6 Ways Your Website Is Driving Customers Away

Why don’t your customers trust your website?

Outdated Design

When it comes to websites, a lot of people underestimate how powerful a first impression can be. If your website gives the impression that it hasn’t been updated for a long time, you’re in trouble! Old fashioned and out-dated design can really put your credibility at stake, as new visitors will assume your business is behind the times. Whilst we all know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, when you are looking to buy a product or service from a website people do judge by the home page or landing page. Consumers want to be sure that they will receive the best product/service possible, and a poorly designed website could make your potential customers feel very uncertain about buying from your site.

Website design trends are rapidly evolving. Even if you had a brand-new website designed 5 years ago, it will likely need a refresh! You should be updating your website design every few years with a team of experienced designers who can help improve your user experience and optimise your website for inbound leads to give the user a powerful first impression.

No CTAs

A CTA (call to action) is a marketing term for a design prompt that encourages an immediate action from your user. This could be in the form or wording and phrases, or easy to use buttons/links that guide your user to the exact action they want. If your target audience are landing on your website and can’t find a quick and easy way to take their desired action, they will probably leave. A CTA is needed to encourage conversions, so whether you want customers to get in touch, add something to their basket or read more, a button with a clear CTA should do the job! A really common mistake we see on a lot of websites is a lack of CTAs for contact information. Your customers don’t want to search for your email address, they want a simple button which immediately directs them to sending you an email. Don’t leave your leads guessing, guide them through your website with smartly designed and topical CTAs.

Not Mobile Responsive

Being mobile responsive is more important than ever before, as the Google algorithm now ranks your website on the mobile version before the desktop version. It is really important to remember that people are spending more time on their mobile phones than ever before – some websites even have a higher percentage of mobile users than desktop users! You can check if this is the case for you by logging into your Google Analytics account and checking your Audience Overview.

In terms of the user, if your website doesn’t render well on a mobile screen, it becomes very frustrating for potential customers who are trying to access it on the go. Even worse, the mobile version of your site might not render at all on a mobile, so your customers won’t be able to access it or complete a purchase by any means. This is a sure-fire way to send your potential customers running to a competitor!

Complicated Navigation

In terms of the navigation, it is important to not give your users too many complicated paths. Ideally, you should create a simple path that allows your users to access any content they need within 3 clicks. Having too many menus or options often causes your website to look chaotic and can be very confusing to the user. If they can’t easily find what they want without having to read through all the different irrelevant options, they will likely get fed up and leave.

Whilst it is good to differentiate yourself from other websites with your design, it is advantageous to stick to familiar navigation rules such as a top/side menu and footer menu, because consumers will expect to see this.

Interruptive Advertisements

I think we can all agree that pop-up adverts are annoying! If a visitor lands on your website looking for content, they mostly likely don’t want their journey to be disturbed by an unrelated advert blocking that content. This tends to be a huge annoyance for modern web-users.

Equally, filling your page with ads, links and banners can appear spammy and cause your potential customers to not take you seriously. Instead of making money on providing ad space, you could try focusing on replacing those with relevant calls to action which will help progress your business goals.

No Quality Content

There is nothing more frustrating than arriving on a website and seeing that the last time they updated their news was 2 years ago. Dated content often gives the impression that the business can’t be bothered or is no longer in business.

Equally, lack of quality content can be just as detrimental. Consumers search online to answer any questions they might have and make purchase decisions, therefore if your website is lacking useful content to help them along this journey, they will most likely seek it elsewhere. You can ensure that you have enough content by making sure you write 600-700 words of content per page, regularly updating blogs and FAQs, creating product demos, content offers and so much more.

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Whilst checking in on your website regularly might not feel like a priority, it is absolutely worthwhile to ensure you aren’t driving customers away. If you would like to partner with an Oxfordshire based web design agency to give your website a refresh, please get in touch. We would be really happy to discuss some website solutions that may work for you and your business. Email at info@xist2.com or call us on 01993 835 117.website.