5 reasons your website is not converting visitors into prospects
Whether you lead a business or a non-profit, your corporate website is one of your most effective sales tools. It is available 24/7 including holidays, it never takes a vacation, and it can scale to handle a lot of leads with very little overhead.
If you run a business, a lead means connecting with a prospective customer. If you run a non-profit, it can mean connecting with a prospective donor, volunteer, or sponsor.
There are a number of very specific attributes of your organization's website than can play a big part in how you are converting visitors into prospects. So why aren't they converting?
1. Your website is ugly. According to a Jakob Nielsen study, it takes website visitors less than one second to decide whether they trust your organization based on the design quality of your website. There are a number of markers of trust and credibility that visitors look for based around design, and a lack of professionalism in design tends to discourage trust.
2. Your website lacks permission marketing. Much of the time, a website visitor will not make contact with your organization on the first visit. He or she may not be ready to communicate and may simply be gathering information. If your website lacks any sort of option to subscribe to content, this could be the end of the relationship. However, if your website offers the opportunity to subscribe to an educational (not spammy) email newsletter, a podcast, a blog, or a social profile, then your website visitor has an easy way to stay connected to your organization without spending too much time and effort. This is called permission marketing.
3. Visitors can't find your phone number. Yes, it may seem surprising but many business and non-profit websites do not display a phone number. They either make it very difficult to find or sometimes even leave it off of the contact page, opting for a generic contact form and nothing else. Many people prefer to pick up the phone and talk to you. Making this difficult or impossible leaves money on the table. Side note: make sure you have a friendly receptionist. First impressions count!
4. Your website offers too many options. If visitors have too many navigation items to choose from and too many calls to action demanding attention, they will frequently get frustrated and move on. If everything is important on your website, then nothing is important.
5. Your website lacks social proof. When visitors come to your website, they need reassurance that they can trust you. They want to see proof that others have trusted you and that you have experience doing what you do. Prospects don't want to feel like it's a risky move to work with you. They want to know what you've done for others and what your customers say about you. Some great ways to demonstrate social proof include testimonials, case studies, and blog comments.
Does your website fall prey to any of these problems? Luckily, they are easily remedied. With some good decision-making and an investment in professional design and usability, your website can become much more finely-tuned for conversion.
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