In a world of abundance and clutter, consumers only spend a few seconds checking out a website before they decide if the company is worth their time and money. Are your potential clients walking away once they reach your website?
Today we’re giving you a breakdown of common website mistakes that are costing your business money... and the best part? We’ll show you why performing an audit on your own website can help you increase conversions and send more money into your back pocket. More sales, more clients = a happy, thriving business. Let's get to it.
Make the user experience enjoyable. The average amount of time spent on a website is less than 15 seconds. Visitors should have a pleasant experience navigating your website and poor web design can send your bounce rate sky-rocketing (don’t worry, we’ll cover bounce rates in the analytics section!) Other factors that affect the user experience are lack of important information. Ensure that you are following user experience principles: simplicity, visual hierarchy, easy navigation and accessibility on mobile devices. Visitors search on websites to find answers to their inquiries, so make it as easy as possible for them to find information and take action.
Visual hierarchy directs the visitor’s eye with visual cues by establishing patterns such as where to click with call-to-action buttons and where to skim quickly with bold headlines and so on. Design elements should feel well-positioned and be distinct from one another. The website’s navigation menu should be easy to use, with users able to click around the website and various pages easily and seamlessly. Consider adding a search box on the homepage if your website has more than 10-20 pages.
Upgrade your load times. The biggest conversion killer? Long load times. 53% of mobile website visitors say they hit the return button when a page takes more than 3 seconds to load. Images that aren’t optimized for the web, lots of background textures and images, too much Javascript or other fancy front end library files, and heavily animated files have a huge impact on how fast your website loads.
Add a strong call-to-action. We can’t say this enough: tell people what you want them to do! Your website is a prime opportunity to connect visitors and guide them through your website, so making that purchase feels like a no-brainer. Use buttons to signal to your users that THIS is where they’re supposed to take action. Examples of calls-to-action include: sign up, contact us, buy now. These are clear and concise prompts that will lead to higher conversions and sales. Lastly, don’t forget about a contact form, social media links, an opt-in button--all great ways to get your users to take action on your site.
Track your analytics. 75% of small businesses do not use analytics tools to track their website’s performance. You’re missing out on a huge piece of the data pie if you skip this step! Analytics tell you what is working on your website, and what isn’t… they provide real time data so you can make adjustments as needed. Learn more about your audience, who’s clicking where, and how you can better serve your users with apps like Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics, and more!
If you’ve noticed your website has a high bounce rate you can use site assessment tools like heat maps, scroll maps and A/B testing. Heatmaps are used to show where users have clicked on a page, how far they have scrolled down a page and overall give a clear indication of what visitors really do on your website. Scroll maps are a type of website heat map designed specifically to show how far users scroll down lengthy website pages. A/B testing allows you to compare two versions of a web page which is better performing. This is a great way to evaluate your conversion funnel, i.e. where you are losing visitors, and how you can improve their experience so they make a purchase.
Some of the biggest website mistakes that could be costing your business money, are also easy fixes that you can make right now. Treat your website like it’s your storefront, make sure whoever walks through the door is kindly greeted and guided to get exactly what they need.
