So you want to know what a customer may be thinking when you don't have a website that works. Let me tell you: on top of being frustrated and confused with your website they are probably also beginning to question you as a business. If you can’t even have a proper-running website in 2024, then should they really be buying a product or service from you? Not having a fully functional website is a red flag and here are the main reasons why.
It doesn’t feel safe
Have you ever been on a website that looks like it was made a little too quickly or where some buttons just don’t respond the way that you would expect them to, and you ask yourself “am I going to get a virus by clicking anything on this site?”; your customers will be wondering this too if your website is broken in some areas. It is sketchy! It is going to put your bounce rate through the roof (the bounce rate is how high the occurrence of people leaving your site almost after immediately landing on it is). If you have a high bounce rate then Google search engine will recognize your website as not having what people are looking for and push it further down in search results which is bad for search engine optimization (SEO).
It doesn’t feel secure
Similar to the last point, if your website feels kind of suspicious and broken then users are not going to trust it with their payment information. So if you have an eCommerce website, you need to be on top of this because otherwise you are basically losing your best storefront (one that is accessible to anyone, anywhere at any time as long as they have internet access).
It’s unreadable
Things aren’t where they should be or they are difficult to understand. You could have a perfectly functioning website but if your message isn’t easy to understand then your website isn’t working. It’s not doing what it’s supposed to do. Red font on a green background, font that is too small or in a convoluted font… it’s a mistake. If design isn’t your thing then just keep it simple or hire a designer. Oh, and please make sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors.
The user interface design makes no sense
“Why are all the main components hidden at the bottom of the page?”, “How do I get back to the home page???”. Everything on a website can have a purpose and be functional but if the layout doesn’t make sense then it is going to be unusable. There are unspoken rules that everyone knows for website layout. Navigation menu should be accessible and a home button of some kind is usually readily available at the top of every page. This is why user testing is important. Have some people test out your website to ensure that it is intuitive to use. Keep your end-clients in mind and think about their experience when they use your website.
Your links are out of date / get errors
If your website visitors go to click an old link and get a 303 error, they are going to be annoyed. People don’t expect perfection from the internet but they do expect functionality. If you can’t even have functioning links then you are really dropping the ball and it’s so easy not to; just set up a link redirect on your website as a backup (this is for worse case scenarios). To really maintain the visitor’s trust, you should ensure that all of your website and links are up to date, especially contact information and eCommerce sales items.
It makes your competition look good
It unwittingly gives your competitors with working websites an advantage as they are seen as trustworthy information sources that complete your customer’s buyer’s journey.
It’s embarrassing to share
Your customers are less and less likely to refer your brand to their friends and family because no one wants to recommend a flimsy website to others.
You may attract the wrong employees
You have a hard time hiring the right talent because they will question your company’s legitimacy or potential as soon as they visit your website. New employees want to become a part of well-made brands, not bad ones. A website is the central core of a brand. Hiring is a two-way street and remember that candidates judge your brand as much as you judge them.
Your website is an extension of your business. If it is a sloppy mess, then your customers are going to think the same of you and will not want ANYTHING to do with you. Importantly, your revenue suffers; your long term growth opportunities are limited; your sales leads slip between your fingers. If you aren’t sure where your website currently stands then you need to find yourself an honest test group of users to go through your website and give you feedback about it. From there, you just need to make the repairs where they encountered pain points. If you need any help with that, reach out to us. Teycro is always just a click away to help ease your website-related pain and handle the hassle of taking your website from bad to great. Your first 1 hour consultation session with us is free and we would love to hear what your dream website entails.
Alright, now get out there and make your website not suck so bad!