That time I hid my dashboard behind a hamburger menu and nobody touched it for 3 months

I redesigned my grooming shop's booking page back in 2022 and thought I was being clever putting all the options behind a triple line menu. Then a customer friend said 'I just call you because I can never find the cancel button on that site.' I checked the analytics and she was right. Nobody was clicking that menu icon at all. Have you guys ever had a design choice that just absolutely bombed with real users?

2 comments

2 Comments

dixon.rose4d ago

Oh man, that is rough but I get it. I actually read somewhere that most people don't notice those little hamburger menu icons, especially older folks who aren't used to them. It's funny how designers love them but real users just skip right past them.

jordangibson3d ago

My grandmother's church group tried to update their potluck signup sheet to a Google form and literally went back to paper within two weeks because nobody could figure out how to scroll past the first question. Some lady printed out the webpage and taped it to the fridge. I think we forget that what seems obvious to us is just invisible noise to other people sometimes.