Image sliders or carousels are common. But there are some disadvantages of website sliders. They are conversion killers. But still, you can easily find a website with image sliders as people use them because they think they are cool. What they often overlook is that ‘cool’ doesn’t make you money. If you’re using sliders just because they look good, you should change right now.
In the Notre Dame University study, it was revealed that a mere 1% of visitors clicked on a feature on the slider. Do you think that 1% is worthy enough to take up half the space on your website?
Here are some of the basic disadvantages of website sliders:
1) Human Eye Reacts to Movement
Isn’t that a good reason to use sliders? Unfortunately, it’s not. It will make users miss other important stuff on the website. You really don’t want a slider to take away attention from the stuff that actually matters like the content of your site, your value proposition, or your product.
2) Too Many Messages
Most people don’t bother paying a lot of attention to sliders. Even if they do, you lose its effectiveness by trying to give so many messages in a short time. That image slider may change even before a reader can actually read the first message clearly.
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3) Look Like Banners
Online users are now trained to ignore banners because they know they are useless advertisements. Since sliders look like banners, they are more likely to be missed completely by your visitors.
4) Users Want to be in Control
Sliders have terrible usability – they have small navigation icons, move too quickly, and move automatically. Users want to be in control of things or else they will leave in frustration.
What it means is that you should not have sliders or carousels just because others have them. You cannot win with this herd mentality. You have to change and think differently. If you really need to use sliders, you should understand how to execute them properly.
Here are some situations where it is okay to have sliders on your website:
- You have limited your carousel to only 2 sliders, so the users who want to connect don’t feel hassled.
- You have a slider that loads super quick. Sliders with CPU-hungry JavaScripts load slowly and affect user experience.
- You have a slider that is manual and doesn’t rotate automatically.
- You have clear navigation buttons on each slide that your users can see and use with ease.
- You have a slider with slides that display offers relevant to your complete target market.
Recommended Read: 3 Warning Signs That Call for an Immediate Website Makeover
As you can see, it is not easy to design the best quality sliders. You should either ignore them completely or work with professional web design companies to learn how to use sliders successfully on your website.
So, call in a professional for help!
