6 Reasons Your Website is Not Converting Leads

"Your website should be your company's top salesperson." It's a saying we've all heard. Though your website might not be directly responsible for closing new sales, the spirit of the statement still holds true. An estimated ninety-two percent of consumers visit a brand's website before deciding to work with them. 

What if I told you 9 out of 10 motorsports websites struggle to break even on the costs of building and maintaining their websites? If you had a 9 out of 10 chance for a DNF, you wouldn't spend the money to even enter the race. The same applies to websites if you don't build a growth system to support them. The old Field of Dreams adage of "If you build it, they will come" does not apply here.

When executed well, digital marketing - and an investment in a website - can be extremely effective. However, a shift away from traditional marketing strategies, such as print ads and billboards, will not automatically set anyone up for digital marketing—and business—success. 

You must have multiple components in place for converting leads to achieve results from your digital marketing and website efforts. In this article, we'll dig into the reasons for poor website performance and how to turn it around.

Answered: Why is My Website Not Converting?

When websites convert poorly, individuals or companies may seek the help of digital marketing consultants or agencies for a redesign or refresh. In our experience over the past 20+ years of designing and building websites, we have learned that simply redesigning a website, that already does not convert, will not convert after an aesthetic redesign. Prettier photos and graphics alone do not improve website conversions.

Before continuing to spend money and time launching a new website, developing e-newsletters, and funding more paid ads, you must first understand what is not working.

Poor lead conversion can show itself in a few different ways. Perhaps your Google Analytics reports show stagnant organic traffic. Or maybe you're not getting sales-qualified leads from your website. A website with poor lead conversion can restrict your business and make it difficult to achieve massive growth (or any growth at all). 

Below, we examine six of the top reasons why your website isn't converting: And how to course-correct in order to create a website that drives sales and books meetings 24/7.

Reason #1: People can't find what they're looking for.

Visitors click on your website for a reason: They're looking for an answer to their questions. Their question might be about a specific product or service you offer, or their question may be much broader in nature. The fact remains: They didn't visit your website to help your business. They visited your website to solve their problem. 

You need to make it as easy as possible for visitors to find the solution to their challenges upon entering your site. When site visitors need to scroll through multiple menus and carry out multiple clicks before finding what they came to your website for, they're likely to leave without performing any desired action. 

To fix this problem, ask yourself: is your content organized properly? Are your product categories clearly defined? Is your navigation cluttered? Whatever the reason, you'll increase your chances of conversion if your user interface is straightforward and easy to use.

Reason #2: Your website has too many choices.

Related to the question above, your site visitor has navigated their way to your landing page, blog post, or key page because they have a problem they need to solve. You want to give them a path to solve that problem but steer clear of giving them more than one path.

Perhaps your customers are getting confused with the too many available choices. Flooding your visitors with dozens of options, buttons, and CTAs can result in decision paralysis. 

Instead, make it easier for them to determine the purpose of your website by providing only one or two CTAs, keeping their choices focused.

Reason #3. You aren't leveraging SEO.

You may have the best product offering in your category, but that won't do you any good if no one can find you. That's why creating an SEO strategy can play a critical role in boosting conversion. 

The better you rank in search results, the more traffic you will drive to your site. With more visitors, there is more familiarity with your products or services, and if you have a good value proposition, the higher the chances of converting prospects into paying customers. 

Reason #4. Your site isn't mobile-friendly.

Mobile browsers make up more than 50% of web traffic globally. The increase in mobile traffic year-over-year means that more customers are surfing the web from their mobile devices. In this increasingly mobile-first world, only websites that are mobile-adaptive will win.

Help your site perform well on mobile by providing convenient access and streamlined navigation that looks great and conveys your desired messaging on a small screen. Don't forget to keep an eye on those javascripts and optimize image sizes in order to increase load speed.

Reason #5. The purchasing process is tedious.

Are your customers clicking through your whole site, entering your purchasing process, getting right to the finish line… only to abandon the site with unpurchased items in their cart? If so, your website's checkout process may be too cumbersome. 

If your buying process isn't intuitive enough, would-be customers can quickly decide to drop the transaction at the checkout page and move on to another website with fewer and less complex steps.

Fix this problem by employing clear instructions on your purchase pages and only asking customers for the information you absolutely need to make the sale. 

Pro Tip: keep an eye on cart abandonment and create an automated follow-up offer to try and help them convert.

Reason #6. You don't have a clear call-to-action or CTA.

The last reason you may be struggling to convert with your website is you may not have a clear idea of exactly what you're trying to use to convert your visitors. You want leads, but if you don't have an offer, a buy link, or a meeting request CTA available and clearly visible, your visitors won't be able to convert because, simply, they won't know they have the option.

It's best to be clear about what specific action you want your visitors to take. Are you requesting them to schedule a call, download a checklist, subscribe to your newsletter, etc.? Whatever it is, you'll want to improve your CTA relevance and be upfront about what you're offering to help them move along in their buying journey. 

Ditch Your Low-Converting Website

Studying your website to look for the six pitfalls listed in this post is a great starting point for turning your low-converting website around. But it's only the beginning. To truly upgrade your website and start converting leads left and right, you'll need a framework for success. 

At Digital Momentum, your goals are our goals. We start by explaining our core methodology, the Digital Growth Framework. This holistic approach focuses on understanding your business through the problems of your own customers and their buying behaviors and patterns. 

The initial step in the Digital Growth Framework is "Analyze," where we understand how you solve problems for your customers and build your Buyer's Journey. The next phase of the framework is "Assemble." Here, you gather the components of your digital sales funnel to drive more traffic to your website and convert more leads into customers. Once we prove this is profitable, we move on to the last phase, "Accelerate." This is where we work to drive more profitable customer acquisitions to scale your business.

Ready to start winning?

Watch our Digital Growth Framework video and make that crucial decision to win today!