Acquiring new customers is difficult. Why make it harder by sticking with an unattractive website that puts off visitors?
Imagine this situation. Carl got to know about your business and is excited to know more about your product/service. Perhaps he was referred to you by an existing customer. (How wonderful!)
And like most consumers today, the first thing Carl will do is…yes, you guess it…look up your website.
Carl uses your site to judge you and your offerings before deciding to call you (or not).
But nothing happens. No call. No email. No contact whatsoever from Carl.
So what happened?
The answer is straightforward. Your website drove Carl away no sooner than he landed.
This is just one example of how bad design can make you lose prospects.
Research shows that visitors form an opinion about your company within 1/50th of a second of landing on your website.
In the eyes of your prospects, your website’s design is a reflection of how you manage your business. If your website looks professional, you look professional too and will keep your customers coming back to you for more.
Examples of Bad Web Design that Can Put Off Customers
- An ugly website without any visual appeal.
- Design is not mobile-friendly.
- Poor quality photos.
- Website taking too long to load.
- Cluttered layout.
- Bad user experience.
- Too man fonts and colors.
- Has content issues.
How Bad Design Affects Your Business?
Listed above are only 8 of the several bad design problems that can affect your website. But the consequences of such bad design elements are grave!
Let’s take a look.
- Tarnishes your credibility – You love what you do and are fantastic at it. However, if your website isn’t up to standard, your qualifications, your skills, and your passion won’t matter. Your credibility will take a huge hit and your visitors will simply leave your site in search of a website that can offer a better impression and experience.
- Visitors may assume you are out of business – An unattractive, outdated website will create the impression that perhaps you are no longer in business. Your visitors may wonder what happened and simply leave your site.
- You look out of touch – An outdated website tells your visitors you are not keeping with the times. Worse yet, they may feel you aren’t bothered about staying up-to-date. This impression will lead to an assumption that perhaps this holds true for your product/service too. And no amount of explanation or rebuttals will suffice to convince them to do business with you.
- It is annoying – Imagine visiting a website with the hope of making a purchase only to discover that the site is simply not functioning. You can’t add any product to the cart. You can’t process the payment. The sign-up form loads again and again without leading you to the next step. Will you ever visit such a website ever again?
- It will fail to generate customers – Even if your website is generating a decent amount of traffic, it may not necessarily result in conversions. What’s the point of a website that brings traffic but isn’t able to convert them into leads/customers?
- Your competition is steering ahead – When customers are leaving your site frustrated – either because of complicated forms, broken links or poor navigation – they are likely to go to your competitors. You are essentially sending your customers to your competition.
What Does a Good Website Look Like?
A good website will result in better rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs), higher conversions, generating more revenue for your business and help retain customers.
- Simple and easy navigation.
- Well-organized content that’s free of errors and typos.
- Clean, clear layout.
- User-friendly design.
- Superfast load speed.
- Consistent experience across any device or browser.
Conclusion
Just like you won’t welcome customers to a poorly managed shop, you don’t want to welcome your visitors to a bad website. After all, you want them to trust you.
When you want to make a big impression, build trust and convert your visitors into paying customers, it’s important to invest in a well-designed website.
With more than 75% of consumers judging a business and its credibility based on their website design, it makes sense to invest in a professional, modern, mobile-friendly and user-friendly website.
Want to improve your website?
Contact Blackbear today to talk about your website. We not only build stunning websites for our clients but build a strong online presence for them with our holistic approach.
