10 Reasons People Are Leaving Your Website
1) YOUR IMAGERY IS BLAH
With only a few seconds to make a great impression on your site visitors, we pity the fool that underestimates the smackdown power of awesome imagery {and Mr.T tends to agree with us}. Since the effect of imagery is immediate, making sure your JPG, PNG, MOV and GIF game is thoughtful, impactful and intentional will go a long way in capturing and keeping your audience’s attention. That means high resolution, photographic quality images that work to enhance rather than confuse your site’s story. It also means resisting the urge to use cheesy stock imagery to save a penny here or there. Trust us, spend the extra $2 to purchase a great image rather than settling for a mediocre one and your site retention rates will thank you.
Quick Fix: Add a few QUALITY stock image sites to your armory and use them as your go-to’s when it’s time to add or change photos on your site. Our favorite is www.pexels.com.
2) YOUR PURPOSE ISN'T CLEAR
Your audience should be able to decipher your company's purpose or product without having to leave your home page {ideally, without having to scroll at all}. This is where a smart logo, company name and company tagline come in handy. These three elements should work together to make your company’s purpose crystal clear. But what if you offer something slightly ambiguous and hard to define {like....branding services, for example. *wink wink*}? In this case, list your services or products towards the top of your home page to help people connect the dots.
Quick Fix: Not sure your site’s purpose is clear? Send it to a professional for review {we know a gal} or have a trusted acquaintance take a look. The best way to test the clarity theory is to introduce your site to someone who’s unfamiliar with what you do. You can also use your site’s META tags to help define your company’s purpose in search engines and URL tab text.
3) YOUR CONTENT TO DESIGN RATIO IS OFF
It’s happened to all of us at one point or another; you click into a website and immediately think: “NOOOOPE”. The culprit? Sites that are too text heavy with abnormally small fonts, or have so many images and disjointed design elements that you’re not sure which way is up. Your content to design ratio is a delicate balance that needs to be considered carefully. Not only does this ratio help tell the story of your company, it should leave your site visitors eager to participate and read on.
Quick Fix: Some good rules of thumb to help you accomplish website nirvana? Break up long text sections with fonts of different style, size and color; use image banners and text overlays to create layered intrigue around important content; use shape themes or similar animation effects throughout your site to create cohesion and intrigue; last but not least, understand the power of icons to bring visual interest to an otherwise text dominant page.
4) YOU'RE NOT ADDRESSING THEIR #1 NEED QUICKLY ENOUGH
Understanding the WHY behind your site traffic is essential to understanding how to speak to your audience's motivators. If your company’s value proposition deals with solving a problem, make sure your site works to alleviate that problem quickly. For example, if you own a pest control company, you may want to prominently display your area of coverage, your phone number and a way for your clients to quickly get a quote. If your company’s value proposition deals with filling a need, such as a wedding photographer, give your visitors immediate access to examples of your work and clear pricing information. If site visitors have to work too hard to find what they need, your conversion rates will suffer.
Quick Fix: Take some time to put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. Brainstorm things you would want to see when visiting a website around this topic and make sure your site aligns with the most urgent needs. If your target audience’s biggest need is information, make sure the layout and organization of the information is intuitive and logical.
5) YOUR SITE ISN'T IN LINE WITH WHAT THEY EXPECT
While staying true to your business personality and your company’s mission, vision and values is important to creating a niche for yourself in your market, you also want to consider what your site visitor might expect to see when visiting a website that falls under the “such-and-such” category. Product sites should have photos of your sales items and immediate links to shopping; service-based sites should offer explanations on types of services offered, pricing information and biography info to communicate why you’re qualified to offer said services; blog-driven sites should allow visitors to search by topic, be interlinked to relevant articles and tell a story about a life experience or passion.
Quick Fix: Research your competitors {a super handy little tool}, and find the ones who are really CRUSHING it at the game. What about their site's look, content and organization spoke to you; what made it a great experience? Now compare those things against your own site and make corrections where necessary. {Disclaimer: Your goal should be to MODEL things that work. Nobody likes a copycat.}
6) YOUR CONTENT IS INACCURATE, DRY OR HARD TO READ