When you have plenty of traffic coming to your website but the visitors are not converting, it can be very frustrating. There are many reasons why this may be happening but rather than spending days reviewing analytics and testing features, here is a list of 6 things that could be killing online conversions on your website. A lot of these factors are also important for SEO and performance purposes as well.
Certain elements can cause friction or irritation with users which in turn can make them bounce off your website. Our list of items are known to kill online conversions, and in identifying and correcting these it helps smooth out the wrinkles and keep those purchases coming.
The conversion killers:
Bad Layouts
A silent killer. Bad layouts can easily cause confusion to users on your website and this is the most common user experience problem. People are not sure where to go in order to find what they want. How to navigate from one area of the website to another. Aren’t able to easily access the information they are looking for. When people become frustrated, which happens much more quickly than ever online, there is a natural response of irritation which stems from not being able to figure something out.
Terrible Visuals
This will often affect online stores. However, it can also limit sites selling their services. Unlike a brick-and-mortar store where people can touch items, try things out or make a face-to-face connection with the service provider, online is done purely through visuals and written content. The quality of your visuals is critical to you making a conversion. People need to be able to view objects easily, in focus, from multiple angles and to zoom in closer to get a better look.
Slow Load Times
The average attention span of people gets shorter and shorter every year. Most people, especially those who are on a mobile device, (which now make up more than half of all online shoppers) have no time to waste waiting for your site to load. They may try back later if they get tired of waiting but realistically how many times can you expect them to wait?
Bad Copy
Bad copy is worse than bad coffee… At least bad coffee still has caffeine. Copy is a must on a website that sells products or services, as it provides information to customers and helps answer any questions that may prevent them from converting. If your copy isn’t doing that properly or is confusing in any way, then it is worse than cold day-old coffee.
Empty Cart Buttons
Why would you ever want a customer to be able to easily and quickly empty their cart? It the same as putting up an “EXIT” sign on your site. People already have an easy enough time opting out of a purchase, so why make it any easier?
Pop-Ups
Most people either dislike or hate the pop-ups that appear on sites, which makes it mind-boggling when designers still try and use them. If over 80% of the population doesn’t like a certain feature, then why are you catering to the almost 20% that find them “okay”? They make customers say, “Well, no I don’t really want to sign up for your mailing list because I was trying to make a purchase which you just interrupted which has now irritated me enough that I’m leaving.”
The bottom line.
Are these the only reasons your purchases are being killed online? Sadly no, these are not the only things out there that will cause consumers to jump ship. Broken links, poor typography, generic photos, badly placed Call To Action buttons and other things can also knock your online conversions down a few pegs. However, if you have any of these 6 things on your website then they are killing purchases too and you should really look to get these fixed.
For more information, get in touch with our team of experts at Made In Scotland today. We’d love to work with you!