Do you really need the hamburger menu?

By now, you have seen those three horizontal lines lurking in the upper right-hand corner of many websites. Since it looks like a burger, many people call it the hamburger menu.

The hamburger menu is a visual cue. Click or tap it and the navigation appears. Designers like it because it’s visually appealing. Developers like it because it allows them to add more features.

In practice, it’s an obstacle that slows down the customer journey and adds friction to your website.

Let’s take a step back and think why the navigation menu exists at all. It helps visitors find what they’re looking for on your website. Like signage on a highway, it helps them get to their destination.

Clicking or tapping the hamburger menu takes visitors to another page to make a choice. For every page they want to visit, they must return to the hamburger menu and repeat this process.

First-time visitors come to your site looking for something and you’re adding a step to their process. In a world of fleeting attention spans, you’re forcing them to waste their precious time.

While the hamburger menu is unavoidable for cell phones, it’s not for laptops and tablets. Unless you have a compelling reason, don’t do it.

Like this post?  Share it.  Written by Don Seidenberg