Website conversion never seems to be as hot of a topic as SEO yet it’s due equal time in the spotlight. Many companies spend 1000’s if not 10’s of 1000’s of dollars on marketing to get visitors to their website but neglect to pay attention to what these visitors do once they are there. Lets say you spend $100 to bring 100 visitors to your website and 1 of them expresses an interest in your product or service. You have a 1% conversion rate. With strategic changes to your website design, structure and content, lets say you get 3 out of 100 visitors to express interest in your product or service. Now you just tripled your web leads and your advertising dollars are working 3 times harder. Conversion optimization is far more important than SEO since it capitalizes as much ROI as possible for each visitor. Let’s examine some of the reasons why your website isn’t converting.
1. Your Design is Outdated
An outdated design is the number 1 reason for a lack of conversions for a good reason, it makes you lose credibility with your customer. When your site looks like it hasn’t been updated in several years or looks like it was built in the dot com boom, customers tend to think you are behind with the times. According to a study by Pew Research, 78% of internet users research a product or service online before they buy. Your website is the face of your company and is the first thing most potential customers see making it extraordinarily important to make a good first impression.
The latest design trends help your company appear successful and modern while giving you a one up on your competition. If your website isn’t the full width of your screen, uses flash or Ariel font, it is probably well past the time to upgrade. Many business will see an uptick in business shortly after the redesign of their website if done by a company that understands buyer behavior and how to optimize for conversions.
2. Outdated Technology
Coming in at number 2 is outdated technology and it ties in very closely with number 1 since it also leads to a loss of credibility. With the internet changing faster than Clark Kent in a phone booth, it is essential your website is up on the latest tech trends. These are made possible by modern coding that allows for full width responsive design, parallax images and HTML5 videos. Flash is out. Let me repeat that: Flash is out! There is nothing that dates a website more than Adobe Flash Player and it really hasn’t been in for the better part of the last decade. In fact, it doesn’t even play on most browsers.
Did you know according to Google, up to 60% of web visitors enter a website on a mobile device? If your website isn’t mobile friendly you are losing out on over half of your potential customers. To add insult to injury, Google also announced it will penalize websites they don’t find to be mobile friendly with poor search results on mobile browsers. The good news is, once remedied, Google will reward your website with better rankings and more traffic.
3. Poor Layout and Navigation
Is important information easy to find on your site? Do you have an online product catalog that is easy for customers to find their product and checkout? In many cases it is not as ideal as it could be. A website’s navigation can be a make or break for any business. If your website is cumbersome to use, you may actually be better off not having a website at all. It all boils down to first impression. If you frustrate someone trying to use your website for the first time, they may not only leave your site and not become your customer, they will also have an unfavorable impression of your company.
This can all be remedied by making sure your layout is foolproof and easy to use. No need to reinvent the wheel here, make sure you have menus in the top section and\or left column where users expect them to be. Clear contact information should be on every page in the top bar and footer section. Don’t over crowd pages and have clear calls to action.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is: An outdated website is costing you sales and money. In many cases a re-design can recoup the cost rather quickly and sometimes within the first month. You work so hard and spend so much money to bring people to your website that you need to maximize the results once they are there. So isn’t it time for a re-design?
