10 reasons why your website doesn't generate conversions

Get your website to generate conversions

Almost no matter how many resources you spend on getting customers to your website or webshop, it can be wasted if your web design isn’t good enough. It may even scare customers away. The first impression of a website or webshop is crucial. You can ask yourself the question, would you want to shop with you? Surprisingly, many website owners hardly ever look at their own website.

In our daily work with website design, we have experienced many reasons for lack of website conversion. In the following blogpost, we have gathered some of the most common ones. Usually it’s a mix of several reasons.

1. Bad images

There’s far too much headless use of stock images of fluctuating quality or downright amateur images. We get tired of seeing the same happy American families with the wildest toothpaste smile. They just don’t fit into the Danish culture and leave a false or untrustworthy impression. Instead, use a photographer and get some great unique images. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune – and it makes an incredible difference. It’s also important to mention that it’s not legal to “just borrow” images from other websites. There are rights to all images and it can be expensive to “overlook” this.

2. The website or content does not appeal to the target audience

Do you know your target audience well enough? Who are they and what is their interest in the product/service? Can you say something about the demographics, their interests and challenges? It can be dangerous to make assumptions about a target audience that may not look like you. Similarly, don’t let your own tastes dictate everything you do. So know your customers and their wants/needs so that your website can become even more relevant – and a place they want to return to. Learn more about your target audience by working with Buyer personas, which you can read more about here. If you want to make the experience for your target audience even better, it’s important to create a content marketing strategy where you adapt your content to your buyer personas and where they are in the user journey.

3. Content is static and boring

This point is very much related to the previous one. You only have a few seconds to grab attention and convince visitors that this is an interesting website they are looking at. Is it old news? It may not be optimal to have dates on news items if they are not updated with new ones very often. Are the texts interesting enough? Are there too many sales pitches that aren’t followed up with evidence? The creation story of your company may not be what keeps your customers awake at night. Are you taking advantage of the great opportunities to show movies? The combination of moving images, sound and text is very effective. Is the design of your website old and boring? – Then that’s what customers will think of you. Technically, there can also be some challenges. If the website is too heavy and negatively affects the load time, visitors will quickly give up. This has become more relevant than ever with the increased use of mobile devices.

4. Poor search engine optimization

You’ve probably experienced landing on a page where it’s clear that the text is written for the search robots. There is so-called “keyword stuffing” and the text is so bad that it is almost unreadable. Fortunately, several recent Google updates have focused on the good content on pages and thus reduced the number of “robot pages”. Poor link building and several other SEO measures on websites can similarly ruin the good experience.

5. Lack of contact information and information about the company

It should be a given on every website today. Yet we see it in far too many places. On most websites, the contact page and “about us” are some of the most visited pages – but often basic information or contact data is missing.

You may have to search for the contact details, or you may have the attitude “if they want to get in touch with us, they’ll find it ….” This probably only applies to very few websites such as Skat.dk or items you absolutely cannot get anywhere else. Users expect to be able to find it quickly. Chat options with employees have made it even easier to communicate with users, but be prepared for some to prefer other methods of contact. A page with additional information about the company or organization behind a website is a must. It’s a bit disingenuous if it doesn’t exist – which leads to the next point.

6. Credibility

Is this someone you dare to do business with? Do you resemble the online equivalent of the ultimate used car salesman? Many websites don’t exude the necessary credibility that gives you the confidence to proceed. This is where design is undeniably important. Is it too “complex”? – Or is there too much going on with things flashing and moving? Are there any cases with examples so you can see who else they have worked for? Are there testimonials from references – and has the company been reviewed on Trustpilot, Tripadvisor or other review sites? We’ve written a blogpost with 10 tips for designing a great website, which you can read here.

7. Lack of call-to-actions

There can hardly be too many call-to-actions – if done properly. Many users will experience it as a great service if there is an opportunity to download relevant and in-depth material, sign up for a good newsletter, send an inquiry, try a demo or other good call-to-actions.

8. Failure to explain the added value to the customer

Why should the website visitor buy from you? This simple question can sometimes be quite difficult to communicate on the website to potential customers. It can easily become too technical, convoluted or just hard to find on the website. It should be one of the first things on the website; i.e. what problem your product solves or improves for the customer – and why it’s better than the competition. If you can quantify or talk about ROI, it will definitely help the decision.

9. The website is not mobile-friendly

There are still a number of websites that are not mobile-friendly – meaning that it is difficult to view the website on your phone or tablet. You can check it out here.

Studies have shown that there is a significant correlation between conversions and mobile-friendliness. If it causes problems on mobile, the user is quickly on to the next website. In particular, responsive design has become the new standard, where content automatically adapts to the screen. It is also extremely important that the website loads quickly. You can test the load time of your website here.

10. The shopping cart does not work optimally

Is it quick and easy to buy something from the webshop? How many steps do you have to go through to get through? Do you have to fill in many fields before you’re allowed to proceed to the promised land and buy something? The key is to shorten the process as much as possible – and if it can be done on one page, that’s great.

Many buyers feel uncomfortable checking out due to poor design or lack of information. Here it can be good to use split testing, where you try using different designs. Design elements, colors, texts, etc. that work best are tested thoroughly in A/B split testing to find the best combination.