Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 If you stop to think about it, websites are very similar to amusement parks. Both use marketing to attract paying customers, both offer a certain “user experience”, and both have seen vast improvements in technology over the years. If you were planning a trip to an amusement park, you would want to go to one that’s state-of-the-art, offering some of the tallest, fastest, most innovative roller coasters around today. They’re up with the latest technology. You wouldn’t want some dilapidated park where all they offer in the way of rides are swings, the circle of fire, and yes…the dreaded carousel! You may not agree with me, but I think the carousel is the most boring and life-sucking amusement park ride. You just paid to go around and around, and for what? There’s nothing to write home about at the end. Sorry for all you carousel enthusiasts out there. ;) With business websites, you need to be up with the latest technology or your visitors will not take you seriously, which means less traffic, leads, and customers coming through as a result. You also need to optimize your pages using a tool like BoostSuite, but that’s an entirely different story altogether. Where am I going with this analogy? Glad you asked. A website accessibility expert named Jared Smith just recently created a website called shouldiuseacarousel.com. If you check out the site, you’ll notice that Jared has warned all of us website marketers to stop using carousels because despite their popularity, they’re frustrating to use and they’re not an effective way to present information on the web. On his website, in a cheeky carousel format, Jared cites numerous statistics that support his claim of why you shouldn’t use carousels: 1) On ND.edu (University of Notre Dame’s homepage), out of 3,755,297 visits, only 1% of visitors clicked the carousel. Of those, 89% were the first position. The other 5 positions received the remaining 11%. (source) This means if you want to present valuable information from a carousel and increase click-through-rates, you have to do it on the first slide. Still, 1% of clicks is miniscule. Why would you want to hide any valuable information from your visitors in the first place? If it’s important, put it front and center on your page and keep it there! That will increase your click-through-rates. 2) The Nielsen Norman Group released a study that found automatic carousels and other moving elements usually reduce accessibility, particularly for users with motor skill issues who have difficulty clicking something before it’s taken away. Low-literacy users often don’t have enough time to read the information before it’s removed. International users also read more slowly if your site is not in their native language, and thus won’t be able to understand a panel if it’s displayed only briefly. It’s just plain annoying for users to lose control of the user interface when things move around of their own accord. Most important, because it moves, users automatically assume that it might be an advertisement, which makes them more likely to ignore it. 3) Wider Funnel has tested rotating offers many times and found it to be a poor way of presenting home page content. In fact, visitors are more likely to leave when they find irrelevant content in the carousel! Just because you think what you put in the carousel is what your visitors want to see, doesn’t make that fact. Take the marketing hat off for a second and put the user experience hat on. You want your visitors to easily find what they’re looking for. Not dig through an 8-slide carousel. There are a few other examples of why you shouldn’t use carousels that you can check out yourself on Jared’s website. Take a minute to read all of them, and then take a minute to mumble obscenities under your breath next time you see a carousel on a business website. You can also read this interview that Jared did with .Net Magazine. Carousel alternative The whole point of having a carousel in the first place is to display important information on your homepage to increase your click-through-rate (read leads/customers). Instead of using the carousel, my new favorite way of displaying information is with the single-page website. It’s a hot new trend sweeping the interwebs. It’s intuitive for mobile visitors and folks using laptops with trackpads to scroll down, so this format is a great alternative to a carousel. Instead of clicking the tab you want to visit, or wait for it to come around, your visitors can find what they need with a swipe of the finger or thumb! What are your thoughts regarding carousels? It doesn’t matter if you’re referring to the amusement park ride, or the moving website interface component, I want to know. Leave a comment! Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on BoostSuite Blog and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Author: Jay Leonard Jay is a UK-based cryptocurrency expert, specialising in fundamental analysis and medium to long term investments. Jay has a great deal of hands-on experience in analysing financial markets and performing technical analysis. Jay is currently focusing on the institutional adoption of cryptocurrency and what it means for the future of … View full profile ›More by this author:Top Trending Meme Coins: ELON, HOGE, SAMO, TAMA, MARVIN, BABYDOGE, MONAHotbit Exchange Forced to Suspend Service As it’s Under Criminal InvestigationCameo CEO Steven Galanis Wallet Hacked – $231k Worth of NFTs Stolen