Maybe you don’t have a massive rush of visitors to your website just yet, but you may be wondering why a large percentage of the visitors you have are not buying anything. If your website visitors are leaving without making a purchase or booking, there are things you can do for free to convert visitors into buyers.
User Experience
Delighting your visitors with a great experience is key to making sales. When customers are happy and they have answers to their concerns, they’re more likely to purchase. This applies to every single point that a potential customer interacts with your business. Make sure all your touch points are great for customers (like in-store, over email or phone call). Today we’re focusing on one point in particular, your website.
Common Website Mistakes
- Confusing home page that doesn’t immediately tell visitors what you do.
- Adding unexpected extra costs at checkout.
- Missing contact details.
- Low quality or not enough photos.
- Confusing layouts or menus.
- No mention of pricing.
- Requiring a meeting or call to find out standard details.
- No way to make bookings or custom orders on the website
- Not displaying any products or services on the home page.
- Using separate pages for small paragraphs of text.
These kind of website mistakes result in a poor experience for the people visiting your website. A personal example is when I was looking for an affordable gym nearby – because my main concern was the price, finding that multiple gym websites did not list their prices was frustrating. If you cause your visitors negative feelings, they’re much more likely to move on without considering you. Making your customers take extra steps (like contacting you to find general information) loses you sales.
Confusing home page that doesn’t immediately tell visitors what you do
Ever landed on a website and thought to yourself “Wait, what do they actually DO? How can they help ME? This isn’t clear… K, bye”? I know I have.
On your home page, at the very top (known as above the fold, the first section you see before scrolling down or clicking on anything) it should be clear what your business offers & who it helps. Ideally, allow time before any pop ups appear for people to gain that crucial first impression with clarity.
You can fix this problem by adding one of your best photos (one that sums up your business) and one sentence telling website visitors what your business offers & who it helps. It’s a super easy fix that can make a MASSIVE difference to your bounce rate (percentage of people who leave right after arriving on your site).
No shame if you’ve made this mistake, we can get so caught up inside our business that we forget how it presents to someone new.
Adding unexpected extra costs at checkout
Ecommerce 101: Don’t surprise your customers with added fees at checkout. This causes shoppers to abandon your website and their full cart along with it.
Most of the time, it’s not even about the total cost in the end for your customers. It’s about being upfront and honest with how much something’s going to cost rather than being sneaky.
Try including fees in your pricing, even if it means putting prices up. You can do this with shipping – the customer sees FREE SHIPPING which is a great selling point, but your costs are covered. Win, win. Most of the time though, businesses need to add shipping at checkout (which is totally fine since there are varying rates). Make sure to list shipping prices in an easy to find place, like a Shipping & Delivery page in your footer.
I’m from New Zealand where tax is included in all pricing, but adding tax at checkout may be more acceptable in places like the US. Make sure you’re doing right by your shoppers wherever they’re based.
Missing contact details
Among the most frustrating mistakes to make but the easiest to fix. List all the ways people can contact you (that you check regularly). Include multiple ways for people to get in touch. At minimum, there should be a business email address available. An important example of why you should have alternative options is if a visually or audibly impaired person wants to reach out, can they?
Your website’s contact page should have a contact form. Visitors can easily leave you a message while they’re on your website and it’ll go straight to your inbox. Make the most of the features at your fingertips, Shopify includes contact forms on all themes and it doesn’t cost you a cent.
Why not add your social media links to your contact page too? All ways to connect with your business available on one handy contact page – now we’re talking!
Low quality or not enough photos
High quality photos, and plenty of them, are extremely helpful for buyers. Good photos may even be the single most important selling point for your business! Give customers a clear picture of what they’ll get so they know what to expect.
Remember back when online shopping was new and there were all those stories of items arriving being 10x smaller than it looked online? “I thought it was a women’s large t-shirt but it’s for a doll!” Ah, the early 2000s. We’ve come a long way since then so show all angles, show scale, show the product in use, and why not even show it on video? Same goes for services, you just have to get a little more creative sometimes.
Confusing layouts or menus
Keep it simple. Your main menu should only have a few top options, if you need more use drop downs or a mega menu. The essentials go in the header, extras and less important bits go in the footer.
Laying out content on pages logically is just as important, put things where people expect them to be. Websites shouldn’t be mazes for the sake of being different. It’s okay to use the same basic structure as everyone else – e.g. Home Shop About Contact in your main menu, cart icon in the top right corner, logo on the top left. These basic similarities of layout between websites are like that for a reason, it makes websites easy to use.
Easy to use = more sales.
No mention of pricing
List your prices. For all of your products and services. It may seem easy to YOU for potential customers to pick up the phone or flick you an email to ask, but it is all about making things pleasant and easy for your customers. Maybe they are in a rush, feeling anti-social today, embarrassed by a small budget, get sidetracked and forget – whatever the reason, you’ve stopped them in their tracks from buying.
Remember: NO PRICE = TOO EXPENSIVE. It’s common for us to assume nonexistent pricing means it’s out of our range. “Oh, it’s so expensive they can’t even tell us!”
If pricing (or any information about your business) is general in nature, not personalised to the individual, state it clearly on your website. If you work on a quotation basis, give a range or at least a “starting from” price to give people an idea.
Requiring a meeting or call to find out general information
Much like pricing, we should be able to find detailed descriptions of products and services on your website. You should have a Frequently Asked Questions page or section on your website. Been asked the same question multiple times at markets or via email? Answer them in your FAQs. Get specific and add plenty of Q&As. Go beyond the standard questions, your business has unique info to share.
If you currently require people to book a call with you to find out information, consider your reasoning behind this and whether it is worth it. It’s a barrier that puts people off. Chances are you can save everyone time and energy by making the information readily available on your website.
No way to make bookings or custom orders on the website
If you’re a hairdresser or similar service provider and clients cannot make an appointment on your website, you need to add that functionality. It makes life a lot easier for your clients and you will get more bookings.
If you make custom products to order, it is worth seeking a web solution that allows your customers to place custom orders via your website (showing them what that may look like and what to expect in the process). Custom order forms look different for each product and business, but it may look like a series of dropdown options for the customer to select.
Not displaying any products or services on the home page
It’s really common for beginners to add one photo and maybe a little text to their home page and that’s it. Your home page is prime real estate, make the most of it! Use your home page to introduce different aspects of your business and lead people to different parts of your website. More content doesn’t mean clutter. Use snippets of important content. Ideas:
- Product collections
- A featured collection (new in stock, customer favourites)
- List of services
- A photo + sentence or two about your business (with a link to read more on your about page)
- A few reviews
- Current promotions
- A couple FAQs (with button to full FAQ page)
- Latest blog posts
- … Options are endless
Your home page should be an inviting overview making people want more. If your home page has nothing on it, it’s not enticing people to check out your other pages or buy from you. There is such a thing as too minimal.
Using separate pages for small paragraphs of text
A prime example of this across the web is having an about page just for the sake of it. If your about page doesn’t have more than a couple of sentences, don’t bother with it. Use the text you have written in a new section on your home page. A good about page has at least a couple of paragraphs and always includes at least one photograph. The best photos are of you and your team – show the face/s behind the business here. This is the page to get personal. Add more text by talking about:
- What your business does
- Why it started
- Who you help
- What it stands for / what you value
- How long you’ve been in business
- A personal fact that makes you relatable
If there are any pages on your website that include no more than a paragraph of text, think about moving the content elsewhere or fleshing out the page. This is essential especially if the pages are in your main menu using prime real estate.
Bookmark this blog to refer to when you next update your website. Tell me how you go!
