If you own a business, you already know how important your online presence is.
Everything on your website, from your SEO, to your copy and design should be working together to drive people to your business.
But driving potential leads to your site is just the beginning. Keeping them there – and turning browsers into buyers – is the next hurdle.
If you’ve laid the groundwork but struggle to convert when it comes to crunch time, let’s take a look at some common mistakes your site could be making, plus some easy ways to fix them.
Don’t want to lose out on another conversion? Keep reading.
Slow loading time
A study has found that 1 in 4 visitors will leave a site that takes longer than 4 seconds to
load. Just a 1 second delay can reduce customer satisfaction by 16%. Slow loading times are especially detrimental for ecommerce businesses, where a 1 second delay can reduce conversions by 4.42% each second.
The good news is that these figures are easily reversed when customers interact with a high-performing website. Prioritise high quality web hosting and make sure your pages are optimised for speed. That means no coding errors, outdated WordPress plugins or images over 1MB.
Lastly, don’t forget to regularly test your website speed to make sure it’s performing as expected.
No call to action
Do customers know what to do once they’ve found your website?
Are you ensuring they’re driven towards the point of conversion? If not, you’re likely leaving cash on the table for your competitors. Make use of buttons, directions and strategic language to offer a clear call to action for your potential customers.
Low quality content or images
Investing in the content on your website is an investment into your conversion rate. Get rid of the clunky copy and stock photography. Stick with high-quality and unique imagery, paired with strategic copy that hooks the reader’s interest.
Your website is often your first chance to make a good impression – so make it count.
No testimonials
Social proof is the secret ingredient that’ll drive a visitor to buy. Even if they’ve got cash in hand, ready to purchase, a lack of trust can dissuade them before they reach the point of conversion. So – how can you avoid this?
Using well-crafted testimonials throughout your customer journey helps address any hesitations they may have.
We’re social creatures who value the opinions of others – so once we know a business is trustworthy, we’re more inclined to buy.
Not optimized for mobile
With more than 50% of traffic coming from mobile today, it shouldn’t be a second thought when it comes to your website. Poor mobile optimization will affect your conversion rate and your SEO performance. But it’s an easy fix. Google has an online mobile-friendly test tool that can identify whether your site is performing as it should. And don’t forget to regularly view your site on mobile for yourself, to ensure you’re happy with the user experience.
Overwhelming forms
How many times have you tried to purchase something online, or attempted to make contact with a business, and become totally overwhelmed by their forms?
Studies have shown that reducing the number of form fields to 10 or less helped increase conversions by 120%. So, keep it short, sweet and relevant. Get the crucial info you need upfront and gather the rest once you’ve locked in the lead.
Broken links
We can’t stress how important this one is – test your links.
Especially if you’re using third-party sites or apps that could have changed since you last visited them.
Landing on an error page while attempting to navigate your site is a bad look and doesn’t create trust with your users.
Performing a regular audit of your links is good for your conversion, your SEO and creates a better user experience.
Need to check for broken links on your site?
Head into your Google Search Console and crawl your site, then find and fix any errors as required.
Poor security
Your customers expect a secure and private online experience when they use your website. If you’re not providing that, you could be putting your site visitors at risk. That’s why we believe using HTTPS is non-negotiable. Protecting your website and your customers with an SSL certificate enables an encrypted connection and keeps information and connections secure.
We recommend Webflow for this reason – SSL certification comes as standard.
Need a head start optimizing your conversion?
Get an expert from Ebda in your corner.
We pair the best in design with strategy that sells, to make high bounce rate a thing of the
past.
Ready to watch your conversion rate climb?
