Part 2: Why Users Leave a Website
How do websites attract customers? In this three-part series, you will learn 16 reasons why and how you can improve your website so that you can generate more inquiries and attract customers. In Part 2, we’ll give you seven things that you may want to ponder on BEFORE you create your website. Like a house, these points form the foundation of your website – and if it’s shaky, the whole structure crumbles.
This is Part 2 of the series “16 Reasons Why Your Website Doesn’t Attract Customers. In part 1 of the series you can read reasons 1 to 9: “Typical Pitfalls on Your Website”.
Reason 10: You have no clear target group in mind, or you want to address too many target groups at once.
Do you have a clear target group in mind? Or have you defined your target group? Do you have a clear view of who you are helping with your offers? Have you ever wondered about the demographics of your potential customers, i.e. their age, their gender, their income, and their interests?
No?
Or do you think that your offer is suitable for a large number of people? Therefore, you target a large number of groups? Just because you don’t want to limit yourself for fear of losing potential customers?
Yes?
An undefined target group is often a reason that you won’t attract customers with your website. Because if you want to address as many people as possible; the fact is, nobody gets addressed properly.
To put it another way: If you don’t know who you are targeting with your offers, how should anyone get addressed? Because trying to please anyone means that your messages are far too superficial and not specific enough to reach ideal customers.
As a result, website visitors leave because they don’t understand whether you can help them.
Reason 11: You don’t understand your target group well enough.
So now you have a big picture of how your target group looks like. Very good! But how well do you know your target group?
Do you know exactly what problems they are dealing with? What are the challenges that make their lives difficult? What aspirations and goals are they pursuing? And what are their ideal solutions?
If the answer is ‘no’ – it will be difficult to target your potential customers on your website. This is because you’re not sure if they are exactly right for your business.
So you need to answer these questions to know your audience better: do you address their problems and wishes in words that spark their emotions? Do you listen carefully when your desired customers or existing customers complain about their sufferings or issues?
Sometimes maybe you understand what your customers are dealing with but you’re still wondering ‘why is my site not converting?’. This is because, most of the time, you’re just missing the right words on your website. This also means it’s very likely that search engines won’t find your website when potential customers research solutions to their problems. As a result, the lack of website visitors means a lack of conversion.
Reason 12: You don’t understand the benefits of your offerings
This reason is closely related to reason 11 on how do websites attract customers:
Do you know how your offer can your customers’ lives easier or more wonderful in a specific way? But not something so general and hard to get to the customers?
Let us illustrate the difference between a general benefit and a well-defined benefit using the example of a public speaking coaching website below:
A benefit that is formulated too broadly would be: “I will help you to achieve success.”
Audiences may be wonder: what exactly is achieving success? What does an achievement or success look like in everyday life?
Specifically, a much better approach to craft the benefit is something like this:
- “Soon you will be able to calm the butterflies in your stomach.”
- “You can boost your confidence and express yourself freely. “
- “You can make your voice heard, and share your valuable insights and opinions with the world.”
- “You can make new social connections, expand your professional network and enjoy the results of career advancement.”
Do you see the difference? These sentences concretely describe things that everyone can imagine and relate to in their lives.
Reason 13: It is difficult for your customers to understand what you’re offering.
Can you make a layperson understand what you are offering on your website? Or, to take this test to further – can you explain to a five-year-old child (a.k.a. Explain Like I’m Five Years Old) of what you’re doing?
No?
Our customers often tell us that they are no longer able to get to the point of what they are doing because of the lack of direction of their company.
Don’t fret because this is common for most businesses. And that’s what we copywriters are for – to help you how to stop wondering ‘why are people not buying from my website’. If customers engage us for website copywriting, it is part of our job to research words and expressions that almost all people can understand. (Yes, Word Philocaly is the copywriter for website content who can sort out the mess in your head. :))
Reason 14: You don’t know how to explain your offers in only a few sentences.
This point complements reason 13: can you get to the point in 15 seconds with whom you are helping and how? Maybe..in two sentences?
No?
The fact is: you only have a good three seconds to show your website visitors that they have made the right decision on being on your website. (THREE!) If they don’t get a clear picture of what you are offering in these mere three seconds, the likelihood of them staying with you decreases tremendously. Just because, people are impatient and have short attention span.
According to research, the average time spent on a website is 45 seconds. So if you don’t get the first three seconds of the audience’s attention, you don’t get the rest of the 42 seconds. Period.
A short pitch or a short statement on the first screen of your homepage is the most optimal. (The “first screen” is the area where your visitor sees without having to scroll up or down when they arrive at your homepage.)
Reason 15: You have no idea how your website serves your audience, and you.
What do users look for in a website? What is the overall purpose of your website? What should a website include? It is the same as handing out business cards to acquaintances, they won’t just request a quote from you just because you give them the business card (unless you’re super lucky).
Therefore, have clearly-defined statements on your website telling your visitors what they should do is key. For instance, send you a message using the contact form; booking a free initial consultation via the phone number provided; and subscribing to your newsletter or downloading your free report by leaving their email addresses with you.
If you lack such a clear goal, visitors often lose themselves on your website because they don’t know what to do and how. At this point, websites very often lose potential customers.
So how do websites attract customers? One of the vital element is that your websites should be as intuitive as possible. It should also guide your visitors through each page – so that they always know what they should do next.
Reason 16: You forget this fact – only a maximum of 3% of your potential customers are ready to buy from you
As we have already mentioned: only 0.5% to 3% of your potential customers are ready to take up your offer immediately.
If you do some math, you will know that you will need a lot of cold contacts or organic visitors to convert to real customers. So how do websites attract customers with that small percentage of conversion?
What are the cold contacts? Cold contacts are people you don’t know yet, and it takes about seven contacts for these people to be ready to make a purchase.
So, did you take this into account when creating your website?
To warm up contacts, free downloads are ideal (such as “lead magnets” or “freebie”). Who doesn’t like free stuff, right? On the other hand, your potential customers can know your business and your expertise more deeply.
And here comes the real advantage: you get to stay in touch with your potential and existing customers. This relationship can be maintained and flourish into greater purchases especially if you send a weekly newsletter to people on your email list.
Aside from staying in touch with these contacts, you build trust. You are always on the radar of your target customers when they need it.
How do Websites Attract Customers? Continued in Part 3!
In part 3 of how do websites attract customers, we’ll show you what you can do to remove the stumbling blocks on your website. So, you can fix the gaps you may have become aware of in this series.
Here is part 1 of the series with reason 1 to 9: typical pitfalls on your website.
Would you like to have the next part of the article or other copywriting tips (such as website copywriting best practices) in your mailbox? Subscribe to our newsletter!
You can also get a quote from Word Philocaly now for the best website copy. Our experienced website copywriter in Malaysia is ready to help you out!
Articles you may find useful:
Business Plan for Startup: Hire Writers or Write It Yourself?
3 Industries that Can Benefit from Translations in 2020
Business Plan for Startup: Hire Writers or Write It Yourself?
You can join us here too!
Website | Facebook | Instagram | WhatsApp | Telegram | Twitter | Medium | Pinterest