It takes someone roughly 0.05 seconds to form an opinion about your business’ website.
And, with 94% of first impressions being design-related, it doesn’t matter how good your customer service is, or the quality of your products. If your website looks bad, potential customers simply won’t be interested.
It gets worse – 57% of users won’t then recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site. So, not only could your business suffer immediately from lost business, but its impact will be far-reaching.
Thankfully, it’s not all bad news. Many common website issues that turn people away from your business are easy to spot – even if you’re not a developer. Here are five quick fixes you can check today, that could transform your website from a business liability, to a powerful asset.
Make-or-break: Mobile responsiveness
A website that doesn’t work well on smartphones is like a shop with a locked front door. Plus, 61% of users won’t return to a site they struggled to use (or access) on mobile.
Here’s a quick check you can undertake to make sure your site is behaving as expected on mobile:
- Open your website on your phone
- Try navigating through your main pages
- Attempt to fill out any key forms
- Check if images load correctly
- Check if text is readable without scrolling or zooming
Do any of these tasks feel awkward? Then it’s likely that your mobile experience needs some attention.
Don’t hide from navigation nightmares
Think of your website navigation like the layout of your local supermarket. If a customer can’t find what they’re looking for quickly, they’ll leave (then go somewhere else). A user should be able to find any information they’re looking for within three clicks on your website.
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Take caution around confusing menu labels, hidden contact information, any broken links (one of our biggest pet peeves!) and no clear path to key information about your business, products, or services.
And, if you have a big website with lots of pages or products, introduce search functionality – your customers will thank you!
Stumbling with page speed?
When it comes to the page speed, time really is money. With 47% of users expecting websites to load in 2 seconds or less, it’s no surprise that a 1-second delay in page load time can result in a 7% drop in conversions.
Unoptimised images, heavy video content and having too many plugins on your website can all be page speed killers.
If you think this may be the case for your website, then you should test your site’s speed using Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool. If it takes more than three seconds to load, then you’re likely losing valuable traffic (and, in turn, business).
Call-out CTA confusion
A majority – 70% – of small businesses lack a clear call-to-action on their homepage. While this is a staggering statistic, it’s quite a quick fix! Think about what you would like a user to do once they’ve landed on your website.
Do you want them to…
- Fill in a form?
- Book a meeting?
- Make a purchase?
Without clear direction, potential customers won’t know what steps to take next.
To avoid this, make sure your contact information is displayed prominently (and consistently) across your website. Call-to-action buttons should be clear and compelling, and all relevant forms should be easy for users to both find and fill out.
Keep your content fresh
Back to the supermarket analogy – outdated content is like out–of-date food. If you’re serving stale content, it makes users and potential customers question everything else you’re offering.
75% of users make judgements about a business’ credibility based on its website.
Here are the warning signs – make sure you’re not falling foul to any:
- Your website’s copyright date isn’t up-to-date
- Your blog doesn’t have any “new” news or blog posts
- Your team section isn’t current
- Past events are displayed as upcoming
- Offers or promotions have expired
If you’ve noticed any of these on your website, it’s worth talking to someone about getting it fixed.
Time to take action
These five issues may seem insignificant, but they could be having a massive impact on the success of your business. Thankfully, you can spot these problems yourself! Fixing them often requires professional expertise. After all, you want to secure long-lasting results that turn your website into a business-generating machine.
Don’t let a poorly-performing website cost you business. At Telescope, our team of digital experts have been helping businesses like yours overhaul their online presence for over twenty years. We understand the delicate balance between a strong design, and stronger functional performance.
Are you ready to stop losing business to an underperforming website? Contact us today for a free website audit, and discover how we can help turn your website into a powerful business tool.
You can reach the team by email at [email protected], or call us on 0113 238 3066.
