Why are people leaving my website? 12 Ways to make sure people leave your site

One of the most common complaints we hear from new customers here at Web Adept is

Why is no one staying on my website?

If you’ve got Google Analytics added to your website, which by the way everybody should, you’ll be able to check out your bounce rate – your bounce rate is the percentage of people who leave your website quickly after entering it.  Now it’s impossible to say what the perfect bounce rate is for your business but as a general rule of thumb if you’re under the 40% mark you are doing OK.  However it is important to remember that that’s a very general comment.
If your bounce rate is over 50% i’d say it is time to objectively look at your website and have a think about what is putting users off your website.
The large majority of people leave a website for one of two reasons; The visitor didn’t find what they were looking for,
We’ve compiled a list of some of the most common reasons why people leave a website quickly,  check them against your website and see how many web-design and content mistakes you might be making….

• Autosound or auto-play videos – are your visitors immediately hit by a wall of sound?  Get rid of it!
• Slow loading websites – test your site, today’s online users want immediate satisfactions, reduce your image sizes, remove chunky files from the back-end of the site.  Do anything to ensure that your site loads quickly
• Pop-ups and loads of ad’s – Do they not annoy you too?  We understand that you might need to sell ad-space to increase your revenue but please, don’t be ridiculous with it
• PR Speak and Jargon – just because you are an expert doesn’t mean your visitors are.  Write like a human being, clearly and correctly
• Murky Messages – If a visitor has no idea what your website is about then they are going to leave.  Make your objective and business clear, don’t write ‘multi-media distribution and bespoke printing professionals’ when ‘professional printers’ will do.  This is especially important in Headers and Titles on pages
• Un-responsive – responsive web design is crucial.  You cannot afford to miss out on the market of mobile-users
• Lack of Contact Information – Give them your email, and phone number almost immediately.  People still want to call and email businesses and it invites a user in
• Mountains of Text – write it in clear, manageable bullet-points and users will find it easier to engage, people like white space.  More engagement means more potential sales
• Registration Requirement – no I do not want to sign up to enter a competition, I just want to read your website!
• Use of Flash – avoid at all costs because simply flash often doesn’t work, and there are few things more irritating than your computer demanding that you update your flash
• Colour Issues – Check your colour combinations, especially ensuring that your text is easy to read.  If it’s hard to read then there is very little point in staying on a website
• Browser Problems – Make sure that your website works on all browsers.  You might be cutting yourself out a crucial market by failing to cater to the needs of browser users

The reasons we have highlighted above are a great place to start in order to decipher why people don’t want to use your website and if you are guilty of any of the above crimes we’d recommend highly  that you cut them out of your website as soon as possible.  However there are a multitude of other reasons why users may not want to use your website.
Web Adept can help you get to the bottom of your website issues.  We conduct Website audits and appraisals.  We assess all aspects of your website in order to understand what it might be that are driving your users, and therefore your customers away.  We can also provide you with training in order for you to be able to understand and fully exploit the information that your Google Analytics is pumping out for you.  Just give us a chance to help.  To do so you can call us on 01437 720 033 or contact us here.