonly overlooked step, but doing so can have long-term consequences. In its absence the collective “we” assume, and when we assume, we’re technically guessing. There’s a real danger in misjudging users’ challenges, which can lead to flawed assumptions. These errors cascade into poor decisions, causing costly delays that throw projects off track, or a project that simply doesn’t deliver.. A great example of this is when Yahoo revamped its homepage in 2013 to modernize it, with a sleek design aimed at providing users with more images, information, and featured news. This unverified approach not only created a decline in traffic for key areas like search and mail, but also cost the company an estimated range of $500 million to $1.5 billion.

Proper user research isn’t just a formality—it’s the cornerstone of designing solutions that truly work and provide meaningful value. There are ways to take steps in this direction if by chance user research is not an option; using existing data, AI assisted products to provide feedback, leaning on internal subject matter experts. But if possible speaking to real users helps eliminate long-term risk.

4. Overstuffing Interfaces

Similar to #2 on this list of overwhelming choices, here I’m referring to overstuffing. The latter is about the visual and cognitive clutter. Users hate confusion, and a messy UI has the intent to do so. This can again lead to revenue loss, create negative market perception and frustrate users. Instead, embrace minimalism. Focus on the content and features that matter. Declutter and prioritize visual hierarchy. 

You’re able to see examples of this over the years with Spotify. They have a breadth of content to surface, so they’ve documented several design iterations trying to declutter and prioritize their UI with core features. This proves two things; that it’s sometimes it’s not easy, but is always a priority.

6. Forgetting Accessibility

Making your product work for all, so those who want to use it can. That’s the goal, right? It’s why  ignoring accessibility isn’t just bad manners—it’s bad business. Millions of people depend on accessible design, and ignoring them means lost revenue and, worst case scenario, potential lawsuits. Simple fixes like appropriate color contrast, alt text in your code, and keyboard navigability go a long way. Plus, testing with tools like screen readers ensures everyone can use your product to its fullest extent. Inclusivity isn’t optional; it’s a competitive edge.

7. Slow Load Times

The saying patience is a virtue does not pertain to users. Every second your page takes to load could cost you. Slow pages equal frustrated users and higher bounce rates. To fix this, optimize images, use lazy loading, and cache everything you can. The faster your site, the happier your users.

UX mistakes aren’t just annoyances; they’re expensive lessons. But here’s the good news: most of them are avoidable. Focus on your users’ needs, keep things simple, and invest in doing it right the first time. When UX works, it’s a win for everyone—your customers, your brand, and your bottom line.’

About the Author

James Williams leads design at Sparq with nearly 15 years of experience. He loves simplifying complex problems—almost as much as he loves good pizza. He’s focused on building solutions and creating intuitive experiences that actually make sense. When he’s not obsessing over UX details, he’s busy being a dad, and pretending he’ll only have one more slice.