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Why do your website visitors barely stay on your site long enough to take a look at your products and offers? You immediately know that this is a serious problem, because if your customers bounce off right after they land on your website, how would they place any orders? This article discusses 6 common web design mistakes and how to fix them
It is easy to see this as a problem as a business owner, because you are the one paying all those website subscription renewal fees, and you reasonably expect to see some orders at least from your website.
It is true your website serves other purposes besides allowing users to place orders, but this is so only if your business does not offer any products for sale or services.
As a professional services or products company, your website must bring your orders and new clients on a continued and sustained basis, and that is non-negotiable. Anyone besides this means your website design has failed.
What is Bounce Rate?
The bounce rate is a metric that shows the percentage of visitors who land on a webpage and then leave without taking any further action, like clicking on links, navigating to other pages, or engaging with interactive elements.
In other words, a “bounce” happens when someone visits a single page on your website and then exits without interacting further.
How Bounce Rate is Calculated
Bounce rate is typically calculated as follows;
Bounce Rate = (Single-Page Sessions / Total Sessions) × 100
So, if 1,000 people visit your site and 400 leave without any further action, your bounce rate would be 40%.
Web Design Mistakes that Lead to High Bounce Rate
As a website owner, you know the frustration of watching potential customers land on your site—only to leave within seconds. This phenomenon, known as “bouncing,” can severely impact your conversion rates and bottom line.
High bounce rates often mean that something on your website is turning visitors away, sometimes before they even give your content a chance.
The good news? There are common mistakes that lead to high bounce rates, and addressing them can significantly enhance your site’s performance.
Here are six key reasons people leave your website right away—and actionable steps to turn it around.
1. People Don’t Know What You Offer
Does your website have unclear value proposition? Imagine you walk into a store and can’t tell what they sell. You’d probably leave, right?
The same goes for websites. If visitors can’t immediately understand what your business does and how it benefits them, they’re unlikely to stick around.
To fix the problem of unclear value proposition, make sure your website has a clear, compelling headline that communicates three cardinal things:
- Who you help
- What you do
- How you do it
For example, if you run a marketing consultancy for small businesses, a headline like “Helping Small Businesses Thrive with Effective Marketing Strategies” makes it clear who you are, who you help, and what you do. A concise, clear headline removes the guesswork and reassures visitors they’re in the right place.
And if your website is built well, who you are, what you offer and how people can receive your services must be clear on your home page above the fold. Hiding this information behind sliders is a tell-tale sign of amateur web design.
Clarity beats clever every day of the week. Avoid overly clever or vague language. Clear, direct messaging builds confidence and reduces bounce rates.
2. Bad or Outdated Design:
Does your website look trustworthy? Let’s be frank, would comfortably part with money on a website that looks outdated? Your website’s design is the first impression visitors get of your brand.
An outdated or clunky design can send them running, especially if it’s not optimized for mobile devices. Blurry images, amateurish visuals, smiley stock images everywhere, and broken elements make your site look unprofessional.
In a day when everyone has a mobile phone, you have no excuse for not having authentic images of your company’s activities on your website, makes me wonder what you would have on your social media pages.
Invest in a clean, modern design that reflects your brand. Use high-quality images and professional themes. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly — over 60% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, so a design that doesn’t adjust well on smaller screens will drive away a majority of visitors.
Run your site through a mobile-friendliness test and make necessary adjustments. A mobile-optimized site not only keeps people on your page but also boosts your search rankings.
3. Lack of Visual Content
Is your website full of imposing walls of text? Most people don’t come to your website to read every word. They skim, looking for information at a glance. A text-heavy site can be overwhelming, making it difficult for visitors to find key points.
Use visuals like images, icons, and videos to break up large blocks of text. Formatting tools—like headings, bullet points, bolded text, and italics—help guide readers’ attention and make content easier to digest.
Read also> 5 Web Design Principles for Effective Website Designs
80% of people coming to your site are really only skimming and they’re not really reading the whole page.” Make your main points pop so that skimmers can quickly understand the value
4. Slow Page Load Speed
Does your website take too long to load? You agree that this is the world of the instant and the fast-paced, people expect websites to load quickly.
Studies show that 40% of people will leave a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. And a slow website can not only increase bounce rates but also hurt your rankings in search engines. This study by StellerHost looked at the speed optimisation of 5 top web designers in Ghana, and surprisingly many of them had poor page speeds.
Now, if your web designer has a slow website, what do you expect for client sites? Happy to inform you that EnspireFX Websites had one of the most well-optimised sites. We don’t play with client sites’ page speeds.
How do you fix a slow website? Optimize your website’s load speed with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify specific areas for improvement. Compress large images, enable browser caching, and consider using lazy loading for media elements to speed up page load times.
At EnspireFX Websites, we offer website optimization services, you can get in touch and well help you.
Test your website’s speed regularly, and remember that even small adjustments can make a big difference. Faster load times mean visitors are more likely to stay and engage with your content.
5. Your Website’s Language Fails to Connect
I sometimes wonder how businesses expect to connect with their website visitors when their website’s written text is full of industry jargon, technical terms and cliches.
I understand that your website copy should resonate with your unique audience. However, if it’s filled with jargon or overly formal language, it can create a barrier between you and your visitors.
People want to understand what you offer without feeling like they need a dictionary or industry experience to get it.
So how do you use your website’s language to properly connect with your customers? Write your copy in a conversational, relatable tone. Avoid buzzwords and focus on language that your target audience would use. A great way to make this connection is by recording yourself explaining your business to a friend—then use that casual, authentic language on your website.
We rebuilt the website of a specialist clinic. For their home page H1, they were using Specialist Orthopedic, Rheumatology Clinic in Ghana. With just one glance, I knew why they weren’t converting. How many people even knew what these big medical terms mean?
I promptly advised that we change it to Bone and Joint Specialist Clinic in Ghana, the client agreed, and it’s been converting and ranking on Google since. You see, the more the site converts, the better it will rank. Google rewards websites that users find useful.
We understand that you’re busy running your business, that’ why EnspireFX offers website copywriting services to take that burden off your shoulders. Get in touch with us and let’s work for you. Call us +233 55 091 9202.
Remember that your website should sound like you. Writing as if you’re speaking directly to a customer builds trust and relatability, which makes visitors more likely to stay longer to consider your services and products.
6. Choice Paralysis
The final course of high bounce rate on your website that we’ll discuss is what I call choice paralysis or option overload. This is when you confuse your customers with too many choices and offers.
Offering too many options can paralyze visitors, causing them to abandon the website altogether. This means when people see endless links, offers, or CTAs, they may feel overwhelmed and leave instead of taking any action.
How do professional web designers fix this? It’s simple; streamline your website’s offerings and focus on essential information. Provide a clear and direct call-to-action (CTA) that guides visitors toward the next step, whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, scheduling a consultation, or making a purchase.
An effective website content structure consists of;
- A concise summary of what you offer
- Three key benefits
- A list of features
- Testimonials from previous clients
- A strong call-to-action
People love to be told what to do next because it takes the guesswork right out and makes the path forward very clear
How to Create a High-Converting Website
Your website is often the first touchpoint a potential customer has with your business. By avoiding these six common mistakes—unclear value proposition, poor design, lack of visuals, slow load times, jargony copy, and option overload—you can create a website that not only draws visitors in but also keeps them engaged.
Focus on a clear message, a modern design, engaging visuals, fast loading times, relatable copy, and a simplified user experience. These steps will not only reduce your bounce rate but also turn your website into a valuable asset for your business, driving more conversions and building stronger customer relationships.
By addressing these areas, you can make sure your website does what it’s supposed to do: keep visitors engaged, build trust, and turn curious visitors into loyal customers.
If you’ve understood this article, you’ll begin to see why many high-converting websites have a somewhat similar core design structure. these things go beyond what looks beautiful and flashy to focus on how customers behave taking insights from years of research on customer journey.
You would also likely see why simply picking some free website builder, and trying to build your business’s website yourself is a huge mistake, it will just waste your time. Even as an engineer, I have years of experience in graphic design on top of the over 12 years of building client websites. My point is, let a professional web designer with a proven track record handle your website if you mean business.
