10 unexpected online user behaviors to look out for

When designing non profit website or a small business website, there are key user behaviors that should be taken into account. But in order to take them into account, it helps to know them.

Below are 10 of the more interesting and less well-known user behaviors that regularly occur in user testing:

1. People have banner blindness
   People don't notice banners. It's been found in eye tracking studies their gaze literally avoids settling on any area that looks like an advert instead it seems they actively try to avoid looking at them. This effect is called banner blindness.
   
   Banner blindness affects most visitors, and has a startling side effect. Useful areas of the site that are overly graphically designed (and end up looking like an advert) are ignored by users as though they were adverts.
   
   A good way to avoid banner blindness is to ensure your site banners are mostly text, so that they look as much like useful site content as possible. If you wish push advertisments as much as possible, use text format, like those to the right hand side of Google search results.
     
2. Visitors develop tunnel vision
   People who come to watch user testing for the first time are amazed at the tunnel vision participants develop when they are doing a task. An example from a recent round of user testing - The link the participants required was placed in the right hand column, next to an article, but only 2 of 8 participants found it.
   
   If the link users are searching for is not named correctly or not placed where they expect then they will, surprisingly regularly, get stuck. Participants simply don't notice things on the screen unless it's where they expected it to be.
   
   Unfortunately there's no clear way to avoid this problem. The best method to ensure you help users who've developed tunnel vision is to perform user testing on key tasks and see if they get stuck.
      
3. They won't hang around on your homepage
   Often when people land on a non profit website, they're arriving with a specific task in mind. This means their tunnel vision is already on, they won't look at all the other things your site has to offer. They'll be clicking deeper into the site in no time. All the effort you spent lovingly crafting your association's web design homepage is lost. They just want to get their task done.
   
   This cannot be helped, it's just natural behavior. Take this behavior into account while designing a website, you must ensure that the site's purpose and content are clear on all pages. Read Design Guidelines for a Non Profit Website (pdf)
       
4. People don't have patience
   If the answer is not immediately apparent, many will either give up, or look elsewhere (there are plenty more sites in the sea). In testing, participants regularly navigate to the right page, only to quickly conclude they've gone wrong and click away.
      
5. People's gaze trails are manic
   While it's recognized that people tend to look at websites in a reversed 'F' pattern, it's not that simple.
   
   People look all over the place when they first land on a page. After an initial view, people pay more attention on the areas they feel will be most useful to them (usually the navigation across the top and down the left hand side, which encourages the 'F' pattern to form).
      
6. People don't take in what they look at
   Something to bear in mind - Just because a person looked at something on a page, it doesn't mean they've taken it in or that they understand what they've seen. Often in eye tracking studies it has been shown people have looked at something, but they haven't taken it in. Read The 7 Deadly sins of non profit web design
      
7. People are happy to scroll
   Any time people are asked, they say how much they hate scrolling. However in real life it's less of an issue than many claim, as users often scroll without even realising they are doing it. The key is to ensure people are aware that more page content is below the fold - don't rely on the scroll bar on the side of the screen to be enough of a clue.
   
   Some content on the page that starts above the fold should continue past it. Avoid points on the page where the content looks to have ended early and the page seemingly cuts off.
     
8. People don't read
   When online, people read very differently than when they're reading a book or magazine. On the Internet people try not to read until they feel they're found what they are looking for, until they reach the content they need. Up to that point they scan, looking for keywords.
   
   What does this mean? People don't read introductory text, instruction text, navigation options... almost anything if they can avoid it. This must be taken into account during website design, and content creation.
   
   There are several ways to try and reduce the problem:
   • Reduce the word count of each page (ideally by half)
   • Try to remove/minimize instruction text
   • Highlight key words
   • Use lists/bullet points where possible
   • Break up text using clear sub-headings
   • Try to start each page/paragraph with the conclusion, so that users can decide whether to read the page/paragraph early
   • Use images instead of words where possible
         
9. People are creatures of habit
   People don't like having to learn new ways to do things. Once users have found a way to do something, even if it's not the best way, they'll tend to do it that way over and over again. Usually they won't bother to see if there's a better way unless they find what they do particularly frustrating.
   
   This should be remembered if you produce a new version of an existing system. Either make sure people can still do the old methods, or be ready for annoyed existing users as they learn the new method.
      
10. People are happy to click through more than 3 levels
    There's an internet fallacy that "people are only willing to click through up to 3 levels in a website". This is wrong. The real rule is that "people are willing to click through more than 3 levels in a site as long as they feel they are making progress towards their goal". The disclaimer is key, if the site flows, if it's clear where users must go next they will happily click through several levels. People don't like to feel lost. If it's unclear where to go (even on the 1st or 2nd click) they will go elsewhere.
    
    There's nothing more effective at driving visitors away from a site than making a user click through levels where they must stop and think where to go next. Unfortunately the only way to tell if your site suffers from this is through user tests or very careful attention to the site statistics and look at your Top Exit Pages.

Conclusion
Designing a is hard enough as it is, taking into account your surprisingly erratic users makes it that much harder.

Fortunately taking unexpected user behavior into account throughout the design process is a large part of the battle, it's a significant step on the way to a good user experience.