Design Trends & Usability: The Hamburger Menu on Desktop - Friday Blog

UsabilityGeek cite one study’s findings that when users are given too many options, they are 10 times less likely to act. Thus by having a strong CTA within the hamburger menu it helps to point users down the conversion path:

The hamburger menu inherently adds an extra step for for a user to navigate to a given page. Any UX professional will tell you that adding unnecessary steps to a user journey is a huge no no.

Another point to consider, particularly if your website audience is predominately over 45, is that only 52% actually understand what a mobile hamburger menu is according the Catalyst Group. And this is for mobile!

The top navigation menu had a higher success rate of 91% but the key point here is the test duration. Users took an average of 25.7 seconds* to find the contact page link in the top menu. This means that users completed the task 42% quicker than the hamburger menu test. This is particularly alarming if you consider how impatient internet users are. 40% of people will abandon a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

As you can see from the above we clearly have a winner. 85.9% of testers preferred the top menu navigation. Users took nearly a minute to make their decision which shows they thought about it carefully.

Here are some of the full responses. Requires one less click for navigation. Also easier to know what other options are available. More noticeable vs. the other choice which I have to click for the menu to show up Menu is immediately accessible, more easier to navigate on the website

So what have we learned from these tests?

Top navigation menus are easier to use than hamburger menus Top navigation menus are quicker to use than hamburger menus Users prefer top navigation menus to hamburger menus