Low conversion rates and under performing pages should reveal more than just technical glitches on your website. Analysis of the customer journey and user behaviour should tell you what your online users like and dislike about their online experience. Though there is no one size fits all, trends in online behaviour reveal certain web practices which drive customers away.
Signing Into An Account
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes for a moment. Whether it’s online banking, memberships or accounts for retail websites, the number of online passwords to remember can be overwhelming.
Do you think potential customers want to create another account and password to remember? I’ll tell you the answer – they don’t. Whilst most sites previously made customers create accounts, simply to hound them with their email marketing campaigns, many ecommerce sites have now introduced a ‘Guest Checkout’ feature. Rather than forcing the customer to create an account and give details, customers can purchase with just an email address, and sign up at the end of the process if they want to. This not only enables new customers to pass through the purchasing stage more quickly, it also doesn’t scare away existing customers who are in a rush to buy.
Wait – You Don’t Work On Mobile?
We’re all glued to our smartphones, and it’s not just to stalk celebrities and friends on social media. With mobile devices accounting for approximately 50% of page loads worldwide, businesses are reaping the benefits of this mobile market. With the presence of smartphones in our day to day lives is only increasing, ecommerce on mobiles is an ever growing market that you could be missing out on.
Unsurprisingly, a whopping 72% of these mobile users want websites that are mobile friendly. If your website isn’t mobile optimised, users are five times more likely to abandon the web page and look elsewhere.
Poor Navigation
Confused customers are unhappy customers. A common cause for confusion online, particularly on landing pages, are multiple call to actions (CTA). Consequently, landing pages with multiple offers generate 266% fewer leads than landing pages with single offers. Giving users too many CTAs can distract users from their purpose on the site. By directing users with one CTA, you can help them navigate the site to relevant pages that should speed up the buying journey.
Videos That Autoplay With Sound
If your users wants to hear audio – they will increase the volume. Firstly, users aren’t always browsing your site in the comfort of their home, sometimes they’re on the train, in a shop or even at work. So, an unexpected auto playing video is often a hindrance.
Secondly, if a customer doesn’t want to hear it they will turn it off. Applying chrome extensions which disable videos that autoplay is pretty easy to do. You should utilise videos to share your brand personality and present a visual picture of your services. However, placing them on the right web pages and giving users the option to press play will prove more effective and improve user experience on your site.
Bad Design
Your online customers care about the appearance of your website. So much so that 94% of visitors first impressions of a site are based on the website’s design. Bad design can be anything from a dated website, to a cluttered or poorly presented webpage.
Your website serves as a platform for your brand, and it is often the first place where customers interact with your business. So ensure your website is following your brand image and that the content published is engaging and informative.
Fixing It
Various tools can tell you whether your website is failing to meet the needs of your users. Put your website through ‘The Blink Test’. Is it keeping online users’ attention for over 3 seconds? If not, it’s a sign you need to review your web design.
Google Analytics can provide in depth data on your website performance, but ensuring you are measuring the right metrics such as Exit Pages and Bounce Rates will help you identify problem pages which are losing customers.
Customer feedback is both valuable and essential for you to know whether your website is meeting their needs. Conduct surveys and collate feedback to understand what your customers want from you. User testing and performance tests will give you
Most importantly – speak to experienced web designers. Whilst analytics can reveal functionality issues, web developers will provide you with a wealth of knowledge in both design and functionality to improve performance.
Marketing teams spend countless hours and resources to improve rankings on Google. The unfortunate truth is, whilst Google Ads might increase the chances of a customer clicking on your website, that money spent will not improve the quality of your website, nor will it make them stay on your website any longer.
This is why the same amount of time invested in ‘attaining’ online customers should also be allocated to ‘retaining’ those online users.This includes renovating your site when it’s visually dated, and continually optimising pages to improve performance.
If you’re unsure about your website performance and would like to know how it could be improved, get in touch with our talented team of designers who would be happy to help.
