Three Ways to Lose Customers Online

If you’re a small business owner with any kind of online presence, you know how important it is to keep your target audience engaged with your online content and the look of your website. There are many websites advertising and offering services to millions of consumers around the world, and even in your local area, and there are many offering the same or similar products or services as you. There are many ways to stand out, but the most crucial thing to remember is that you need your website to be a product of your brand and a way for customers to view and interact with the brand.

Developing a website that will attract viewers and customers is complex and usually requires a sustained effort by a website development team at an advertising agency, but there are several aspects of common websites that immediately turn customers off not only to your online presence, but to your brand as well. Here are three common ways that businesses lose customers online:

1. Busy title pages. The homepage for your website should offer new customers a few words about what your company does or sells and a brief description and illustration of your brand. Some webpages need some extra explanation if their products are highly specialized or complex, but for the most part, if customers truly want to use your website to make purchases, they will look around on your other pages explaining the fine details of your products. These details don’t need to clutter up your home page, which should make a strong first impression for your brand.
2. Bad online reviews. While you won’t post any negative product review on your website, you should keep an eye on reviews in places like Google Maps or Yelp. If the first thing a customer sees when they are trying to find your online or brick-and-mortar store is how bad your customer service is, they’ll likely try to find an alternative. Of course, the best way to avoid poor reviews is to always give customers the best experience possible, but even the best businesses have nitpickers and naysayers. One of the worst things you can do is respond directly to past users and argue with them online. This is highly unprofessional and shows that you are only willing to argue with customers, not improve their experiences in the future. If there are issues that customers are finding with your service, the best thing you can do is introduce and address new improvements on your website and explain how it will help customers more in the future.
3. Blog content for the wrong audience. Many small businesses have regular blog posts to help bring in more visitors, readers, and hopefully customers. These blogs have several purposes: they offer something of value to the reader who then associates the brand with the useful information they culled from the brand’s website; they can work SEO magic; and they at least show that owners of the website know what they’re talking about in their industry. Blogs can be perfectly written, engaging, and insightful, but if they don’t target your target audience, they may as well not be there. Make sure the blog posts you’re paying for from your advertising agency are targeted at people who will visit and buy things from your website.

Website design is complicated and even good websites don’t always get as much traffic as they should. Still, if you can avoid common pitfalls that online businesses face, your website will flourish for your business.

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