Why users leave a website, the 15 second rule - industry leading advice!
If your website isn't driving customers to your business, its not working for you.
You have just 15 seconds to catch a visitors attention, if you haven't generated interest in that time frame, then you probably aren't going to.
You might be seeing a fair number of visitors to your site and think its doing well, but take a moment to look how long they stay there and how many pages they visit. Whilst it is a numbers game, you're not playing a good game if you lose visitors as soon as you get them.
Monitor the Bounce Rate (the percentage of users that leave after looking at just one page), with Google Analytics. Then have a look at where those people that went further than your home page go on your site, this will give you an idea of visitor behaviour.
With a Websites by Jane affordable low cost website you get a Google analytics account so that you can see what's happening with your site visitors.
Here are 5 reasons why a visitor will leave a website.
1. They don't get what they want.
You might offer the best products or services around but if your home page is not well designed it will drive people away.
You might be giving them too many options that they get confused and give up and your bounce rate will be high.
If your home page has too many pictures it will take longer to load and those fickle visitors won't hang around long enough to allow the page to load.
If the images you use are not relevant, well place and good quality the user won't want to know more about the business. This is why design is so important.
Ask yourself if your site gives everything that your successful competitors gives. This what you yourself would want to make you delve deeper.
2. Your site is not usable
Visitors have high expectations these days, your users need to be able to use your website, not just look at it.
The first thing to ensure is that your site has good access and availability. Which means that all elements on the site need to be working and working correctly, links, apps, forms, everything.
Your visitors should be able to have a good experience of your brand. Give them the information they are looking for, but not so much that they have no reason to contact you. Keep the focus on your core products and key message.
Make sure the fonts you use are consistent throughout, this provides a clearer user experience.
3. The website lacks credibility
Credibility is one of the cornerstone of your website. If a user finds what they want on your site but don't trust you, you have lost them and they'll never return,
An About Us page or section can help instil confidence, the information you share with the visitor can help build trust. The more facts and figures you can show the more people will trust you,
Being relevant will increase your credibility. Don't offer the world, a small range of quality products and services from an expert, delivered well in a timely manner is far more relevant than offering everything you can think of and going off at tangents.
4. Websites aren't mobile responsive
More and more people will use their mobile to search for products and services, if your site isn't mobile responsive you will be missing out, they'll leave within that golden 15 second time frame
5. Your site fails to impress or inspire
Visitors have one question on their mind when they arrive at your site, "what's in it for me?" so the first impression is everything.
Simple imperfections add up, and your window to win attention and leads is shrinking.
Even worse, a bad first impression can drive away a visitor for good and leave your bounce rate startlingly high.
Know your audience, sounds obvious but so many websites don't have the right tone or approach for their target audience.
Sit down and make a list of the demographics of visitors you are looking to attract, age, location, education, income, gender, ethnicity, occupation and then look a little deeper into the psycho-graphics, as these tell you why your customer is buying no just how old they are. This list would typically include. interests/hobbies, personality, lifestyle, behaviour, attitudes and values.
Once you have this information you can decide on your voice, how you are going to address you audience, you wouldn't speak to accountancy clients in the same way as you would party planner clients, pick the right tone for your audience.
Be their answer to a solution, make your visitors say WOW! Its all about impressing your audience, if that means seasonal changes, then make those changes, if it means being on trend, make sure you're on it.
Be relevant, be current and be successful.
Remember, a cheap website doesn't mean a cheap web design service!
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