Your online store or website is the single most important tool you have to sell products or services online. You redirect links from social media marketing, content marketing, or email marketing to your website. Every digital marketing strategy around your online business points directly to your website.
First-time visitors judge within 30 seconds if they like your website’s look and feel. Around 95% of the impression is based on website aesthetics. It becomes mandatory to have a great website to live up to the visitor’s expectations. By investing in professional website design services, you ensure your website delights users and gets you sales.If you already have a website but no significant traffic or conversions, it’s time to study what’s wrong and if it calls for a website redesign. Let’s look at the top 10 reasons to redesign your website.
1. Visitors are not liking the experience
With technology changing by the day, your website becomes outdated too soon. The content may be good, but the navigation may be cluttered or confusing. The visitors get accustomed to newer experiences on other websites and if you don’t improvise your website design they will move on to those sites immediately.
Signs to watch:
- Higher bounce rate
- The average time on any product page is short
- There is good traffic but no leads or conversions
- Visitors aren’t able to follow the workflow you expect them to take.
How to fix it:
Use heatmaps and session recordings to see user activity on your website. If possible, ask visitors for feedback. List the usability issues and make a plan to improve user experiences. Fix the navigation. The rule of the thumb is users have to arrive on a page or get back to the homepage within 3 clicks. Create a sitemap and submit it to Google to increase your website visibility.
Result:
Your website turns more visitors into customers.
2. Your website isn’t getting the right users
When you want to sell your products online, you have a target audience in mind. You write content and design the website to attract relevant consumers. But, if your website is not getting the response from the audience you expected, it is high time to have a look into what is wrong with your website.
Signs to watch:
- You get sufficient inquiries, but they aren’t from the people you expect.
- One segment of your website gets good traffic while the other pages don’t get visited.
- The search results that generate website traffic are completely different and not related to your product or service.
How to fix it:
See if you are targeting a wider audience. If yes, change the content inside the website to target a niche or relevant audience. Remove excess pages generating traffic but aren’t getting leads. You can act smart and redirect the website traffic from one page to another of relevance. Prioritize the pages needing traffic and work on their design. Another significant task is to identify user demographics from the available data and create user personas based on the audience you want. Discuss the audience preferences with professional website design services. Now, plan the redesigning of your website accordingly.
Result:
Your website starts attracting the right audience.
3. Your website is outdated
As we mentioned before, technology advancement means you have to constantly keep updating your website. If you don’t do it, your site will look outdated in no time. It may need a complete overhaul. And your visitors are intelligent enough to recognize the fact that you aren’t updating your site. If it looks untouched or not updated, it’s hard for them to trust your products and services.
Signs to watch:
- The bounce rate is high even with a small amount of traffic
- Your site design looks pale in comparison to competitor’s website
- Your website isn’t able to offer advanced features and functions to users.
How to fix it:
Analyze your competitor’s website and see the latest features available on it. Make a list of features and functions not available on your online store. See if you can update them or you need to start fresh.
Result:
Your website appears new and engaging.
4. You need to add new products or services
As your business grows, you keep adding new products and services. For instance, you might start by selling clothes online and then include fashion accessories in it. When you start getting a steady stream of visitors, you start understanding their needs and mold your business products to meet their demand. At this point in time, you will need to make changes to your website too.
Signs to watch:
- The traffic is gradually decreasing and so are the sales.
- Only one or two product pages are getting better traction than the rest.
How to fix it:
Big companies when launching products dedicate a complete page to the new product. They even redesign the homepage to include their new product. This is to increase the new launch promotion and get more visitors to their website. So, when your business launches a new product, redesign the homepage with links to the new product page.
Result:
The new product page and other pages start getting visitors.
5. Your business is pivoting
Many times, you diversify your business to other related or unrelated verticals. You add new services or products or maybe pivot and go for new products if your current services/products are not meeting the customer demands. When your business has diversified, you can no longer retain the old content on your website. A total rebranding with a website redesign will work wonders in brand promotion and marketing.
Signs to watch:
- The website content needs to be changed to meet your new business narrative
- The website content isn’t conveying your business mission and goals appropriately
How to fix it:
Sometimes updating the color, background, fonts, images, and content or adding new pages will suffice. However, if you feel the entire website design has to be changed based on the rebranding, it is better to go ahead with it by hiring reliable web development services.
Result:
Your website starts attracting a newer audience.
6. Your website is not getting adequate conversions
You are getting enough visitors to the e-commerce store but they aren’t buying from your website. Then, there are visitors who spend a good amount of time on a specific product page but leave the store without buying. Some of the visitors add products to the cart but do not complete the purchase.
Signs to watch:
- Your site is having a steady stream of visitors, but the conversion rate is abysmally low.
- People add products to the cart but leave the website abruptly without buying.
- People spend time on a product but do not add it to the cart
How to fix it:
A bad checkout process may come in the way of people completing the transaction. Also, shipping charges and product rates may be a hindrance. There are factors other than website design affecting the conversion rate. Your task is to identify the problem and work on it. The solutions may be a combination of a website redesign, SEO, and improved customer services.
Result:
The website offers improved user experiences.
7. The website has a lot of errors
Broken links, non-relevant page redirects, incomplete information, and missing pages on the website are some things that irk the visitors and make them leave the store. Sometimes, a plugin may need an update to function properly. As browsers and software keep updating, all the components making up your website also need an update. Otherwise, they will not be able to make full use of the browser or device capabilities.
Signs to watch:
- Decrease in traffic and conversions
- Visitors abruptly leave specific pages
- The website goes off frequently
- The website loads slowly
- The plugin and theme features break the website.
How to fix it:
Update the third-party software on your website. If the publisher has not upgraded the plugin for a long time, try installing some other alternative. Conduct a website audit to find out the broken or missing links. Go through the complete website once again and perform detailed testing. Complete the information or redesign the page by hiring the best UI/UX design services.
Result:
Your website starts getting repeat customers.
8. The website is not responsive
If your website is really old, chances are it won’t be responsive. The latest themes on any e-commerce building platform are all responsive and fit to the user’s device screens. If the website visitor has to pinch to zoom to see contents or the layout gets cut on the mobile device or tab screen, you may require to make it screen-friendly.
Signs to watch:
- Google Search Console raises a red flag on the mobile usability issue.
- You have lesser visitors from mobile devices
How to fix:
First, note down the issues when you view the website from various mobile devices, desktops, and tablets. If it is only about a random spacing of elements or the size of the element, you can have it fixed without undertaking a complete website redesign. But if the website layout is not in sync with the device screen and there is much to do, go for a redesign.
Result:
More traffic starts trickling from mobile devices.
9. The website design isn’t mobile-first
With more than 75% of the internet users accessing shopping websites on their smartphones, it is a must to design the mobile version of your website first before the desktop version. In fact, Google rewards mobile-first websites with higher rankings.
Signs to watch:
- The website looks design-heavy on the mobile device screen.
- It loads slower on mobile devices.
- Your website’s Google Pagespeed Insights score is lower for mobile.
- Most of your website traffic comes from desktops and laptops.
How to fix:
In the mobile version, you prioritize content and provide intuitive navigation to make the website clearly accessible on the users’ mobile devices. When you go for a redesign, make sure the professional website design services build the wireframe of mobile pages first and then use the same content to fit the desktop design.
Result:
Visits from mobile devices convert into sales.
10. Your website is getting less traffic than your competitor
Online business is competitive and every day you have startups launching products and services similar to yours. If this is the case, you cannot sit back and do nothing about it. Even though you have digital marketing and SEO techniques in place, your website design might be lacking in attracting and retaining customers.
Signs to watch:
- Your competitor’s website gets more traffic
- Your competitor’s website has better features and functions
How to fix:
In such a scenario where your competitor leads in traffic and conversions, make an analysis to know what makes them better. If the website design is indeed the culprit, start by making changes on the website where your competitor has an edge. Don’t revamp the site altogether. Instead, do it in chunks to see if it is helping you improve the website traffic.
Result:
Your website starts getting more traffic than your competitors.
Conclusion
A website isn’t just to attract new visitors. It is to consistently meet user expectations and stay relevant in your business. Hire professional website design services to implement your website redesign and fix issues. It is better to go for a complete makeover so you start fresh and make use of the lost opportunities.
Houston IT Developers has been at the helm of website design and development with advanced technologies to help businesses drive brand awareness and boost sales. If you need redesign or custom web development services, we can help.
