What You Think They See:
A clear value prop in your hero section
An intuitive CTA
A logical product flow
A signup process that “just takes a minute”
A simple dashboard that speaks for itself
A friendly onboarding tooltip system
What They Actually See:
A headline that uses five words but explains nothing
Three CTA buttons and no clear starting point
A signup form asking for too much, too early
A dashboard with 12 icons and no hierarchy
A popup tutorial that feels like homework
A product that feels “unfinished,” even if it works
Why This Happens
Because you’re too close.
You don’t see friction—you see familiarity. You know where the “aha” moment is, because you built the path to it. But your users?
They don’t care about your features. They care about what’s obvious, what’s easy, and whether they feel like they’re in the right place.
They don’t owe you patience.
They’re not here to decode your product.
They’re here to solve a problem—and fast.
What You Should Actually Be Looking At:
Where users hesitate (do they scroll? pause? bounce?)
What they click first (hint: it’s probably not what you wanted)
When they hit friction (forms, tooltips, modals, weird dead-ends)
Where you’re over-explaining (if a tooltip needs three steps, your UX is broken)
Where you’re saying nothing at all (blank states, loading states, empty dashboards)
The Fix Isn’t “More Design”
It’s more perspective.
Watch someone use your product without saying anything. Better yet: record it. Even better: let them talk through it. (User testing, yes—but scrappy is fine.)
You’ll feel uncomfortable. That’s the point. You’ll see where the product is holding up and where your assumptions are falling apart.
You don’t need more features.
You need to see what your users see before they leave. Because if you’re designing for how you think they behave, you’re not building a product. You’re building a mirage.
