Why The 3-Click Rule Doesn't Work for Small Business Websites And What Does Instead

You won’t believe how many times I’ve heard something along the lines of, "We need to get this flow down to three clicks max." from my clients.

And I’m thinking…Oh no, not the 3-click rule again.

I had an enterprise-level client once who was adamant that their problem was the number of clicks in their flow after reading some article about how users abandon sites if they have to click too many times. 

I'd been working with this enterprise client for months and I knew their flow. It had more than three clicks, sure, but it was clear. Users knew exactly what to do at every step. The real issue wasn't the number of clicks, but that their product pages weren't doing a good enough job selling the value before people even got to checkout. But try explaining that when someone's already convinced they've found the silver bullet solution.

I recommended we keep the current flow and address the actual problems (unclear value props, confusing product descriptions, no trust signals). They weren't convinced. The marketing team really wanted those three clicks.

So I suggested we run an A/B test to let the data decide for us.

We set up two versions. Version A was their idea: a streamlined 3-click flow that condensed everything and version B was the current flow with 5 clicks, each step clear and focused on one thing.

Then we watched real users try both versions.

And guess what happened?

The 3-click version wasn’t performing as they expected. People took longer to complete it and had more questions along the way. Some of them even just gave up entirely.

The 5-click version? People breezed through it. Each step made sense and they knew exactly what to do next. The completion time was actually faster even though there were more clicks.

The data proved the 3-click rule was a myth.

What that usability test actually taught us

The number of clicks it takes a user to complete a flow? Total vanity metric.

What actually mattered was whether users felt confident at each step. 

• Did they know what to do next? 

• Did they feel like they were making progress? 

• Did the flow make sense?

An intuitive 5-click flow beats a confusing 3-click flow every time.

What's wild is that lesson applies just as much to your solopreneur website as it does to enterprise checkout flows.

When you're building your service pages, your booking flow, or your email funnel, the question isn't "how few clicks can I make this?" The question is "will my customer feel confident at every single step?"

Because if they're confused, it doesn't matter if it only took them two clicks to get there. They're gone.

Where this myth even came from

The 3-click rule became a metric back in the early days of the web. Slow internet connections and limited screen real estate equaled different user behavior. Back then, every click meant waiting for a page to load so users were more likely to abandon if they had to click through too many slow-loading pages.

It sounds logical and data-driven so marketers still like to bring up the 3-click rule every so often. "Keep your important content within three clicks of the homepage." Sounds official, right?

So business owners like yourself keep hearing about it and end up worrying even though it's been debunked by actual usability research over and over again.

The real problem with the 3-click rule

When you optimize for click count instead of clarity, you end up making things worse.

If your goal is to get everything down to three clicks, you start cramming. You put more information on each screen. Start combining steps that should probably be separate and end up create dense, overwhelming pages because you're trying to reduce the number of clicks.

And what happens? Cognitive overload (which is when a person is overwhelmed by too much information).

Imagine landing on a page with two different form fields, three paragraphs of instructions, and a bunch of options you have to parse through before you can move forward. Sure, it's only one click, but it probably takes you five minutes to figure out what the hell you’re supposed to do.

Compare that to breaking it into three separate, focused steps. Each one takes 30 seconds. You can click through confidently because each step makes sense. Total time? Less than two minutes. It might be more clicks, but there’s way less frustration.

It's like the difference between a maze and a guided trail.

Would you rather navigate five clicks that are completely self-explanatory? Or three clicks full of dense instructions where you have to think your way through because you don't know what to do next?

I would pick the guided trail when making a purchase any day. And so would your customers.

What actually matters: user confidence

Forget the 3-click rule for your small business website. Focus on building confidence at every step of your customer’s journey.

When customers feel confident, they convert. When they're confused, they bounce. It's really that simple.

Here's what builds confidence:

Reduce cognitive load 

Make your content scannable by decluttering your experience. People should be able to quickly understand what they're looking at without having to parse through dense paragraphs or overwhelming amounts of information all at once. This means use white space and short sentences like they are your best friend. Also have one clear call to action per page.

Clear next steps at each stage 

Your most novice person should know exactly what to do next without having to guess or hunt for it. Not "I think I click here?" Absolute certainty. "Oh, obviously I click here." If someone lands on your page and has to scan around trying to figure out what to do next, you've lost them even if it's only one click away from where they need to be.

Intuitive navigation 

Your customer should be able to find their way around your website without getting lost or confused about where they are. Clear menu structures with breadcrumbs can help with this as well as consistent layouts. Anything that keeps them oriented and reduces that "wait, how did I get here?" feeling.

Consistent experience 

Each step should feel connected to the last. When users build momentum, they keep going. When something suddenly feels different or unexpected, they stop and second-guess themselves. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds confidence. Confidence converts.

User confidence equals conversions. Not click count.

How to actually apply this to your website

Okay, so how do you know if your website is building confidence or creating confusion?

First off, you can't test it on yourself. You already know your business too well. You know what every page and button is supposed to do. You're basically the worst test user for your own website.

And please don't test it on your business bestie who already knows what you offer and has probably heard you talk about your services a hundred times. They're not a good test case either.

But you know who is? With the holidays coming up, grab a family member who doesn't know your business very well. Bonus points if they're not super tech-savvy.

How to conduct your own usability test

1. Hand them your phone or laptop.

2. Give them a simple task: Ask them to book your service or sign up for your freebie. 

3. And here's the hard part: don't help them. Don't give hints. Just watch.

The places they hesitate? Problem areas. 

The places they ask "what do I do now?" Those are your friction points.

The places where they confidently click through without any questions? Those parts are working.

Take notes so you can fix the confusing parts. Don't worry about how many clicks it takes. Just make sure each click makes sense.

Ask yourself at every step: Does my most novice user know what to do next?

If the answer is yes, you're good. If the answer is "well, probably" or "I think so," you've got work to do.

Prioritize clarity over brevity. Always.

When click count actually does matter

Look, I'm not saying clicks never matter. There are absolutely times when reducing clicks genuinely improves the experience.

If you're asking for the same information twice? Remove one of those form fields. A redundant step that doesn't add any value? Cut it. Making people click through three pages of the same call to action before they can actually take action? Streamline that.

The difference is removing confusion versus removing clarity.

Real efficiency is eliminating steps that frustrate users or waste their time.

Artificial efficiency is cramming everything together just to hit some arbitrary click count.

One makes things better. The other just makes things shorter.

But won't people get frustrated with too many clicks?

I know what you're thinking, “Okay, but surely there's a limit?”. People will get annoyed if they have to click a million times, right?

Sure. If those clicks feel pointless or confusing.

But when each click moves them confidently toward their goal? They honestly don't mind.

Think about it like driving. A lot of people would prefer a slightly longer route that keeps them moving along over a shorter route with too many stops and turns.

The second route might technically be fewer miles. But it feels more frustrating because you're constantly stopping. You're not making progress. You're just sitting at red lights.

The longer route? You're cruising. You know where you're going. The path is clear. Yeah, it might take a few more minutes, but it feels easier because you're not fighting your way through it.

Same with your website.

Your customers will happily click through five clear steps that keep them moving forward. Those three confusing steps are where they will abandon your flow after getting stuck trying to figure out what to do next.

It's not about the number. It's about the feeling your customer has during their journey.

What this means for your business

If you've been stressing about your booking flow having four steps instead of three, you can let that go.

If you've been trying to cram your entire service offering onto one page because you heard people won't click through, you can stop.

If some marketing article convinced you that your conversion problem is click count, I'm here to tell you it's probably not.

Your conversion problem is most likely one of these things: 

• unclear value proposition

• confusing navigation

• lack of trust signals

• messaging that doesn't resonate

• design that doesn't support your expertise

• a call to action that doesn't feel like the obvious next step

Those are strategic problems. And you can't fix strategic problems by just reducing clicks.

The real solution

Look, you could spend the next six months obsessing over click counts and testing different flow variations trying to hit some magic number.

Or you could invest in a strategy that actually converts.

Strategy that understands user confidence matters more than user efficiency. Strategy that builds experiences where people know exactly what to do next. Strategy that removes confusion instead of just removing clicks.

If you're ready to build a brand and website experience that gives your customers confidence instead of confusion, let's talk.

I'd love to hear about your business and explore whether working together makes sense. I bring UX thinking to brand strategy, which means we're not just making things pretty. We're making things work.

No arbitrary rules. No jargon. Just a conversation about what's actually working and what's not.

Book a discovery call

Because at the end of the day, your website should do the heavy lifting of communicating who you are and why people should work with you. And that has nothing to do with how many times someone has to click.

It has everything to do with how confident they feel while they're clicking.