You could be sacrificing credibility and customer trust because of your website. Our paid media specialist, Monde Mtolo, shares his insights.
In today’s digital age, a business’s online presence is often the first point of contact with potential customers, especially their website. Think of your website as a 24/7 salesman, built to drive sales every second of the day. Unfortunately, many businesses underestimate the profound impact that a poorly built website can have on their bottom line. From missed sales and business opportunities to wasted ad spend, the costs can be significant.
User-friendly websites
Imagine walking into a supermarket that doesn’t have order, where similar products are not placed in one isle, and everything is everywhere. Finding products in that store would feel like walking from Cape Town to Johannesburg, right? Well, that is exactly how a poorly built website feels to users, resulting in frustration and ultimately them leaving the website right away. User experience is one of the major factors that will influence the success of your website in driving revenue.
So, by how much exactly does a user-friendly website help a business? Stats from Medium show that a website that has been successfully designed to drive conversions, with great content and SEO implemented, can increase conversions by as much as 400%! On the other hand, figures from We Make Websites show that something as small as a one second delay in page load time can decrease your conversions by 7%. There is a clear positive correlation between time spent on the website and conversion rates.
The impact of bounce rates on rankings
When someone “bounces” on your website it means that they left the website without engaging with it and/or exploring other pages. There can be many reasons for a user to bounce, such as the site not being relevant, too many pop-ups, poor quality content, an ugly design, technical issues and confusing navigation. Whatever the reason, your website will be penalised by search engines, pushing it all the way down on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), thus resulting in low organic website visits.
Ad spend wastage
Almost every business is investing in paid digital advertising to quickly expand their visibility. While this can be a very successful strategy, driving traffic to a poorly built website is like pouring money down the drain. Whatever activity your users perform after clicking on your ad will influence your “post-click” experience. If users immediately leave your website after clicking on an ad, your post-click experience drops, communicating user dissatisfaction and ultimately lowering your quality score. This results in increased ad costs and lower ad ranks. Your ads will show less but cost more per action, which is not ideal.
Wasted PR efforts
Have you ever come across a movie with a captivating trailer, amassing widespread attention for weeks, appearing on every social media platform and making the rounds on TV shows leading up to its release? Out of excitement you secure a ticket, only to find that the actual movie leaves you disappointed, to the point that you contemplate leaving halfway through. This feeling is similar to what users experience when they navigate to a poorly designed website, despite the exceptional efforts of your PR team in promoting it. Beyond the potential loss of visitors, negative reviews may surface, significantly damaging your brand’s reputation.
Investing in a user-friendly and well-optimised website should not be viewed as an expense but as a pivotal asset for revenue generation. Consistently test your website, evaluating its performance, identifying drop-off points and highlighting high-engagement pages. Successful execution of these assessments not only enhances revenue but also provides valuable insights into user behaviour, enabling you to understand what prompts them to take action. Incorporating these insights into your campaigns can prove instrumental in creating a more effective and engaging online presence.
Need someone to help you build a great website that drives conversions? Let’s talk!