User-First Wins Every Time

The best performing websites are rarely the loudest or the most experimental. They’re the ones that respect people’s time, reduce friction, and make it easy to do exactly what someone came there to do. Over and over, I’ve seen that when you design for real human behavior instead of trends or ego, both trust and performance improve.

The best websites put users first. Not trends. Not ego. Not awards. A few principles I keep coming back to.

First, stop interrupting people.

Pop ups are overused, intrusive, and universally disliked. They break trust instantly. If your site needs to beg for attention the second someone lands, something upstream isn’t working.

Keep the UX simple.

If someone is shopping, they want to find the product, understand it quickly, and move on. They do not want to solve a puzzle. This isn’t an avant garde art piece. It’s a business tool. Make it easy to get in and get out.

Edgy for the sake of edgy rarely performs.

I see this constantly. Sites that look clever but collapse under testing. Difference is valuable only when it still works. If people can’t find, understand, or buy, the edge becomes friction.

For subscription brands, transparency builds loyalty.

Don’t hide cancellation. Don’t force phone calls. Give people control to pause, skip, or cancel easily. Trust compounds far more than short term revenue ever will.

Be thoughtful with sales and discounts.

Constant promotions cheapen your positioning. They signal that prices are inflated and margins are flexible. Over time, customers start to feel like they’re overpaying unless there’s a deal, which erodes brand equity fast.

Design for how people actually consume.

Most people don’t read. They skim. Long paragraphs are dead. If you need to explain something, use short headlines, visual hierarchy, and imagery that does real work. If the story only makes sense after reading multiple paragraphs, the design isn’t doing its job.

Design for the skimmers and skeptics.

I often talk about designing for two audiences: skimmers and skeptics. Skimmers glance, scroll fast, and rely on visuals, headlines, icons, quick motion, and short videos to get the gist. Skeptics read everything. Reviews, specs, policies, fine print. Great sites serve both. Surface clarity for the skimmers. Depth for the skeptics. Use smart patterns like expandable sections, dropdowns, and layered information instead of overwhelming everyone at once.

Good web design isn’t loud.

It’s considerate. And when you put the user first, performance usually follows.