Why Your Website Is Repelling Customers (And How to Fix It)

Have you ever wondered why people visit your website but leave without taking any action? You’ve spent countless hours crafting content, designing pages, and sharing your passion, but your site just isn’t bringing in clients.

The truth is, your website could be actively repelling potential customers—and you might not even know it! In today’s episode, we’ll uncover the top reasons why your website might be pushing people away, how to recognize the signs, and most importantly, how to fix it.

Stick around, because I’ll also share one simple change you can make today to instantly boost your website’s conversion rate. Let’s make sure your site is attracting—not repelling—your ideal clients! 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Website Problems That Repel Customers
• 3:00 Confusing Design and Cluttered Layouts
• 5:37 Vague Messaging and Inconsistent Voice
• 7:19 Slow Load Times and Mobile Issues
• 9:28 Key Performance Indicators to Monitor
• 11:09 Easy Fixes and Call-to-Action Improvement

Transcript

Carrie Saunders: 0:46

Have you ever wondered why people visit your website but leave without taking action? You spent countless hours crafting content, designing pages and sharing your passion, but your site just isn't bringing in clients. The truth is, your website could be actively repelling customers, and you might not even know it. So in today's episode, we're going to cover the top reasons why your website might be pushing people away, how to recognize the signs and, most importantly, how to fix it. Welcome to the e-commerce made easy podcast.

Carrie Saunders: 1:17

I'm your host, k Saunders. When we started this business, all I had was a couch, a laptop and a nine-month-old. My main goal To help others. Now, with over 20 years in the e-commerce building industry, and even more than that in web development, I have seen a lot. I love breaking down the hard tech into easily understandable bits to help others be successful in their online business. Whether you're a seasoned e-commerce veteran or just starting out, you've come to the right place, so sit back, relax and let's dive into the world of e-commerce together. Welcome back to the show.

Carrie Saunders: 1:52

In today's episode, we're talking about how to fix our websites and why they might be repelling customers. So one of the first things we want to look at is a confusing or cluttered design. Really take a step back and look at your website from an objective point of view, or have a trusted business friend look at it too, especially one that is not really familiar with it. We want a website that is visually appealing and calm. We don't want one that is overwhelming and makes visitors feel lost or frustrated. So having that white space is really key here. So some signs to look for that you might have a confusing or cluttered design is high bounce rates. So that means if you're looking at Google Analytics, if you see what they call the bounce rate, where they visited one page and left high, then that could indicate a problem. We also want to look at the time spent on the page. If the time spent on the page is really low, then that also can mean that they're overwhelmed or it's not the right fit. So one of the things you can do to fix it is really simplify your design, and I already alluded to this. But white space is key. We want to have white space strategically on your website.

Carrie Saunders: 3:04

You want to focus on clean and clear layouts. So really think about your home. Let's take your kitchen, for example. So your kitchen, when it's cluttered and you have all the appliances everywhere, all the snacks everywhere, maybe even some dishes everywhere. It's pretty overwhelming to go in that kitchen and want to cook dinner, right. But when it's nice and tidy and clean, you feel welcomed and invited into that kitchen and you're more likely to cook dinner, whether you like cooking or not. It's kind of similar to and you can even think about this in stores that you go shop in. Whenever you go into a store that's cluttered maybe they're restocking the shelves or something, and it's really cluttered and things are all over the place you don't really want to shop there. But no, it's nice and clean and there's white space. There's a space you know, around you, you feel spacious. Then you're going to want to shop there a bit more. So it's very similar to our websites. We want to create that white space and create room for their places, for their eyes to land for one, because if there's too many things to look at, their eyes won't ever stop and land and read on something.

Carrie Saunders: 4:12

So let's take a look at your homepage after you're listening to this. Is it easy to understand at a glance? If not, make some adjustments, take some things out that maybe you really would like to have in there but aren't really that necessary on especially like the homepage or something, and put them somewhere else on your page. And then we also want to look for a vague or inconsistent messaging. So if your message isn't crystal clear, visitors don't know why they should stay or why they should trust you. So you can look for lack of engagement in your website, and this kind of goes along with the bounce rate. So if people aren't visiting more than one page on your website, you may be repelling them. It may be unclear what you have there and they may be leaving your site quickly. So this is another reason for that high bounce rate or the low time on a page.

Carrie Saunders: 5:06

So really take a look at it. We want to be very direct and specific about what you do and how you help, because we can't help everybody. You know, with our businesses we are the right person, the right fit for specific people. People are attracted to us our personality, our. You know, our morals, our goals and things like that, and so be really specific about who you are and who you serve, and that's going to draw in those correct people that are there for you. And make sure your language is consistent across all your pages. So make sure there isn't any mismatched messaging across your pages. So look at your homepage. Rewrite your headlines to make them. Make sure they're compelling, clearly state your offer or your value proposition in them. Make sure that is definitely dialed in if you don't already have that dialed in. And if that's dialed in, then start going to your body text and making sure it's very well dialed in to your target customer.

Carrie Saunders: 6:09

And then something we talk about on the podcast a lot is slow load times and mobile issues. So people expect quick, easy access to websites. If your site is taking too long to load, they're likely not going to stick around and consume the content. They're just going to leave and find the next person on their search result. So look again for high bounce rates, especially from mobile users, and look for people leaving within seconds, like really fast. If they are leaving within, say, five seconds or less, then that's probably a slow website problem.

Carrie Saunders: 6:44

We have some resources on how to fix some of this and we'll put those in the show notes. One of them is compressing our images making sure that our images are the right size for mobile, because our phones and our cameras take such high quality images now but they're just too big for the internet and for the website, and I want you to make sure you're testing your website on both desktop and mobile. This is something that even us, as developers can sometimes forget, because we're just so used to working on websites on our PCs and many times you will be working on your website on your PC, not on your phone, but make sure you sit back and look at it on mobile, too. That just is one of those things we have to put on our checklist that we make sure we don't forget, and you can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, which is free, to find areas to improve. We will link to that in the show notes as well. So I want to challenge you to check your site speed today and notice any red flags and, if there are things that you don't know how to fix, and find a trusted service provider like us or somebody you already know that is already working on your website, to fix these issues. And this is something I would recommend checking at least once a month, if not every other week, depending on how often you update your website information. And then, speaking of mobile, when you're doing that, google PageSpeed Insights one of those tabs in there is going to be mobile. So make sure you check both the desktop and the mobile version of the speed of your website, and it generally will give you information on if you have some issues with viewability, too, on mobile.

Carrie Saunders: 8:19

So we talked about a few common mistakes that we can have with our website and I want to recap some of those key performance indicators that there's something wrong. So when your bounce rate is high, that's just indicating that either the messaging is incorrect, the site is potentially too slow or the wrong people are landing on your site. So are they leaving after just one page? Also, average time on page are they spending less than 30 seconds? If it's even less than five or 10 seconds, then you know you probably have a speed issue. So if the time on the page is low, then you know there's one of these issues are probably wrong and all your call to action is being clicked or ignored.

Carrie Saunders: 8:59

You can actually use some free tools. There's a Google plugin for Google Chrome that you can use to see what they're clicking on and how they're going through your website. So are your call to actions being clicked or ignored? So if you want to do a simple assessment without using any of the technology or using minimal technology. If technology is not your friend, you can always have an actual friend in person or colleague, navigate your website and point out anything confusing. This is great.

Carrie Saunders: 9:27

I want to make sure that you pick somebody that is really nice and objectionable to and isn't super familiar with your website. If they're already familiar with the website, they're not going to find the things that potential new strangers to your website are going to find. So make sure there is somebody that's great at giving back honest feedback and that they're not familiar with your website, and you're going to get a lot better information from them if you do that. So there's one simple change right now that you can do, besides the ones that I've already talked about, that can help you make better conversion rates on your website. So if you're feeling overwhelmed with any of these fixes I've already talked about, here's one easy change I want you to look at and make today. I want you to look at your call to action Really. Look at it, and we have Mac in the background. You might be able to hear him. He's decided it's time to talk on the podcast. Yeah, I know, okay. So let's get back to what we're talking about.

Carrie Saunders: 10:23

So I want you to update your call to action. So we want to make sure it's clear, direct and action-oriented. So, instead of learn more, use words. Something like start your journey now, get your free guide today, book your free consultation Now. These are, you know, more words than we're used to seeing if you've been on the internet for a while, but there's just so much out there.

Carrie Saunders: 10:45

We want to make sure that the calls to actions are very clear.

Carrie Saunders: 10:54

It doesn't bother anybody to see four words on a button, especially if it's very clear what they're going to do, instead of the words like click now or click here.

Carrie Saunders: 10:58

You know, we don't know what that's going to be, but when you say start your journey now on that button, that's so much more clear, especially if you've already painted the picture of what the journey is via your headlines and the content on your website. So a really small tweak like this can drastically increase clicks and conversions. So just remember that clarity wins every time over being clever. So just make sure you're very clear with your call to actions. So I love to say that your website should work for you, not against you. So start by fixing these common mistakes and you'll see more people sticking around, engaging and even booking your services or buying your products. If you found today's episode helpful, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur or course creator who might be struggling with their website, and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast for more insights to help make your business grow and be easier. Thanks for tuning in and we will see you next week.