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Visitors are more likely to complete a purchase, submit a lead form, or take another intended action when the path is clear and easy to use. Start by checking the task that matters most on your site, on both mobile and desktop. The ten issues below are a practical checklist—not a universal ranking or a promise of a particular conversion lift.
What the evidence says about website friction
Checkout usability remains a problem across many ecommerce sites. Baymard Institute’s 2025 checkout UX article, updated November 25, 2025, reports that 64% of desktop sites, 63% of mobile sites, and 46% of apps in its benchmarks had “mediocre” or worse checkout UX. These figures describe Baymard’s benchmarked experiences; they are not estimates of conversion losses across all websites. In the same article, Baymard says 62% of benchmarked sites did not make guest checkout their most prominent option. Read Baymard’s checkout UX findings.
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Baymard’s 2025 desktop UX article reports 76% overlap between desktop and mobile UX issues and says more than 74% of issues it finds are shared across industries selling physical products. Those findings are rooted in ecommerce usability research, not a universal sample of every kind of website. Read Baymard’s desktop UX research.
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For a lead-generation, informational, or service site, apply the usability principles to the action visitors need to complete—such as finding a service page or submitting a form. That is a practical application of general usability guidance, not direct evidence that a particular change will raise conversions. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) notes in its WCAG 2.1 document that “Following these guidelines will also often make web content more usable to users in general.” Read WCAG 2.1.
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10 website mistakes that add friction—and how to fix them
1. Navigation labels make visitors guess
Inconsistent names, styling, or placement can make it hard to tell where a link leads or how to reach the next step. Use familiar, consistent labels and make navigation easy to locate. Add headings or breadcrumbs where they help people understand where they are, and provide another route to important content when appropriate. Check whether someone can find the next step without guessing.
2. The mobile site is just a smaller desktop layout
A page that works with a wide screen and precise pointer can become difficult at narrow widths or when text is enlarged. Make key content and controls usable on smaller viewports and at zoomed text sizes. Test the actual path to the target action on mobile, not just the home page. Google includes mobile display in its page-experience self-assessment, while W3C recommends adapting information and navigation to different viewport sizes. See Google’s page-experience guidance.
3. Form fields lack clear labels or instructions
A placeholder alone may not explain what a field asks for, and it can disappear when a visitor starts typing. Put a descriptive label next to each field and explain any requirements that are not obvious. For a lead form, specify what information is needed and why when context would help the visitor decide whether to proceed.
4. The page does not confirm what happened
After a visitor submits a form or completes another action, show a clear confirmation. If the action fails, make the error visible and explain what needs attention. Feedback that requires the visitor to act should be prominent enough to notice; otherwise, people may repeat a submission or abandon the task because they cannot tell whether it worked.
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5. Dialogs or page elements interrupt the main task
Promotions, ads, and interstitials can obscure the content or controls a visitor needs. Review whether each interruption blocks the primary action, especially on mobile, and remove or reduce distractions that do not serve the task. Google’s page-experience checklist flags excessive distracting ads and intrusive interstitials. Review Google’s page-experience checklist.
6. Performance problems go unchecked
Slow or unstable pages can make it harder to complete a task. Check Core Web Vitals and investigate pages with poor results, focusing on the real user experience rather than treating a score as the goal. Google says Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems, but passing the reports does not guarantee top rankings. Search performance guidance is not evidence of a guaranteed conversion improvement.
7. Guest checkout is hard to find
For a store that offers guest checkout, make that option easy to spot rather than presenting account creation as the only obvious route. Baymard’s 2025 checkout UX article reports that 62% of its benchmarked sites did not make guest checkout the most prominent option. One participant in Baymard usability testing asked, “Why do I have to create an account?”—a reminder that an unexpected account requirement can feel like an obstacle. See Baymard’s checkout UX article.
8. Required and optional fields are unclear
Mark which inputs are required and which are optional so visitors do not have to infer what they can skip. This applies to checkout and other forms. Baymard includes clear field requirements among its checkout recommendations and desktop UX practices. Checkout recommendations and desktop UX practices.
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9. Form errors say only that something went wrong
A generic error leaves the visitor to search for the problem. Identify the field or issue and explain how to correct it. Baymard describes adaptive messages that specify the subissue, while W3C recommends identifiable error feedback. Baymard checkout guidance, W3C WCAG 2.1.
10. Checkout includes avoidable steps or inputs
Review the checkout flow against the information actually needed to complete a purchase. Remove unnecessary inputs or steps where the business can do so without disrupting fulfillment or other essential requirements. Baymard identifies checkout complexity as a usability concern, but the evidence here does not establish one ideal number of steps or fields for every store. Treat a question such as “Is there a relationship between the number of checkout steps and the usability of a checkout?” as a prompt to examine the whole flow—not as proof that fewer steps are always better.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to decide what to fix first
Do not assume every item in the checklist has the same impact. Compare candidate fixes using practical questions; this is a prioritization aid, not a validated scoring model.
- How many visitors reach or encounter the affected step?
- How directly does the issue block the action the site is designed to support?
- How severe is the failure, and does it disproportionately affect mobile visitors or people using assistive technology?
- What implementation effort or dependencies are involved?
- Can the team observe a reliable outcome after the change?
Start with a high-traffic point that directly blocks the goal and can be measured. Inspect it on mobile and desktop, then address the clearest obstacle before changing several parts of the journey at once.
Measure whether a fix helped
Choose a site-specific outcome tied to the task, such as completed purchases or submitted lead forms, and compare it consistently before and after a change. Where possible, isolate the change so the result is easier to interpret. A better usability check or Core Web Vitals report can help identify a problem, but neither by itself proves that conversions increased. The cited evidence does not establish a universal percentage lift from these fixes.
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