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View Full Version : Why you need to reduce the amount of clicks on your website



Harold Mansfield
12-05-2016, 01:37 PM
These days when we talk about design or review an ecommerce website with feedback, someone almost always mentions that there are too many steps to get to the point.
I have this fight all the time with clients. They're so scared that they won't get to say and do everything they imagined, and want desperately for people to marvel at the design that they add a lot of unnecessary obstructions to their website doing it's job.

Too much style that gets in the way of function. People get frustrated and bored easily. If you don't get to the point they'll spend more time looking for simple than they will trying to figure out your maze of things.

Here's a good article that explains how and why technology is getting simpler and why you should too.
Why 'Reduce Clicks’ Needs to be Your E-Commerce Mantra - 'Net Features - Website Magazine (http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2016/11/30/why-reduce-clicks-needs-to-be-your-e-commerce-mantra.aspx)


There was an old commercial, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop?".
You can apply that to the web now. How many clicks does it take for your website to get to the point?

MyBrandBoost
02-27-2017, 12:48 AM
These days when we talk about design or review an ecommerce website with feedback, someone almost always mentions that there are too many steps to get to the point.
I have this fight all the time with clients. They're so scared that they won't get to say and do everything they imagined, and want desperately for people to marvel at the design that they add a lot of unnecessary obstructions to their website doing it's job.

Too much style that gets in the way of function. People get frustrated and bored easily. If you don't get to the point they'll spend more time looking for simple than they will trying to figure out your maze of things.

Here's a good article that explains how and why technology is getting simpler and why you should too.
Why 'Reduce Clicks’ Needs to be Your E-Commerce Mantra - 'Net Features - Website Magazine (http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2016/11/30/why-reduce-clicks-needs-to-be-your-e-commerce-mantra.aspx)


There was an old commercial, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop?".
You can apply that to the web now. How many clicks does it take for your website to get to the point?

Thank you for the article share, enjoyed the read and makes sense!

vangogh
02-27-2017, 12:11 PM
Every extra click is really just another opportunity for someone to leave your site and another challenge for you to keep them. When someone wants to do something on your site, whether it's to view a specific piece of content or make a purchase, you want to make it as easy as possible for them to do what they want to do.

It's not easy to do that. It's a large part of what design is, but a part I too many people think just happens on its own. You have to be thinking about the click paths through your site from the moment you start designing.

Harold Mansfield
02-27-2017, 12:27 PM
Biggest and easiest mistake to make is assuming that since you get it, others will. You have to assume people online are clueless. If you want them to click a button you have almost have an arrow pointing to it with clear direction that says "Click here to get or do the thing you want".

If you want them to call, you have to lead them with copy that tells them why they should do so, and what they can expect when they do.

And most times you have to do these things as clearly as possible, in as few words as you can.

Simple is hard work.

turboguy
02-27-2017, 05:12 PM
I think there is a tendency to want to design a web site where someone "marvels at the design". Perhaps if someone is a web designer and their site is promoting web design then a wow factor is probably a plus. For others I am of the opinion that simple, easy to navigate and easy to use is much better.

I am slowly redoing my websites with two down and a four or five to do yet. The first one I did I went for wow factor with stuff sliding in this way and flipping in that way. When I was done I thought it was more distracting than impressive. When I did number two it was plain vanilla and I am starting on number three which will also be simple and straight forward.

shrinkme
02-27-2017, 06:39 PM
Back in the 1990's we realized that the home page needed a direct link to the order page (if possible)... however, if the visitor wanted more information, they could select a page with the information they needed. Putting too many layers between home and order is a great way to lose visitors.

I do like some of the flashy websites I see, but the good ones always make it easy for the visitor to do what they need to do.

singhabhishek251
11-30-2018, 12:56 PM
I am hearing this first time that we need to reduce the click, till now i have onnly seen people dieing to get traffic, if you do not get traffic on your website then it is a waste of having a website. so never think about this and do whatever is possible to get the high number of clicks.

turboguy
12-01-2018, 06:33 AM
I don't know that not getting clicks makes a web site a waste, at least assuming there are at least some clicks. I have a number of web sites, around 8 or so. My site with the least traffic has the best conversion rate. I may have 3 or 4 visitors a week but I probably get phone call from 75% of the visitors and get a sale from half those calls. I can match up where my sites visitors locations with my calls for that service.

On the other hand a site could have tons of visitors, a high bounce rate and a low conversion rate and not be worth the effort. When you look at Google Analytics you see lots of people who never get past the first page, lots more that only make it to one more page and more drop off after page 3. The more pages or the more steps they have to go through to get where you want them to be the more risk of losing them.

A really effective web site will have an appearance that draws people in, will tell the story in an effective and compelling manor, be easy to use and will make taking the steps you want the visitor to take simple and easy.

gimli
12-02-2018, 12:54 AM
Yea I remember the rule of thumb,. no more than 3 clicks to get to the point of conversion. In terms of clients, yes they also want the flashy pages and unnecessary elements. It ironic however when they hired you as the webb developer and ux designer to use YOUR expertise on the matter.

Some clients can be convinced and some are just not worth it. I learnt a long time ago that clients who dont listen to your opinions are not clients that you want or will have for a long time. Their websites almost always fail... I let it be.

Focus my time on those that work with me and form a longer more lucrative partnership because their websites do well and grow and then they come back because they need something new for expansion... these are the clients you should recognise from the start these are the guys that make for very good business. .

jagreen34
11-09-2019, 11:45 AM
Great posts that are spot on as I find many clients that have purchase pages etc 4 to 6 levels deep.

chrismarklee
11-10-2019, 12:08 AM
I have been going to my directory listings and from here clicking my website. I think this is positive for my local SEO.

SkyWriting
11-16-2019, 05:19 AM
Here's a good article that explains how and why technology is getting simpler and why you should too.
Why 'Reduce Clicks’ Needs to be Your E-Commerce Mantra - 'Net Features - Website Magazine (http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2016/11/30/why-reduce-clicks-needs-to-be-your-e-commerce-mantra.aspx)

Try this link instead:
https://www.websitemagazine.com/blog/why-reduce-clicks-needs-to-be-your-e-commerce-mantra

SkyWriting
11-16-2019, 05:25 AM
I have been going to my directory listings and from here clicking my website. I think this is positive for my local SEO.

Here are things to improve your SEO:
The 10 Essential SEO Ranking Factors You Need to Rank #1 (https://optinmonster.com/seo-ranking-factors/) (https://optinmonster.com/seo-ranking-factors/)

journalist55
02-25-2022, 04:57 PM
I completely agree that if your website is too complex people will simply exit out. You should assume that someone will not spend more than 10 seconds even on your site before leaving if it does not function very easily.