When users struggle with your product, it's easy to assume the problem is with them. Maybe they’re “not tech-savvy” or just didn’t “get it.”
But more often than not, the issue isn’t the user, it’s the cognitive effort your product is demanding.
In UX terms, this is called cognitive load, and it’s one of the most overlooked reasons why users drop off, get frustrated, or never come back. It’s not loud or obvious, but when it’s high, it quietly sabotages the entire experience.
Let’s unpack what it means, how it shows up in real products, and how to design around it.
What Is Cognitive Load?
Cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in our working memory. Every time someone interacts with a digital product, they’re juggling a few things in their head:
- What they’re trying to achieve (their goal)
- What they see on the screen right now
- What they remember from past experience
- How they expect the interface to work
When that mental juggling act gets too heavy, users feel overwhelmed, lost, or mentally drained. They give up, abandon the task, or simply close the tab.
And here’s the catch: most of the time, they won’t even explain why. You’ll just see the churn in your metrics.
The Three Types of Cognitive Load (and How They Sneak Into UX)
Understanding cognitive load means breaking it into three types each with different implications for how users experience your product.
1. Intrinsic Load
This is the effort required to perform the task itself. Some tasks are naturally complex like filing taxes or configuring security settings. No interface can completely remove that complexity, but you can guide users through it.
Example: Booking a flight involves many steps- destination, timing, seat, luggage, payment. Even a perfect UX can’t make that truly “simple,” but it can make it manageable.
2. Extraneous Load
This is the unnecessary effort introduced by poor design. Clunky navigation, vague labels, too many clicks, inconsistent layouts- all of these create friction. Unlike intrinsic load, this is fully in your control.
Example: A login screen that doesn’t say why your password failed adds unnecessary mental effort. Is it the password? The email? Do I need to reset it?
3. Germane Load
This is the mental effort used to understand and learn a new system. It’s not a bad thing- in fact, it’s the load that helps users master your product over time. The goal is to support this type of effort without overwhelming the user.
Example: A new user learning Notion or Figma will have some learning curve. Good UX scaffolds that curve with templates, tooltips, and contextual help.
Real-World Examples of Cognitive Load Done Wrong
These are situations where some well-known products pushed users too far mentally. Let’s look at where they went wrong, and what they eventually did about it.
1. Overwhelming Dashboards
Example: Airtable (pre-2021)
When new users opened Airtable, they were often greeted with a sea of options: views, filters, automations, fields, scripts all at once. There was no clear “start here.” The power was obvious, but the path forward wasn’t.
What happened:
- Too many elements fighting for attention
- No prioritization of what to do first
- No onboarding cues to guide the journey
What improved:
Airtable introduced guided templates, better onboarding flows, and progressive disclosure features only appear when relevant.
Takeaway: Just because your product can do a lot doesn’t mean users need to see all of it at once.
2. Form Fatigue on Government and Healthcare Portals
Example: Healthcare.gov (2013 launch)
At its launch, Healthcare.gov was infamous for its messy forms. Users were faced with dozens of fields, confusing terminology, no autosave, and no clear progress indicators. People abandoned the process out of sheer exhaustion.
What went wrong:
- Jargon-filled fields
- No clear indication of how long the process would take
- No inline feedback (you’d only find out you made a mistake at the end)
How it got better:
Later versions chunked the form into smaller, manageable sections, added tooltips, live validation, and a clean visual flow.
Takeaway: Every form field is a cognitive micro-task. Cut ruthlessly. Guide generously.
3. Decision Fatigue in E-commerce
Example: Amazon and endless product listings
When shopping online, you’d think more options are better. But that’s not always true. On Amazon or fashion platforms like Zalando, users are often presented with hundreds of near-identical products, buried in filters and conflicting reviews.
What went wrong:
- Jargon-filled fields
- No clear indication of how long the process would take
- No inline feedback (you’d only find out you made a mistake at the end)
How it got better:
Later versions chunked the form into smaller, manageable sections, added tooltips, live validation, and a clean visual flow.
Takeaway: Every form field is a cognitive micro-task. Cut ruthlessly. Guide generously.
4. Productivity Tools That Demand Too Much
Example: Notion, ClickUp, Obsidian (without onboarding)
These tools are incredibly powerful. But to a first-time user? It’s like opening a blank canvas and being told, “Build your own system.”
Why that’s a problem:
- No clear entry point
- Too many possibilities without guidance
- Heavy reliance on prior knowledge of productivity systems
What works better:
Showing just one or two templates to start. Providing an onboarding checklist. Limiting visible options until the user has momentum.
Takeaway: Power without scaffolding is paralyzing. Even advanced users benefit from a gentle starting point.
What Happens When You Don’t Reduce Cognitive Load?
The costs are very real and they often show up in places you can’t attribute easily.
- Users start signup and never finish
- Items sit in carts, abandoned
- Help tickets flood in for things that “should be obvious”
- People churn silently, without ever complaining
Even worse? Users often blame themselves. They think they’re not smart enough. They think it’s “just them.” That’s a sign your product made them feel inadequate when it should have made them feel empowered.
How to Reduce Cognitive Load in Your Product
Here are some practical design choices that make a big difference:
- Use clear, human language.
Avoid jargon. Write like a person, not a developer.
- Progressively disclose complexity.
Show only what’s needed at that point in the journey.
- Break large processes into smaller steps.
This helps users feel like they’re making progress.
- Minimize the number of decisions.
Use smart defaults, and highlight recommended paths.
- Design with visual hierarchy and breathing space.
Let the most important thing stand out. Give the eye places to rest.
- Test with real users.
Watch them interact with your product. You’ll immediately see where they hesitate or backtrack.
Final Thought: Simplicity Isn’t Simpler, It’s Smarter
Cognitive load may be invisible but once you understand how it works, you start seeing it everywhere. In that overly complex dashboard. That too-clever login flow. That form you gave up on halfway through.
Users aren’t asking for dumbed-down products. They’re asking for clarity. For momentum. For flow.
Because at the end of the day, the best product experiences don’t just look good they feel effortless.
And effortlessness isn't easy to build. But it's worth it.
At CometChat, we think about cognitive load every time we help teams build in-app messaging. Chat should feel seamless—not like a separate app you have to learn. That’s why our SDKs and UI kits are designed to get out of the way and let users focus on connecting, not navigating. Whether you're building a marketplace, a telehealth platform, or a social app, the messaging experience should feel intuitive from the first tap. If you’re ready to build real-time chat that doesn’t overwhelm your users
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