Is Your Website a “Leaky Bucket” in Your Marketing Funnel?
We invest money and time to bring people to our website. A campaign runs, traffic increases, and everything seems good at first. But then we start to realize that visitors show up, look around, and leave without doing anything else - no contact, no inquiry, no download.
At this point, many campaigns have stopped generating momentum. It’s usually not the advertising that failed, nor is it the target audience. Most of the time, the problem is somewhere in the middle of the funnel: the website itself.
Difficult First Impressions
Picture a person looking for something on Google during their lunch break. They click through to a webpage. The page is slow to load. The headline is vague. There are 7 navigation items listed in equal prominence. Half the screen is filled with a large stock image with absolutely no explanation of what this company does.
It will take less than 30 seconds for the visitor to make a decision about whether the message was clear, and if so, he will either bookmark the site, close the tab, or continue his day.
Your homepage should be able to clearly tell the visitor two things right away: what you sell (offer), and who the sale is for. A short headline, a clear subheading, and a very obvious call to action can go a long way. For example, a consulting firm could start off its home page with a short sentence about the service offered and a “book a consultation” button. Clearly defined calls to action reduce hesitation.
Long Loading Times That Test Patience
Although a website may appear great in a design mockup, performance is what really matters when it finally goes live. A page that takes 5-6 seconds to load introduces friction into the equation before the visitor even gets to see the content of the page.
Think about someone browsing on a mobile phone while waiting for a train. If there are too many heavy images and too many scripts running on the page, all that will be visible is the loading spinner.
A quick fix for this is just to clean house. Compress all of those large images; disable and/or delete any unnecessary plugins; and use a speed testing tool to check how fast your pages load. Good web design includes performance as part of the build, not as an afterthought.
Too Many Fields On Contact Forms
Contact forms often expose yet another small leak in the funnel. Some sites ask for 10 different pieces of information before a visitor can send a message. Company name, job title, phone number, budget, project details, etc., etc., etc. For a first interaction, that level of detail feels like a commitment.
See if you can reduce the contact form to the bare essentials. A visitor will need to give you a name, email address, and a short message, which will usually suffice to get a conversation started. You can always collect more information later during a follow-up phone call/email. Reducing barriers to entry will typically increase the number of inquiries you receive.
Pages That Lack a Call to Action
Many pages describe a service very well, but then fail to provide the visitor with a clear direction on how to get that service.
A visitor will read a description of a workshop/service/technical solution, finish reading, and then have to figure out what to do next, without any guidance.
You may see this type of behavior on a services page describing a workshop/service/technical solution. The information presented on the page is excellent, but the page stops there, and nothing else follows.
Add a clear call to action at the end of every page. A button to schedule a call/download a guide/request a quote, etc., provides the visitor with a clear path to follow. An easy way to provide the visitor with direction is to add a simple line, such as “Speak with our team today,” followed by a contact link, which will keep the visitor moving in the direction you want them to travel.
Closing Thoughts
The marketing funnel relies on consistent movement from interest to action. When a website causes confusion, delays, or adds unnecessary friction, the movement slows down.
Do not view your website as a static brochure, but as an active participant in your marketing strategy. Clear messaging, efficient web design, and simple calls to action will all contribute to keeping visitors moving in the direction you intend.
Image source: Unsplash.
