Common UX Problems for startups (and how to avoid!)

Working with quite a few startups, here are some problems I saw that you can easily avoid before launching your products! 1️⃣ Lack of User Research: Unfortunately some startups view user research as something nice to have due to limited resources. Omitting user research might cause decisions to be based on teams' preferences instead of user needs, which may lead to developing ineffective and irrelevant features. The truth is, you can validate your ideas by starting from a small representative group of users around 5-10 participants and conducting more runs of research if you think you haven’t found a pattern or still learning something new. Research fast and more often is the key to reducing your development risk. 2️⃣  Lengthy and complex onboarding: Getting information from your users is definitely important, whether you would like to provide a more personal experience or use the data to provide more features. But remember, this is the initial stage of your users interacting with your products. Would you be willing to give all your information when you meet someone for the very first time? Is providing this data essential to fulfil users’ goals? My suggestion would be to build trust with your users first and ask for more information later in a more contextual way. 3️⃣ Poor information architecture: The tendency to overload users with numerous features often leads to poor information architecture. Without a clear hierarchy and intuitive navigation, users can get frustrated while trying to locate the information and features they need. Conducting a quick usability test (e.g. card sorting, tree test) could help you solve those problems upfront. 4️⃣ Cluttered interface: For the same reason as above, too much information can hinder users from efficiently completing tasks and may lead to cognitive overload. Try to stay true to the rule of 7 (your options should be around 7±2) and provide better visual cues to guide users toward the most important actions. 5️⃣ Underestimating the importance of accessibility: Many startups overlook the importance of accessibility in their UX design. Some companies might argue that only a "small portion of people" would be affected by a lack of accessibility. In fact, it also reduces the efficiency of user experience in general. people may ignore text if it has low contrast with the background. This can be especially problematic for key elements such as buttons which will stop them from completing a task. I am currently offering some UX audits, if you would like to discuss your product, feel free to drop me a message!