7 Reasons Why Your Website Conversion Rates Suck (And How to Increase Them)

Reasons Why Website Conversion Rates Suck - Consultus Digital

One of the most common pitfalls in digital marketing is focusing solely on website traffic. Of course, you want people on your website. But traffic alone isn’t enough: it’s not (yet) a direct line to revenue.

The Value of Website Conversion Rates

What you really need to be concerned with is your website conversion rate. How much of that traffic is relevant — and how many visitors took action, turning from viewer to lead and customer? This is why website conversions are a key metric for measuring the success of your digital marketing strategy. They’re revenue indicators that illustrate the click-to-sale pipeline, providing a clear picture of how well your website engages customers, ultimately leading to increased revenue.

So when you have a low conversion rate, it’s a matter of concern. After all, your website is your digital storefront and primary customer engagement platform. A low conversion rate indicates customers don’t like what they see — or not see you at all — and hurts the bottom line. It’s time to find out why and employ conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategies right away.

Why Your Website Conversion Rate is Low

Not converting leads despite high website traffic, or you’re not sure how well you perform compared to the broader industry? First, let’s establish how low is low.

Generally, in e-commerce, average website conversion rates sit at above 2%. If your conversion rate is lower than 2%, you definitely need a robust CRO strategy.

But keep in mind that these rates are just a benchmark; optimal rates vary across industries and depend on your business’s size, location, and target audience. Before proceeding with conversion rate optimization, you’ll need a full website audit and competitor research to see how your conversion rates compare.

In many cases, however, low website conversion rates result from the most common website pitfalls. Whether your site is brand-new or recently upgraded, you’re overdue a site health and page load speed check, or you need a focused SEO and content marketing strategy; several factors impact website conversions. Find out why your conversion rates are low, and discover the most effective CRO strategies:

7 Reasons for Low Website Conversion Rates and Strategies for Optimizing

Reasons Why Website Conversion Rates Suck - Infographic - Consultus Digital

1. New or recently upgraded website

It’s common for recently launched or vastly upgraded websites to experience a dip in website conversions. New or upgraded sites with lots of new elements may experience a temporary drop in search rankings or still need to climb up the results. 

This happens as Google continuously indexes and ranks new sites based on keyword density, content relevance, and page elements that drive user experience. So, for now, sit back and work on building your digital marketing strategy and optimize accordingly as traffic rolls in.

2. You need an SEO strategy

Good SEO drives visibility: it boosts your website’s search result rankings, allowing customers to find you at the start of their shopping journey. But are you utilizing the best practices for SEO?

A key reason for low website conversion rates is a lack of traffic and a lack of relevant traffic. The basics of CRO tell us that first, you need to target relevant keywords for your brand. Then, you need to optimize your site to reflect these keywords to boost your rankings, allowing you to capture relevant traffic among audiences searching for offerings like yours.

3. You need to implement CTAs

What do you want customers to do when they visit your site? Typical conversion actions include filling out a contact form, email sign-up, clicking on a “buy now!” button (and completing the purchase), and more. But do your customers know where to look and what to do?

Even when conversion actions are obvious, customers need to be pointed in the right direction. Implementing call-to-actions is a quick fix, instantly boosting conversion rates simply because customers now know what to do to access the offers they’re interested in. In addition, adding in these banners or buttons provide a clear path to conversion, further optimizing the user experience by making it easy for users to take the desired action.

4. Not addressing slow page loading times

There’s nothing more that drives customers away from your site than slow page loading times. Simply, a slow website is a turn-off, instantly discouraging users from exploring your site and converting to a qualified lead. Even a one-second delay can reduce conversions by 7%, so every second makes a difference in driving your website conversion rate.

A core CRO strategy is to look at your page speed. Google provides the PageSpeed Insights tool precisely for this. Simply enter your URL and look at how fast your website loads and displays content, both above-the-fold and the full page.

Once you see how low your score is (generally, you want a score of 85 or higher), it’s time to upgrade your hosting plan. Essentially, a better hosting plan provides access to increased server capacity, so you’re able to accommodate more users and provide an optimal experience, all without crashing or slowing down. 

Along with hosting, note page elements, like large media files, and look into optimizing these to balance optimal display with page load speed.

5. Your website isn’t mobile-friendly

With most internet traffic coming from mobile, mobile-first is the industry standard. So when users still have to pinch the screen repeatedly to view your site, they’ll bounce quickly, resulting in low website conversion rates and low revenue.

The fix is simple: make your website responsive and mobile-friendly, offering a seamless user experience across displays. For e-commerce, mobile-friendly platforms can be the difference between items stalled in shopping carts and successful purchases. Work with a web designer to upgrade your site to a mobile-friendly interface.

6. Streamline the user experience

Similar to implementing CTAs, you need to run through the entire user experience. A poorly structured menu and information that’s difficult to find are common factors that require users to click around too much, ultimately frustrating them and causing them to exit your site. 

To remedy low conversion rates, ensure that each page is built on a focal conversion action that directly relates to the page’s contents. For example, on product pages of e-commerce sites, the “add to cart” button should be clearly visible, flowing seamlessly to the checkout page.

7. Demonstrate customer value

Driving website traffic is always the easy part. But customers quickly bounce out when they fail to see the value that your offerings can provide, particularly compared to major competitors. This leads to low website conversion rates and ultimately poor revenue performance.

Take a look at areas where conversions occur, like product and service pages, and review their content. Then, make sure to highlight your unique selling propositions right away and illustrate how these cater to customers’ needs so they’re motivated to shop.

Talk to Our Website Conversion Rate Optimization Experts

Not converting website traffic to leads and revenue? Consultus Digital can help. At Consultus, our website CRO experts place a premium on successfully building a strong click-to-sale pipeline. 

This means we do more with your digital marketing strategy than bring in views and engagement. Ultimately, our goal is to help grow your bottom line across digital channels. Whether you need the latest in SEO or a complete website upgrade, we offer a full suite of website conversion rate optimization strategies to translate your digital success to actual revenue and lasting customer relationships.

Let’s talk about your website conversion rate and revenue goals. Book a consultation with our digital marketing agency in Toronto to start optimizing your website for conversions.

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