10 Website Design Mistakes That Cost You Customers, and How to Fix Each

Quick answer: The website design mistakes that lose customers are an unclear first screen, competing calls to action, a layout that works poorly on phones, no visual hierarchy, hard-to-read text, walls of text, slow pages, weak or fake proof, pop-ups that cover the content, and contact details that are hard to find. None of them is about taste, and most can be fixed without a redesign.

Bad website design is rarely ugly. More often it is unclear. This guide goes through ten mistakes, how to spot each one on your own site, and what to do about it.

The 10 mistakes at a glance

#	Mistake	What the visitor experiences	Fix
1	Unclear first screen	"What does this business do?"	Say what, who for and where
2	Competing calls to action	"What am I meant to do?"	One main action per page
3	Built for desktop	Pinching, zooming, mis-taps	Design and test on a phone first
4	No visual hierarchy	Everything shouts, nothing is heard	One focal point per section
5	Hard-to-read text	Squinting at pale grey	Meet the contrast minimum
6	Walls of text	Skims, finds nothing, leaves	Headings, short paragraphs, lists
7	Slow pages	Leaves before it loads	Treat page weight as a design limit
8	Weak or fake proof	"Why should I believe this?"	Real, checkable evidence
9	Pop-ups over the content	Closes the pop-up, or the tab	Small banners, timed sensibly
10	Hidden contact details	Gives up looking	Phone and form on every page

1. The first screen does not say what you do

A headline such as "Solutions for a changing world" could belong to any business. A visitor who has to scroll to find out what you sell will often leave first.

The fix: in the first screen, in plain words, say what you do, who it is for and where. "Electricians for shops and offices in Adelaide" loses nobody who was looking for one.

2. Competing calls to action

When a page offers "Learn more", "Our story", "Subscribe" and "Follow us" at the same size, the visitor has to work out which one matters. Many will choose none.

The fix: one main action per page, made visually distinct. A second, lower-commitment option is fine if it clearly reads as secondary. Our guide to how a website generates leads covers what that action should be.

3. Designed on a desktop, used on a phone

Google indexes and ranks from the mobile version of a site (Google Search Central), and the Australian Government's business site notes that mobile devices account for over half of the world's internet traffic. Yet many sites are still designed on a large screen and squeezed down afterwards.

The fix: design and test on a phone first. Check that text is readable without zooming, that nothing scrolls sideways, and that buttons are big enough to tap. The accessibility standard's minimum for a tap target is 24 by 24 CSS pixels (WCAG 2.2); larger is more comfortable.

4. No visual hierarchy

The Nielsen Norman Group defines visual hierarchy as "the organization of the design elements on the page so that the eye is guided to consume each design element in the order of intended importance" (NN/g). When headlines, images, badges and buttons all have the same weight, there is no order to follow.

The fix: decide what matters most in each section and make it the largest or highest-contrast element. Everything else should support it. If you cannot name the most important thing on a page at a glance, your visitors cannot either.

5. Text that is hard to read

Pale grey text on a white background is a common design choice and a common barrier. The accessibility standard asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (WCAG 2.2). Text below that is hard for many people to read, and harder still on a phone in daylight.

The fix: check your text colours with a contrast checker and darken any that fail. Keep body text at a comfortable size, and do not place text over busy photographs.

6. Walls of text

People skim web pages. In a Nielsen Norman Group study, 79% of test users scanned a new page and only 16% read word by word (NN/g). The study dates from 1997, but its advice is still standard practice: meaningful sub-headings, bulleted lists, and one idea per paragraph.

The fix: break long passages up with headings that say what the section contains. Put the conclusion first. Use a list wherever you are listing things.

7. Slow pages caused by design choices

A full-screen video, an oversized photograph or a heavy animation is a design decision with a cost in loading time. Google's target is for the main content to appear within 2.5 seconds.

The fix: treat page weight as a limit from the start, the way a print designer treats page size. Our guide to website speed optimisation covers what to check.

8. Weak, missing or fake proof

A visitor who does not know you needs a reason to believe you. The Nielsen Norman Group names four things that make a site credible: design quality, upfront disclosure of things like prices and contact details, information that is comprehensive and current, and links to the rest of the web, such as independent reviews (NN/g).

The opposite of proof is invented proof. The ACCC is direct about it: "It's against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to do so" (ACCC). That includes the placeholder testimonials that come with many website templates.

The fix: use real reviews with names, photos of real work, and licences and qualifications a visitor can check. Place them where the visitor is deciding, not on a separate page nobody opens.

9. Pop-ups that cover the page

A pop-up that appears before the visitor has read anything asks for something before it has given anything. Google's guidance is to avoid them too: intrusive interstitials "make it hard for Google and other search engines to understand your content, which may lead to poor search performance" (Google Search Central).

The fix: use a banner that takes up a small part of the screen, and show offers after the visitor has had time to read.

10. Contact details that are hard to find

If someone wants to call you and cannot find the number in a few seconds, the design has failed at its main job. Long forms do the same thing more quietly: every extra field is a reason to stop.

The fix: put the phone number and the main button in the header of every page. Keep forms to the fields you need in order to reply.

Good website design vs bad: the short version

Bad website design	Good website design
You have to work out what the business does	The first screen tells you
Several buttons compete	One next step is obvious
Looks right on a desktop only	Works on a phone first
Pale, small text	Text that meets the contrast minimum
Claims with nothing behind them	Proof you can check
Loads slowly	Main content within 2.5 seconds

Mistakes we found on our own site

We audited our own website in October 2026 and found several of these. We list them because every site collects mistakes over time, including ours.

What we found	Which mistake	What we did
Content that moved while the page loaded: a button added late shifted the text by about 190 pixels, and scripts redrew the top of the page	Slow, unstable pages	Reserved the space and changed how the scripts run. The layout shift score went from 1.106 to 0.009
Placeholder testimonials left over from the site's template	Fake proof	Removed them
Headings that skipped levels, from a second-level heading straight to a fourth	Poor structure	Corrected the heading order
The phone menu had no link to the contact page	Hidden contact details	Added it

The first of these is covered in detail in our page speed case study.

How do you find design mistakes on your own website?

A check that takes about fifteen minutes:

1. Watch a stranger use it. Ask someone who does not know your business to request a quote on their phone. Say nothing. Note every hesitation.
2. Do the five-second test. Show someone the home page for five seconds, then ask what the business does.
3. Count the buttons in the first screen. More than one main action is too many.
4. Check the contrast of your lightest text.
5. Run the page through PageSpeed Insights on mobile.
6. Send yourself a message through the contact form, from a phone.

What are the signs your business needs a new website?

Most of the ten mistakes above can be fixed on the site you have. A new website is the right answer when the problem sits underneath the design: you cannot edit the site without a developer, the platform is no longer supported, or it cannot do something the business needs. Our guide to website redesign vs rebuild explains how to tell the difference, and design and conversion rate covers the design decisions that have the most effect on enquiries.

If you are choosing a new site, website design packages in Australia shows what each tier should include.

Want a second pair of eyes on your site?

Our Web Design Adelaide service starts with a review of what is getting in visitors' way. Get in touch and tell us which page matters most to you.