It might come as a surprise to many business website owners when they hear that approximately 70 to 96 per cent of userswho have abandoned your website prefer not to revisit the site. As a business owner, you will surely want customers to spend more time on your website.
However, in some cases, you will be able to see that several users are leaving your business website. There are several factors that you will need to improve on your website to reduce the bounce rate.
If you have no idea how to get started, do not worry because here are a few factors to prevent users from leaving your website.
Why Users Are Leaving Your Website
Most businesses will want potential and existing customers to visit their website and stay and spend a fair amount of time on the website. Customers who stay for more extended periods on a website are more likely to subscribe to your services or buy products.
So, if website visitors are leaving your website at an alarming rate, you will be undoubtedly concerned. You must also want to know why it is happening. Several reasons may prompt website visitors to leave your website. Here are some of the most common causes.
Poor Design
Website visitors are more likely to leave your website if the site’s design can’t grab users’ attention. It takes just 0.05 seconds for website visitors to decide whether they want to stay on a website or not. This means that it is crucial for business websites to leave a lasting first impression on visitors.
Slow Website Speed
When was the last time you checked the speed of your website? No one likes to visit websites that take time to load. If your website is taking too much time to load, it will surely be one of the primary reasons for the increasing bounce rate.
Your Website Is Not Mobile-Friendly
An interesting stat you should know is that approximately 60 per cent of the entire internet searchescome from mobile devices. This means that you will need to optimize your website for mobile devices also.
If your website is not mobile-friendly, internet users browsing the website through their mobile devices will surely leave.
Website visitors may be leaving your website for the following reasons too.
- Your website looks outdated
- Users find it very difficult to navigate through the website
- Your website is not secure
- There are annoying pop-ups and ads on your website
Factors You Can Improve to Prevent Website Visitors from Exiting Your Site
You will want customers to spend more time on your website. If you can improve the following factors, you may reduce the number of users exiting your website.
Website Content
The average time spent by internet users looking at a website’s content is estimated to be around 5.59 seconds. This means that most users will not read the content in your website word by word. Instead, they scan through the webpage, looking for essential phrases and words.
So, if the content on your website is made of long paragraphs and sentences, internet users might not find anything interesting. So, make sure to add engaging headings, attractive CTAs, and try to make the website content exciting and engaging to readers.
Page Loading Time
As mentioned earlier, internet users do not like to visit and spend time on websites that take too much time to load. So, it is crucial to ensure that your website is loading at the right speed.
A recent studypointed out that even a one-second delay in loading time will result in a 7 per cent decrease in online conversions. If you want to prevent website visitors from leaving your website, you should focus on improving your website’s speed.
Two simple but effective ways will help you reduce page loading time, and they are as follows.
- Using a content delivery network
- Compressing images on the website
Website Security
If you want visitors to stay on your website, you should focus on building trust. Including an About Us page and Team page with your staff’s images will surely help you build trust. You must also add the physical location of your business if there is one.
It might surprise many of you when you hear that several business websites do not contain SSL Certificates. Websites without SSL certificates will appear less safe to users, which is why businesses need to buy and install SSL Certificates on websites. Suppose you own a business with multiple first-level subdomains and a primary domain. In that case, we suggest that you buy and install wildcard SSL certificate for securing all your client and server communications.
Mobile-Friendliness
Several businesses make the colossal mistake of not making their website mobile-friendly. As mentioned earlier, since a large percentage of customers will be visiting your website through mobile devices, you must ensure that mobile internet users will get a satisfying experience when visiting your website.
Some businesses might be planning to launch a new mobile-friendly website for their website. This might not be a good idea, as you will have two separate sites to maintain. Besides, you will need to do SEO for both websites, which can be pretty expensive.
Website Design
The design and content on your website should be attractive enough to grab website visitors’ attention instantly. No one likes to spend time on websites that are cluttered and look horrible. If a custom design is not working for you, you should consider investing in a beautiful premium theme.
A study conducted by the search engine giant Google in 2012 revealed that it takes just 1/20th to 1/50th of a second for website visitors to judge a website’s aesthetics. In simple words, the design of your website matters.
Wrapping Up
Some visitors may leave your website in search of other sites. However, if there is a massive drop between the traffic of your website and online conversions, then it is high time you address the issue. Businesses that can improve the five factors mentioned above might prevent several users from existing theirwebsites.
