Optimizing Navigation Design

🔎 How To Redesign Complex Navigation: How We Restructured Intercom’s IA (https://lnkd.in/ezbHUYyU), a practical case study on how the Intercom team fixed the maze of features, settings, workflows and navigation labels. Neatly put together by Pranava Tandra. 🚫 Customers can’t use features they can’t discover. ✅ Simplifying is about bringing order to complexity. ✅ First, map out the flow of customers and their needs. ✅ Study how people navigate and where they get stuck. ✅ Spot recurring friction points that resonate across tasks. 🚫 Don’t group features based on how they are built. ✅ Group features based on how users think and work. ✅ Bring similar things together (e.g. Help, Knowledge). ✅ Establish dedicated hubs for key parts of the product. ✅ Relocate low-priority features to workflows/settings. 🤔 People don’t use products in predictable ways. 🤔 Users often struggle with cryptic icons and labels. ✅ Show labels in a collapsible nav drawer, not on hover. ✅ Use content testing to track if users understand icons. ✅ Allow users to pin/unpin items in their navigation drawer. One of the helpful ways to prioritize sections in navigation is by layering customer journeys on top of each other to identify most frequent areas of use. The busy “hubs” of user interactions typically require faster and easier access across the product. Instead of using AI or designer’s mental model to reorganize navigation, invite users and run a card sorting session with them. People are usually not very good at naming things, but very good at grouping and organizing them. And once you have a new navigation, test and refine it with tree testing. As Pranava writes, real people don’t use products in perfectly predictable ways. They come in with an infinite variety of needs, assumptions, and goals. Our job is to address friction points for their realities — by reducing confusion and maximizing clarity. Good IA work and UX research can do just that. [Useful resources in the comments ↓] #ux #IA

I found a client's bestseller buried in a 47 item dropdown. But it drove 90% of their sales. This is choice overload in action. Psychologist Barry Schwartz proved that too many options paralyze decisions. When faced with overwhelming choices, customers don't choose better. They choose nothing. Our client had exactly this problem. Their "Shop" dropdown listed dozens of products with no hierarchy. Just an alphabetical wall of text. Their flagship product sat somewhere in the middle. Invisible. The serial positioning effect explains why this matters. We remember the first and last items in any list. Everything in the middle blurs together. So we restructured their navigation. Core products moved to the first and last positions. Secondary items organized by customer intent, not internal categories. Result: $1.4 million in additional annual revenue. Same products, same traffic, and same checkout. The only change was removing a psychological barrier customers couldn't articulate. Your customers make 35,000 decisions daily. By the time they reach your site, they're already exhausted. The fix is simpler than you think: Limit top-level nav to 7 items (the brain's processing limit). Put your most important items first and last. Structure around customer goals, not internal departments. Don't ask them to work harder. Guide them to what they need.

6 clicks to find the "𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞" button. I watched a user navigate a fintech dashboard. They were lost in their own product. The product manager sitting next to me whispered: "This happens every user test." Here's what went wrong. Every time they added a feature, they added a new menu. Payment reports? ➞ New sidebar. User settings? ➞ Different dropdown. Export data? ➞ Hidden somewhere else. Year 1: Clean and simple. Year 3: A maze. One developer told me: "I add shortcuts every sprint just so users can find stuff." Band-aid after band-aid. The dashboard became a puzzle even the team couldn't solve. We didn't add more menus. We built one navigation system for everything. Global Nav Module: → Every feature lives in one clear place → Same logic, every time → New features plug in without breaking old paths Think of it like organizing a house. Instead of hiding things in random rooms, everything has its spot. Users learn once. Find anything forever. Results: ✓ 40% fewer clicks to reach any action ✓ Zero nav patches needed ✓ New features added in hours, not days Best feedback? A user messaged support: "Did you make the app faster? Everything feels quicker." We didn't touch speed. We just made things findable. After fixing 50+ dashboards, I see the same mistake: Teams treat navigation like decoration. It's not. Navigation is your product's skeleton. Mess it up early, and every new feature makes it worse. Good navigation? Users don't even notice it. They just... get things done. Open your product. Try to find your most-used feature. Count the clicks. More than 3? You're losing users every day. What's the hardest thing to find in YOUR product?

Our 9-figure supplement client was bleeding revenue through their navigation. So we took a different approach. We design navigation solely for profit. Here's what we did: 1️⃣ Strategic Separation: - Split shoppable links (Shop by Benefit, Shop by Product, Bestsellers) from non-shoppable links (About, Reviews, Shipping Info, FAQs) - Made shoppable sections visually prominent on the first level - Moved secondary links to clearly marked secondary sections 2️⃣ Dynamic Bestsellers Section: - Added top 4 products with images, reviews, and benefit-driven copy - Made it dynamic so it automatically adjusts based on sales data 3️⃣ Data-Driven Category Optimization: - Used Clarity heatmap data instead of guesswork to reorder categories - Identified low-performing categories like "anti-aging" and "mood" - Added missing "weight loss" category for their growing product line 4️⃣ Mobile-First Strategy: - Optimized mobile menu structure (their primary traffic source) - Created clear visual hierarchy for purchase-focused navigation - Reduced cognitive load for their older, less tech-savvy audience The psychology here is simple. Shoppers shouldn't have to hunt for the buy button. Your menu should push them straight into high-intent buying paths. The results were significant: ✅ Visitors clicked into buying journeys faster ✅ Fewer distractions from non-revenue pages ✅ Stronger focus on top-converting products ✅ Better user experience for their specific demographic No new traffic. No ad spend. Just a navigation that sells.

Just finished a strategic session with an e-commerce client and it revealed some great insights. Particularly on their heatmaps. 90% of this client’s traffic is mobile. But users weren't scrolling past the first section. Why? Because homepage was designed for desktop users who don't exist. Simple mistake, but one we see all the time. Here's what the data showed: - The pop-up problem - 95% of interactions were people trying to close it, not convert - The scroll-depth disaster - Mobile users dropped off after barely one scroll - The women's category surprise - High click-through rate despite lower sales volume - The navigation nightmare - Users couldn't find what they wanted This is what we did: ➡️ Completely rethought the mobile experience. ➡️ Added anchor navigation that drives users deeper into the page. ➡️ Used psychological triggers like the Zeigarnik effect (Google it!) to create curiosity gaps. ➡️ Moved trust elements above the fold. ➡️Fixed the search functionality for ad traffic. This is why we did it: People don't scroll on mobile - they tap. So we gave them clear pathways to jump to relevant sections. When they anchor down to their desired content, they see everything they skipped. Curiosity drives them back up to explore. Result: Higher engagement, deeper page exploration, better conversions. It’s 4 weeks before this new design goes live. The lesson is simple… Desktop-first thinking kills your mobile conversions. 90% mobile traffic demands mobile-first strategy. Not mobile-friendly design. Mobile-first psychology. There’s a difference.

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. Your platform can have a solid backend, good recommendation algorithms, and well-organized content. You might even add an AI chatbot so people can "talk" to the product. But users still leave. Why? According to a DigitalDefynd report, up to 40% of learners drop online courses because the platform is confusing to navigate. As you can tell, this metric is called 𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲. Here are a few simple ways to check that: ✔️ 1. The 3-step test Give the user this task: "Find and continue your last lesson." If it takes more than 3 clicks, attention usually drops by 20%. ✔️ 2. The blind navigation test Hide all text labels. Leave only the visuals. Ask: "Where would you click?" A good interface makes sense without words. ✔️ 3. Cognitive load check Ask the user to talk through what they're thinking: "What am I looking at?" "What am I trying to do?" "What's slowing me down?" Watch their reactions and note the friction points. ✔️ 4. The "random people" test Give the platform to someone who's never used it before. 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 = 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 → 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 → 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. If you found this post useful, save it. 👀 What issues have you run into when building navigation for your product? Got your own tips? #UX #ProductDesign #EdTech #UserResearch #CHISoftware

Your website's navigation could be the key to better conversions. When visitors land on your site, they should feel guided—not lost. Poor navigation doesn't just frustrate users; it costs you inquiries, sales, and trust. Here's a quick story: A client came to us with a cluttered navigation bar—too many options, vague labels, and no clear direction for users. It was overwhelming their visitors and burying key pages like their services and contact forms. Here's how we fixed it: 👉 Simplified the Menu We reduced the number of items in the navigation bar, focusing on essential sections only. 👉 Made Labels Clear and Direct Vague names like "What We Do" became straightforward titles like "Our Services" and "Get Started." 👉 Added Breadcrumb Navigation For deeper pages, we introduced breadcrumbs so users could easily track their journey and backtrack without confusion. 👉 Optimized for Mobile On mobile devices, we implemented a responsive, collapsible menu to keep navigation accessible and clean. The results? ⇾ A 20% increase in conversions ⇾ Lower bounce rates ⇾ Higher page retention times By making navigation clear and intuitive, users found what they needed faster, and frustration melted away. Wanna know how refining your navigation could improve your website's performance? Request our in-depth website assessment tailored to your business here: https://lnkd.in/ePeeKYj7 P.S. If this tip resonated, share it with your network and follow me for more practical advice every Tuesday!

Navigation should feel like of course I click here But most sites make it feel like a puzzle Here’s where friction hides in nav menus:  𝟭. 𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀    More than 5 top nav items = overload You are not Walmart Let's be honest with ourselves, where do you want visitors to go?      𝟮. 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀    Don’t say Collections    Say Men’s Tees or Best Sellers    Clarity wins  𝟯. 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝘃𝘀    Hamburger menus that don’t close    Submenus that don’t collapse    Sticky headers covering content    These are conversion killers on small screens Most traffic is mobile...not most, majority Yet you only test your website in desktop "But I do web inspect view" Pick. Your. Phone. Up. And. Test. If you can scroll TikTok and Instagram endlessly You can your website as well  𝟰. 𝗡𝗼 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝘆    If every link looks the same    And the user has to scan and think ... that’s friction  𝟱. 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗮𝘃    Test what pages make a conversion difference in the nav    Like the blog…some brands have amazing blogs, but most are hurting    Be honest, what is the value of something like the blog in the nav Goal is to build trust and sell, especially first time visitors  𝟲. 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘂𝘀    Desktop menus that auto-expand when you don’t want them to    It’s subtle but it frustrates people and creates mental fatigue Take them to the hero product Its your go-to product and highest chance of converting Take your best shot, and make sure visitors know that Simplify the nav Make it obvious Reduce friction before they even land on a product page #dtc #ecommerce #shopify

Your nav bar is not a library or a dump. It’s a money-maker. Yet most e-Com stores treat it like a junk drawer. Stuffed with random links nobody clicks. Result? Confused visitors. Lost sales. Here’s the fix: → Keep only the pages that bring revenue (Shop, Best Sellers, Discounts, Bundles, etc.) → Push the “nice-to-haves” (About, Contact, Policies) down to the footer. → Order links by importance, not by what looks symmetrical. → Keep it short (5-7 links max) Think of your nav bar like an airport sign. Clear, simple, directing people to where they want to arrive. Cause if your visitors are forced to hunt around just to find your product page… They won’t. Navigation isn’t just aesthethics. Navigation is conversion💲