Ultimately, every company website aims to convert visitors to paying customers. But, as you may have found out for yourself, that’s not as easy as it sounds.
Why? Well, there isn’t a straightforward answer. Your conversion rate relies on multiple elements coming together to create a high-performing website with a seamless user experience that gets visitors excited about what you have to offer.
In this article, we’ll talk through the top 5 reasons why your website isn’t converting and what you can do about it.
1. Pricing
Pricing is a key factor for sales and largely depends on your target market and business strategy. Some customers are looking for the lowest prices they can get, whereas shoppers in the luxury market can equate low cost with ‘cheap’. High pricing can create an element of exclusivity, which appeals to some customer groups but prices out others.
Do your research, check out your competitors, and make sure the sums add up. Your pricing must meet profit requirements, reflect your brand proposition and appeal to your target market.
2. Website performance
Website performance is based on how fast your pages load. Visitors don’t have the time or patience to wait for a slow-loading web page; they’ll simply click off your site and look for an alternative (probably your next competitor). Studies have shown that loading speed has a big influence on conversion rates, so getting this right is vital.
Optimising images and code, caching and testing are just some of the ways you can improve site speed. (Consult your web developer if you need help with this one.)
3. Poor UX
User experience (UX) is of paramount importance for converting website traffic – don’t make visitors work hard to find what they want. Your website should be logical, visually appealing and straightforward to use (and fast! See reason number 2).
Our advice would be to test, test, test. Make small changes to your site, then test the results before moving on to the next tweak. A few things to try: use video to add interest and break up the text, experiment with the placement of CTA buttons, and declutter web pages to make them cleaner.
4. Poor traffic
You can have a knock-out website, but if no one knows it’s there, you won’t make sales. Driving traffic to your site relies on a solid marketing strategy. We suggest combining social media marketing, email campaigns and paid ads to create a cohesive marketing campaign (read more about marketing strategy in our recent blog post).
Make sure you track your website traffic (read about recent changes to Google Analytics here), set KPI targets and test and refine your strategy as you go.
5. Lack of product understanding
This one is more common than you might think. Sometimes, products don’t sell because potential customers just don’t understand enough about them to buy. Your website visitors have already shown an interest in your product or service simply by being on your site – they might just need a little more reassurance before they commit.
Top tip: just because something seems obvious to you, don’t assume it is for everyone else.
Set up a focus group or ask a friend to test your site to see if they understand what you’re selling. Customer reviews can help, too, as they often point out details about your product or service that you might not have thought about.
It’s better to provide too much product information than not enough – as long as it’s presented well and not overwhelming. People will take what they need and leave the rest.
If you need help optimising your website to increase conversions, we’d love to help. Send us a message here, or jump on our live chat by clicking the green message icon on the bottom right of this page.
