People all over the world love scary movies, thrilling horror stories and haunted houses. They generate thrills and make you want more.
But no one really wants to be the one being harassed by a poltergeist, a sewer clown or a chainsaw enthusiast. In everyday life, we just want to get what we need - and as quickly and easily as possible. This is especially true when it comes to using websites.
We want websites to perform tasks as effortlessly as even a murderous child's doll could.
If you have a low conversion rate, it could be a sign that your website is unintentionally scaring your customers away and driving them away - or at least driving them back to Google search results.
Today, we're going to explore the factors that affect conversion rates and highlight 15 dangerous website mistakes that are hurting your leads and sales.
What is a good conversion rate?
There is a general consensus that a conversion rate of 2 to 5 % is healthy for «most» business websites, which is regularly reiterated by agencies such as MailChimp, WordStream and BrightEdge. Any business that achieves a conversion rate of 6% or more is probably pretty happy, regardless of their goals.
But conversion rates have many nuances that make their success (or failure) unique to each of us. Here are eight key factors that can affect your website's conversion rate:
- Number of actions that are counted as conversions
- Type of actions that are counted as conversions
- Your industry
- Design and strategy of your user experience (UX)
- Your customer service
- Average order value of your offer
- Easy direct access via other websites or search engines
- Targeted traffic
What does a poor conversion rate mean?
If you generally assume that 2-5 % is healthy and 6 % or more is really good, then a conversion rate of less than 2 % is logically a cause for concern. For many companies, however, anything below 5% is not good enough.
A good or bad conversion rate depends on what your business needs to stay profitable and grow. You can set your conversion rate requirements by using your own financial metrics for average order value, revenue per visitor and other metrics.
Low conversion rate: What are your customers shying away from?
Are you ready to face the plagues of purgatory and other monstrous conversion killers that could be lurking in your content and web design? Let's get started...
1. Low-quality or unsuitable images
There are few things in life that scare our team more than seeing a great web design ruined by crappy images.
Kitschy stock photos. Blown-up, coarse-grained images. Images that have been stretched in the wrong direction to fill a room as if they were lying on a medieval rack. These days, any smartphone can take pretty good photos, and there are tons of royalty-free stock websites with a wealth of imagery. There's simply no excuse for putting low-quality images on your website.
The example relies on a visibly staged stock-photo composition, while the accompanying copy contains a capitalization error. Neither detail supports the credibility of the page.
The next example combines long, error-prone copy with a generic stock image while advertising bespoke design. The mismatch makes the promise less convincing.
2. painfully slow pages
We've all visited a website that didn't load immediately. What do we do then? Normally, we immediately return to the search results and click on the next page in the list.
Who knows what was on that first page? Maybe it was a great company with great products. But that doesn't matter. There are many other websites offering the exact same thing - and these companies are doing everything they can to make their websites work well so they can make sales. If even a few of your sites are performing like zombies, take the time to analyze and improve them!
The example below combines a large hero video with substantial theme and plugin code. Measuring the page on representative devices and connections would show which assets delay useful content.
3. Neglected or outdated content
Nothing says «we don't care about the details» like a company that sets up a blog and then abandons it, leaving only a bleak, empty shell on the side of the website. It's even worse if the last blog post on your homepage is more than six months old.
A blog does not need an arbitrary monthly quota. It does need a realistic purpose, an owner and a maintenance plan. Consolidate or redirect pages only after checking their usefulness, search performance and links.
4. distracting language errors
The odd typo is forgivable. We are all human. But a multitude of spelling mistakes, awkward sentences and SEO phrases tacked on to every part of the page will cast a long shadow of doubt on your company's credibility.
Readers may forgive an occasional typo, but repeated errors and awkward keyword phrases make a page harder to trust. Automated checks can help, but a person should still review tone, meaning and context.
5. Accessibility barriers
A useful accessibility review combines a screen reader, keyboard navigation, zoom and realistic user journeys. This reveals barriers that are easily missed in a visual-only check.
Accessibility should be considered from the start because it improves access for people with different visual, motor, auditory and cognitive needs. Applicable legal duties depend on the organization, service and market and should be checked for the specific case.
Accessibility factors that negatively impact your conversion rate include unclear labels on CTA buttons, illegible text, touch targets that are too close together, the inability to navigate with the keyboard, and the lack of alt text to describe images.
6. Pushy sales copy
Nobody likes to be bothered by pushy salespeople in stores. This is a major conversion killer in the B2B sector.
The days when websites were used like brochures and the term «above the fold» applied to web design have thankfully sunk to the bottom of the Black Lagoon. However, we still see companies trying to close a sale or attract a prospect on every element of the website.
If every section demands a conversion before explaining the benefit, the page can feel pushy. Match the call to action to the visitor’s stage and provide enough information to make the next step reasonable.
7. Confusing navigation
You know that dream where you can't complete a task and keep failing until you wake up in a panic? A poor user experience can trigger similar feelings of frustration, anger and fear in your customers.
If you have a low conversion rate, go back and look at the path to conversion. Is it cheerfully lit and lined with flowers or a winding path that leads to darkness and certain death?
Analyze potential navigation issues such as too many menus, too many options in each section, hidden menus or an unfamiliar structure, unclear menu and button labels, unclickable buttons and links, or content buried in places where your target audience can't find it.
How many clickable options are there on the screen below?
8. a brand without a recognizable voice
A website should sound recognizably like the organization behind it. If its copy, visuals and interaction style contradict the way the team actually communicates, visitors may hesitate before taking the next step.
Watch out for copy that doesn't match your professional voice and tone, especially if it's promotional content like ads or social media posts that sound and feel completely different from the page visitors will land on.
And please, for goodness sake, make sure your brand personality matches your offering. Beware of the consequences of mistakes like trying to be too cool, too stiff, too light when your audience is likely to be excited or stressed, or too quiet.
9. An outdated or poorly maintained design
Does your website look like a modern company or a shambling relic from another era? Your website represents your business and your offering 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to people who may or may not want to give you their money. It needs to be your best-dressed salesperson.
If you have broken images, ugly and intimidating walls of text, an outdated design, outdated branding or missing content because it's too difficult to update your website, you should consider a website redesign.
10. An unclear value proposition
Who are you? No, seriously - if it's not immediately clear from the content of the first visible parts of a page who you are and what you do, visitors won't stick around long enough to find out.
This is a trap for overly minimalist web design, but we've seen it many times with all sorts of designs and structures. If you use too many buzzwords or jargon to describe what you do, if you use unusual words for labeling, or if you get too creative or clever with your copy, you're not only hurting your conversion rate, but also your search engine optimization.
11. A weak mobile experience
Visitors expect essential tasks to work on phones, tablets and desktops. A responsive layout should preserve readable text, clear navigation and usable controls across common viewport sizes.
Test your website on different cell phones and tablets to make sure it's easy to navigate - and that you achieve your goals.
Common problems include horizontal scrolling, small or crowded touch targets, difficult menus and filters, and text that is hard to read. Combine automated checks with tests on real devices; no single report catches every usability problem.
12. Intrusive pop-ups
When you're trying to use a website, there are few things more annoying than pop-ups. The more pop-ups and other intrusive ads appear, the more likely I am to leave the site.
You can use pop-ups as long as they do not significantly affect the user experience. Some examples of pop-ups that are not well done are: Pop-ups that are placed too early in the journey, pop-ups that place multiple pop-ups in one session, pop-ups that hide the ability to close the pop-up, pop-ups that use misleading wording that implies it is wrong NOT to log in, and pop-ups that block the entire page.
A full-page interstitial can hide the content a visitor selected and may reappear as they move through the site. Test frequency, timing, dismissal and the experience after consent before using this pattern.
13. A complicated checkout
A high checkout abandonment rate is really scary for business owners. If your checkout process resembles a maze (with or without an angry Minotaur or axe-wielding Jack Nicholson), you will suffer from a low conversion rate.
Many tools can help you analyze the key abandonment points in your checkout process to find out where you're going wrong. Other mistakes in the checkout process that lower conversion rates include an unclear path to checkout, hidden fees, the need for an account, too much information or fields to fill out, and too few payment options.
14. Missing evidence and trust signals
More than ever, people want to buy from companies that have a good reputation and share their values - but they need to see for themselves. Whatever your product or service is, it will be much harder to get conversions if your website is a dark dungeon with no evidence.
Relevant evidence can reduce uncertainty. Depending on the offer, this may include case studies, representative projects, author information, contact details, certifications, verified reviews or testimonials. Use only evidence that can be substantiated.
15. Downtime
The final problem is straightforward: visitors cannot complete a task while the website is unavailable.
Many issues can cause downtime, such as server-side issues, hosting issues, DNS issues, cyber-attacks, code errors due to incompatible plugins or theme issues, too many customers flooding the site during a sale, and more.
If you don't check your website or analytics regularly, you run the risk of hearing from disgruntled customers that your website is down. You have no way of knowing how many leads or sales you have lost in the meantime.
This concludes our guide to conversion rate killers. I hope you found it spectacular.
A low conversion rate does not automatically require a full redesign. Identify likely points of friction, establish a baseline and test one meaningful change at a time. Some problems are small; others require deeper work on the offer, content or journey.
If you need a redesign, we will be happy to help you.
