Five website mistakes that drive your customers away

Websites are an integral part of business today. However, a poorly planned website can actually do more harm than good for your brand. A website that is an exercise in frustration to go through is likely to discourage visits, disillusion customers with your brand, and of course, hurt your bottom line.

But these pitfalls can easily be avoided.

Here are five of the most common website mistakes that create poor user experience and drive your customers away.

1. The site is hard to navigate

   Visitors can’t find what they’re looking for, or have to spend too much time searching for it. A site needs to be intuitive. It should be clear from each link, or menu title, what to expect if you click on it. If a menu tab says Customer Support, for instance, the resulting page should give a clear indication of the options a user has to avail of this service in just one or two easy steps.

2. The experience is interrupted

   Hard-sell gimmicks such as pop-up requests and takeover ads are annoying to visitors – particularly pages that require the user to close or click out of them before they can continue. In today’s busy lifestyle, websites need to deliver immediate gratification, so that users don’t have to work too hard, or wait too long, to get the information they’re looking for.

3. Design layout is unsightly or inconsistent

   An aesthetically challenged or inconsistent website not only distracts from the overall user experience, it reflects poorly on your brand. Common examples of this are:

   • Loud, distracting colours on the page
   • Unnecessarily large and/or bolded fonts that appear to be “shouting” at you
   • Hard to read text -– either due to poor font choice or size, or poor contrast between the text and background colours
   • Visually imbalanced pages – i.e. pages with a poor text-to-image ratio
   • Spelling and grammatical mistakes
   • Inconsistencies in page layout and style, colour theme, and format across the site
   • Designing with tools that restrict display on all browsers (such as using Flash)

   The look and feel you choose for your site must be professional and above all, must be in synch with your brand.

4. Content is suspicious or untrustworthy

   Content that isn’t appropriate, relevant, or truthful quickly diminishes trust in your site (and your business). Using ways to trick users in to doing what you want them to do creates suspicion and prevents many from returning.

   A prime example is lack of adherence to privacy laws. Canada has some of the most respected privacy legislation in the world. Online marketing is governed by the Personal Information Protection and Electronics Document Act, or PIPEDA and Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (Bill C-28). Undisclosed ways to collect personal information or behind the scenes tracking (i.e. using Flash cookies) is a deal breaker for most users. Be up front and engage users on their own terms. Share your privacy policy openly in easy to understand language.

5. Site is poorly planned

   Websites with little or no strategic planning are rarely successful. An effective website is all about content marketing. Before you begin the design process, you need to have clear answers to the following questions:

   • How well does the site meet your business objectives? How does it position your product/service and brand?
   • Do you want the site to attract new customers, retain existing ones, or both?
   • How engaging is the site? What do you want visitors to do once they’re there?
   • What measures are in place to gauge site performance and return on investment? What benchmarks or goals will be used for result comparisons?
   • Is the call to action clear and easy to execute? Is it honest and transparent?

Each interaction consumers have with your company contributes towards their perception of your brand. Providing the right mix of content marketing and value propositions can lead to lasting and bountiful benefits to both, your business and your customers.
 

Photo by David Castillo Dominici