7 Ways Your Website Is Losing You Customers

We all know that good first impressions are important, but many business owners forget that sometimes, the first impression a potential customer has of you is when looking at some part of your online presence. In today’s digital age, your website is often the first point of contact for potential customers, and a poorly designed or unoptimized website can cost you new business.

In one study by the Content Marketing Institute, 61% of consumers will leave your website if isn’t mobile-friendly and 40% of consumers will leave if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. This should be enough to make any business owner pay attention.

Beyond In addition to the technical things, experiential issues such as confusing navigation, non-modern design and not enough social proof can also send customers to your competition’s sites.

Let’s look at seven ways that your website may be turning people away from your digital front door and what you can do about each of them. These will be actionable tips that you can start on right away and, here’s the good news, you can start rolling them out one at a time, instead of making it one huge project that never gets done.

1-It’s too slow:

As technology gets faster and faster our expectations get higher and higher. If you’re old enough to remember dial-up in the days of AOL, you were OK waiting 3 minutes for a page to load but how long are you really willing to wait today? Your customers have been through the same journey, and if Your website is too slow, people will simply move on to the next business.
Tools such as Google’s PageSpeed or GTMetrix can point out technical areas for improvement. Pro tip: some of the measurements you get from these tools are only meaningful to computer geeks and don’t really make much of a difference. Don’t make yourself crazy trying to get a perfect score, you just want to look for the biggest wins. Typically, these are images that are too large, long waits before anything shows up on the screenand not using compression.

2-It’s Confusing:

If buyers can’t find what they came for, they’ll just go somewhere else. Keep your website is easy to navigate and consider putting the most common choices right near the top of your site. Think about the questions someone might be on your website. Usually, they want to know
• if they can trust you
• If they can afford you
• If you can have what they need
Why not put that info where it’s obvious?

Also, if you have lots of options and content, a search bar can be useful.

3-It Looks Old:

A dated website design can make your business look unprofessional and out of touch. What was “new and modern” in 2005, just looks bad today. Besides looks, there are new features available today that buyers just expect. Chatbots, click-to-call, links to driving directions and other are just expected now. Big image sliders, scrolling text banners and instant “Join My List” popups are out. Free Tip: nobody wants to join your list.
If you’re site doesn’t look and work properly on people’s phones, well that’s a lot like running the heater with the windows open – you’re just burning through leads and traffic.

4-It Feels Forgotten:

You need to continually freshen and update the content on your site. I know you’re proud of that “Best of” award you won in 2019, but if it’s the first item on your site three years later, it looks like you’re not really paying attention. Things like having pictures of employees who no longer work there, outdated hours or menu items, and anything COVID related in 2023 or beyond doesn’t paint a picture of somebody who is focused and staying up to date.

for 5-It looks bad on phones:

The future is not going to be kind to desktop-only users – or website owners. With smartphones, in-dash automotive screens, tablets and small integrated displays such as Amazon Echo, you can no longer act like you have a huge canvas that you can just throw everything on and hope people will find what they need. With more and more people accessing the internet on their mobile devices, it’s crucial that your website is optimized for mobile. This means having a responsive design that adjusts for different screen sizes, and optimizes your images and videos for mobile as well.
Many modern thinking designers will begin their website design a smartphone first, and only later create something that scales up to a big screen.

6-It Doesn’t Ask for their Business:

Your website needs a clear call-to-action that tells customers what to do next. Do you want them to look at your latest special, place an order or take a test drive? Then say so!.
If you want people to just come to your location, make sure your phone number and your hours are right there and tell them to “click here to call us”. If you want them to give you an e-mail so they can get your specials, put that simple form front and center. Make sure that the call-to-action is prominently displayed and that it stands out from the rest of the website. Use action-oriented language and make it obvious what they will get get by doing the thing you just told them to do.

7-It doesn’t make them trust you:

Trust signals such awards you’ve won, customer testimonials, security badges, and money-back guarantees can help reassure customers that your business is legitimate and trustworthy. Social proof, such as customer reviews and ratings, are powerful building trust and credibility.
Reviews are so important, I even wrote a book about it. Stay tuned…

Getting these things right on your website is way more than worth the time it’ll take you to fix them. Do a little at a time if you have to, but start somewhere. With all the work you put in and the expense you take on things like SEO and paid ads and other advertising, it would be a shame for someone to get to your website and then leave.

A final thought: just because you don’t want to do all this stuff, doesn’t mean your competition won’t. The longer your website stays in one place, the more opportunities you give your competition to simply look like the better choice.

In today’s competitive market, having a website that stands out from the crowd and provides a positive customer experience is more important than ever. Don’t let a poor website cost you new customers. Take the time to optimize and update your website, and you’ll be on your way to attracting and retaining customers for years to come.