24 Reasons Why People May Leave Your Website in 15 Seconds

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what-makes-people-leave-your-website

Here is a question: Why do visitors of my website leave so quickly?

Attracting a potential customer is hard enough. Grabbing their attention and retaining them is even more difficult. It’s important to craft your website so that customers frustration can be kept to a minimum level, thus maximising their retention.

We admit that while it’s not easy to build a beautiful, brilliant website, it’s not an impossible task to do. After all, that’s what we have been doing for more than 14 years. Still, you might want to keep track of the negative factors and try to get rid of them for your own good.  Here are 24 common mistakes most people do when designing a website. Let’s start our countdown with the first downer:

1. Autosound

Imagine this: When you visit a website, suddenly a sound appears out of nowhere. While they might want to share their musical taste with everyone, sadly most users find this sound a loud signal to “get out of here immediately.” Publishers that accept ads that play sound automatically are often the worst offenders. Unless your business is music-based, you’d better stay away from this shenanigan.

2. Popups

Ah, the good ol’ popups. We still see them to this very day. This is one of the biggest reason why people are leaving. The sooner you show them the pop-up, the sooner  they will go. However, some people tolerate pop-ups that appear after 30-60 seconds, as long as the content is good.

3. Interstitials

Nobody likes to wait but this is really just about expectations. When people click on a link, they expect to be taken straight to that page, rather than being stumbled on a page with a big ad on it.

4. Pagination

Do you really need your visitors to load 10 pages to see 10 medium-sized pictures with small captions? How about forcing them to a Top 10 list across 10 pages when it could just as easily be displayed on one page? Pagination is a cheap trick to artificially increase page impressions. This phenomenon proves that the way online ads are bought and measured is all wrong, and it’s one of the reasons why publishers are so screwed when they put most of their efforts to CPM / impressions, when they should be in the data / customer engagement.

5. Slow load times

Again, people hate waiting. If people really want or need to visit your website, then they might wait. On the other hand, if they are just wondering around, curious or have clicked a link on impulse then they are more likely to leave.

6. Ads versus content

This is equally annoying to the slow load times. Some websites prioritise ads over content. They load the ads first and display the content afterwards. Some navigation may quickly appear before the whole thing, yet it’s still annoying. If you must show an ad before your content, you might want to add “Skip It” function. Otherwise, you might lose a potential client.

7. Miserable navigation

Badly-designed navigation is the big sin that you can commit as a web professional. Navigation needs to be intuitive, descriptive and straightforward. Flash-based sites tend to be among the very worst sinners.

8. Poor scent trails

Many times, people just want to keep their question answered. If they can’t find things easily and quickly, then the next reasonable move is looking elsewhere. Your job is to help people to get the information they need. This is where optimisation and testing comes in.

9. Key information is missing

It’s very aggravating when you have looked all over the website and cannot find the key information that you need. There is no way, for example, people will click ‘Book A Room’ button just to see how much a hotel room costs. Most of the times, they will leave you and look elsewhere. Just make sure the basics are all in place.

10. Immediate registration demands

It makes customers think that you are literally forcing them to buy, and that’s not a good thing to do. Instead, try to time your CTA at the end of the content.

11. Too much flashing, scrolling stuffs

Let’s get this straight: a website is not a nightclub where flashing lights become the prominent figure. It surely can grab the attention, but not in a good way. It directly deliver the message that you are desperate and need more attention. Plus, it is incredibly annoying.

12. Typos

Typos and grammatical errors never send the right signals to the visitor. They are literally no excuses. This is about attention to detail, as much as anything. If you’re not bothered about that kind of thing, then what kind of message does it give out?

13. Ugly fonts

Are you still using the Times New Roman? Still, at least it isn’t Comic Sans. No right minded person would leave a website purely based on the font aesthetics, but ugly fonts can give off the impression that you’re not trying hard enough. Try to consider more about the fonts used to make your website visitors stick longer.

14. Narrow sites

It’s outdated and might be seen as one of the “ancient website God only knows”. Moreover, it drives people to maintain a distance.

15. Left-aligned sites

Similar to above, sites that are aligned to the left, rather than to the centre, look so old. It’s better to avoid this style and stay with the new rule.

16. Keeping the same old format

Sometimes, being conventional is good for reason. All online checkouts are designed in line with practice guidelines, for instance, is nice. However, it can be a turn off as far as the web design trend goes. Being unique is not only optional. It’s a must.

17. Cobwebs

You need to provide valid example to your readers that your company is still living to this very day by continuously updating your blog and content periodically. An outdated blogroll from November 2004 is like a big no sign for visitors and potential prospects.

18. Having complex contents and directions

People need to understand you as soon as possible, and complexity definitely doesn’t help at all. A descriptive, meaningful, plain English is your best shot.

19. Browser issues

Browser problems come in all shapes and sizes. Test, test, test, and figure out what your audience likes to use. Try to avoid controlling the browsing experience too.

20. Flash

Flash websites are harder to load than the normal ones. Sometime they need special plugins for your browser and it is very annoying for people, as they need to find it first before consuming the content.

21. No “About” page

For some obscure reasons, many websites have no “About” pages. People often visit a website simply to find out more information about the company, and whenever the About page is missing, they might think that it is not worthy anymore.

22. Video-only homepages

The use of video on your homepage to explain what the company does, or to talk about specific products and services, is another growing trend, particularly among startups. However, not many people are willingly to watch a three-minutes self explanatory video. Let’s not forget about the SEO as well.

23. Boring versus unprofessional

Some sites have dull appearances, while others live so far beyond the realms of expectation that they don’t quite know what to make of them. Both can be troublesome, as far as bounce rates are concerned.

24. Colour contrast fail

Some poor colour combinations can make the text difficult to read. That said, if you can’t read the content, there is no reason to stay around.