Your website could be driving customers away — here’s why

Your business website exists to generate traffic and convert visitors to buyers. A well designed and well thought out website will demand the attention of its users. It will answer questions, highlight important information, generate trust, and transform the users to loyal, long term customers or clients. 

With so many businesses online today, getting people to click across to your website should be seen as a victory. But if you are struggling to retain them, it’s time to think about why. If your website contains any of these annoying or off putting elements, you could be driving potential clients, and revenue, right out the door. 

Your overall design is poor, and your website is slow 

The last thing you want is for a potential customer to feel frustrated and annoyed when visiting your site because they have difficulty navigating your webpage or finding the information they need. Users will always remember their experience if it was a poor one, so it’s important to consider your navigation, site layout, design, and load speed. 

Viewers have become conditioned to expect instantaneous loading of their favourite websites, social media platforms, and videos. As a result, their attention span is shrinking, and most are unwilling to wait more than a few seconds for a website to load. In fact, studies show that for every 1 second delay in loading, conversion rates drop by 70% (1). A study completed by Google also found that 53% of website visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than three seconds to load (6). 

When considering the design and layout of your website, it’s important to put your potential customers first. What do they value? What information are they looking for? What type of questions would they be asking when they visit your website? It’s crucial that your website is easy to navigate, the layout makes sense, and the most important information stands out amongst the rest. Careful selection of elements such as colours and fonts only add to the experience, and can enhance how your users feel when they look at your website. 

Your website is not optimised for mobile

Given that over 70% of people now prefer to view websites on their mobile devices and tablets, it’s now more important than ever to design your site specifically for mobile. In fact, 57% of users have said they wouldn’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site (2). 

A mobile friendly site should be coded and sized for easy navigation and interaction. Text should be easy to read without squinting, buttons and links should be large enough to tap with a finger, and important information such as contact details, products, and services, should be easy to find. Website speed is key, particularly for mobile users, so it’s recommended that you compress images, files, and videos found on your site. 

Your website content is poor

Strong messaging and quality content and writing gives users a reason to buy from you. The reality is, content that exhibits poor spelling and grammar, or fails to provide correct contact information, leaves users questioning how much effort and care you would put into them as a customer. Your content should be clear, concise, and relate to your audience on a personal level. 

When thinking about how to communicate your message to your audience, it’s important to avoid complex jargon, and think about who it is you are speaking to. Great copy should be written in such a way to persuade the reader to feel something and become compelled to act on that feeling. Your messaging should be used thoughtfully and carefully to generate the right message, and response. 

And given that users have short attention spans, make their job easier by using headings, sub headings, and clear call-to-actions to highlight the information they may be looking for. Buttons and call-to-actions which are placed strategically throughout your site will enhance conversions and avoid visitor frustrations. 

Are you interested in reading more about how your website could be driving customer away? Learn more Here!