Is Your Website Driving Customers Away?
Think about your entryway. It’s supposed to welcome you, your family, your friends, and your guests in. To give a glimpse into your personality and style. To offer a little preview of what folks can expect from the rest of your space. Imagine if it sent people running for the door instead!
Your website is the entryway to your brand. Not only does it provide useful information and compelling content around what you do, it provides invaluable insights into who you are, why you are in business, how you can solve a visitor’s challenge or meet their need, and where they can go for help. Is your website doing all that? Is it welcoming people in – or sending them right back out the digital door?
Is Your Website Driving Customers Away?
We are big fans of the marketing theory: Don’t guess: Know. So, if you’re afraid that your website is driving customers away, quantify that fear.
How?
Track How People Find You
For many consumers, the first interaction with a brand occurs online, whether on a website, on a social media page, or through an ad. Where are people finding you? You can track this via Google or Facebook analytics, landing pages, and/or customer surveys. If most people are not finding you through your website, it’s time to investigate further.
Check Your Bounce Rate
Your bounce rate is a measurement of how many times someone comes to your site and immediately leaves without engaging further. You can find this on your analytics platform or through your marketing partner.
A great bounce rate is between 26-40% (blogs are typically closer to the higher end; this is because someone could read the entire blog and leave, and it’s considered a bounce). You won’t get everyone to engage – and that’s ok because you’re not appealing to everyone. You’re looking for a target audience who will take some time navigating your site. If your bounce rate is higher than this range, find out why.
Why Is Your Website Driving Traffic – Right In the Other Direction?
If, in fact, your website is not pulling people to your brand, it is critical that you find out why. Some very common – and very fixable – reasons that people bounce or avoid you altogether:
Your site loads too slowly. In today’s fast-paced world, we expect gratification instantly – if not sooner. Every second counts: When a page load time goes from one to three seconds, bounce rate increases by 32%. Forty percent of us wait no longer than three seconds before we call it quits. The tortoise does not win this particular race.
You are not mobile-friendly or mobile-first. You need to be optimized for mobile. This hasn’t been a discussion for at least a decade! Make sure your site is fully responsive for users across devices.
Your website is crowded, cluttered, and hard to navigate. Think about your entryway again: How inviting is it when you have piles of this, stacks of that, and a whole lot of chaos going on? Even you don’t want to come in! A brand website must be clean, simple, and easy to maneuver. Remove extraneous elements, doom-scrolling text, and other features that will weigh your site down and turn customers off.
You’re showing your age. Play Super Mario Bros. growing up? Looking back, the graphics and interface are cute and quaint. We feel nostalgic as we play hyper-real games on a connected device. That may work for Mario and Luigi but you don’t want your customers thinking your site is “retro.” Any outdated elements will pull customers away and reflect poorly on your brand.
Your CTAs are less than compelling. What do you want people to do? What are the next steps? Unclear, cluttered, or badly crafted calls-to-action will drive people in the other direction. Make people want to sign up, download now, schedule a consultation with short, succinct, clear, and compelling CTAs.
You’re difficult to find. Say you do have a serviceable website. Someone decides to give you a call or shoot you an email. But… Where’d your contact info go? How do they get in touch? If they have to spend more than a few seconds looking, they’re going to just find a new company to address their challenge or meet their needs.
You aren't actually saying anything. You may have a highly appealing website that loads fast and pleases the eye. Everything is easy to find. The trouble is that there’s really nothing of value to discover. You’re not providing useful, authoritative information. You are not highlighting your work in digital galleries. You are not sharing client/customer testimonials. You are not demonstrating why you are the solution for which your visitors are searching. A beautiful site without content is just a pretty face in which they will quickly lose interest.
A Website That Works
Often the reasons behind your website’s lack of performance are easily identifiable. With that insight and knowledge, you can fix the issues that are driving customers away – and get them to reverse course back to your brand.
Need help? Connect with the Have team to get started.
Did You Know Haven Does… Website Design and Development?
Who is Haven?
We’re a little bit of a jack of all trades when it comes to marketing and advertising, with customized offerings that work for your unique goals. But even a jack of all trades has a few specialties.
In fact, did you know that Haven does website design and development?
It’s kind of our thing.
https://youtu.be/ofn77cz8S3I
You NEED A Kick…Butt Website
Do you really need one? Yes. Can you just use free social media? No. But… No buts. A website is not optional, and a Facebook page is not a website. Think of it as one of the most critical investments you can make in your business. Here’s why:
- You increase visibility. When your website is optimized for search, you can achieve much better rankings in the search results pages. The first three results receive the overwhelming majority of traffic. People usually don’t bother clicking over to page 2. With a solid website, you can reach your audience whether they are across the world or across town.
- You establish credibility and build trust. A professional website is not just shiny and pretty. It creates an image of legitimacy and authority with your audience. Yes, they do “judge a book by its cover.” It takes just 50 milliseconds for the average person to form an opinion of your website. Blink, and they may be gone! Further, 48% of internet users say that web design is the #1 way they judge a business’s credibility.
- You save everyone’s time! Consider your website as a 24/7 showroom. It's always open – and it works for cheap money. Prospects and potential customers/clients can learn about your business whenever and wherever they want, read your helpful educational content, and even click “Buy Now.”
Consumers expect you to maintain a robust and authoritative online presence. If you build it… They will come.
Website Design and Development with Haven
How do you build a website that blows your customers’ minds – and the competition away? Simple. You connect with our multidisciplinary team of experts. We’ll help you build a website that prioritizes the customer, elevates your brand, and guides visitors through the sales journey seamlessly from start to finish.
Utilizing the latest industry standards and applying proven strategies for speed, SEO, content, navigation, ecommerce, etc., we empower your business to deliver an outstanding experience to your clients and send qualified leads right to your door (or… inbox).
Take a look at our work:
G&G Custom Homes is a dynamic builder who specializes in providing top-notch customer service and jaw-dropping results. They needed a website that was as elegant and user-friendly as they are! We delivered… with responsive sites that load and display beautifully across all devices.
Have you been to Hub & Spoke? If so, go again. If not, make it a must on your to-do list. This multi-use space features retail showrooms, coworking areas, and a fully-equipped makerspace. They do so much for our community, and their website is an invaluable way to connect with community members, makers, and doers. Their Haven-designed and developed site allows them to spread the word – and the good work.
What makes a Haven website different? You tell us. Or better yet, have your new customers tell you.
Ready, Set… Grow
Is your website working as hard for you as possible? It’s time to sit down with our team and turn it into a customer-building, revenue-generating powerhouse. Connect with Haven to learn more.