It takes website visitors as little as 3 seconds to decide whether to do business with you. So, you need to safeguard your website from driving customers away by ensuring it’s an effective marketing tool that makes a positive, lasting first impression.
Your company’s website is more than an attractive online brochure – it’s a brand ambassador, salesperson, and customer service representative rolled into one, working as part of your team 24 hours a day. As such, you need to up your game when it comes to your website. According to Statista Research Department, there is an estimated 52 million e-commerce users in the UK alone in 2025, and if your website isn’t cutting it, you are losing out on a great number of potential business.
But where do you begin to ensure your website is everything digital users are looking for? You can start by getting the help of a professional branding and design agency. A creative design agency knows what works, what doesn’t, and what will make potential consumers invest in your product and/or service by addressing the following top five mistakes that companies often make:
1. Slow page load times
We live in a fast-scrolling digital age, and nothing drives online users away faster than a sluggish website. Simply put, it’s frustrating if a website takes too long to load. Even a few seconds can cause significant drop-offs as users are used to and expect instant access. Google researchers even found that users experience a stress response similar to watching a horror movie when a webpage takes too long to load. To quantify and address critical user-centric outcomes, Google looks at core Web Vitals:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures the loading speed of the biggest content on your site, like images and text blocks. A good LCP is 2.5 seconds or faster.
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP): This measures the interactivity of a page and responsiveness. A good INP should be 200 milliseconds or less.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This measures visual stability and tracks unexpected movement of page content during loading, like ads pushing things down or text jumping. A good CLS is a count of 0.1 or less.
How to fix load times
You need to specifically optimize for speed. Make sure you optimize images by compressing images and using modern formats like WebP. Also, leverage browser/server caching, reduce HTTP requests, minimise redirects, use fast hosting, defer (or remove) render-blocking scripts, minify CSS/JavaScript/HTML, and use a Content Delivery Network (CDN). A good branding and design agency will do all this by using the right tools to check and improve page loading speed.
2. Confusing navigation
Imagine walking into a big store, looking for something specific, but you don’t know where to go to find what you are looking for. What will your reaction be? Chances are, you’ll walk right out. The same goes for website users. Even if you have a fast, visually appealing website, you can still drive visitors away if your site’s navigation is confusing and cluttered with complex menus, unclear organisation and buried information.
How to fix navigation
Simplicity will always win when it comes to website designs. Make sure your menus are clear and incorporates a header navigation, which includes dropdowns, a sidebar, and footer menus, where you list information like contact details and FAQs. Ideally, a user should be able to find what they are looking for in three clicks.
3. Not mobile-friendly
As much as 60% of global web traffic today comes from tablets and smartphones. Consequently, if you have a desktop-only website, you are going to lose potential customers because when they do click on your site, they’ll be met with tiny text, features that don’t work, and misaligned buttons. Moreover, Google knows that mobile-unfriendly sites cause their users much frustration, which is why they will penalise an unresponsive website in their search rankings.
How to fix mobile responsiveness
The good news here is that you don’t have to create a whole different website just for mobile use. Instead, you simply need to ensure that when the creative design agency designs your website, they implement a responsive design. With a responsive design, your website will be able to adapt to any screen size, including smaller smartphones to larger tablets, leaving your users happy as they have a much more seamless experience, and Google giving your site a boost in their rankings.
4. Old-fashioned designs
The value of first impressions should never be underestimated. Even if you have to most unique product/service, you are not going to make an impression if your website is unprofessional, overly complex, cluttered, or old-fashioned. Even worse, it will negatively affect how people perceive your brand. According to a Stanford University study, as much as 75% of users judge a company’s credibility by their website alone. So, if your design still has low-quality images, old-fashioned fonts, generic stock photos, and screams early 2000s, it’s time for an update!
How to fix an outdated site
A new design isn’t just about giving your site a facelift; it’s also a way to give your users an experience they want while conveying that you are a brand they can trust. To achieve this, include clean layouts and professional visuals. With the latter, you don’t want to skimp on photography. Instead, you want to use high-quality bespoke photographs, especially if you are selling a product. People don’t want to see a stock image of something similar; they want to see what they are actually buying.
5. No clear call-to-action (CTA)
Nothing leaves a user more confused than not knowing what to do next. This is a common issue with outdated websites that fail to direct their visitors with proper call-to-actions. Some older websites have no CTAs whatsoever, or they’ve used weak phrases, keeping it too generic. Without your guidance, your visitors won’t know that you want them to make a purchase, schedule a consultation, or sign up for your monthly newsletter.
How to fix a lack of CTAs
First of all, don’t be afraid to use bold, clear, action-oriented CTAs. Secondly, place CTA phrases in strategic spots, preferably above the fold and at the bottom of each page. You can also play around with contrasting colours to make them stand out from the rest of your content. And lastly, make sure your CTAs are mobile-friendly.
Does your website chase customers away?
If your website is chasing customers away, it’s time for an upgrade. As a corporate branding agency, we know what works – and what doesn’t – when it comes to branding and website designs. So, if you want to give your customers a seamless, enjoyable experience every time they visit your website, get in contact with the Rebus Design and Branding Agency today. With can give you a fast, mobile-friendly and well-designed website that will make a lasting impression.