It's the age-old dilemma for small business owners: why do I have a low conversion rate despite a high amount of traffic?

A website typically converts 2% to 5% of its visits into leads or sales. If you're not getting results in this range, it's time to examine your website and see what's going on. 

But don't worry. There are a number of reasons why your website may have a low conversion rate, and many of them are pretty simple fixes.   

Let's cover 7 of the most common reasons below.

Why It's Important to Increase Conversion Rate

Before we dig into the reasons why your conversion rate is low, let's define what it is and why it's important.

The conversion rate of a website is the percentage of visitors that take the desired action. This could range from subscribing to a newsletter to downloading an eBook and making a purchase.

Conversion rates matter because they reveal how well your website is at meeting its objectives. If your conversion rate is low, it means that the majority of visitors to your website leave without taking some kind of action.

Why is your website's conversion rate low?

Some of the most common reasons include:

1. It’s Hard to Get Around Your Website 

Let's say you are looking for small business phone solutions for your business. You search for "small business phone solutions" and select the first result. Once you're on the site, it's evident that finding what you're looking for will be challenging to find.  The primary navigation menu is missing, the body text is small and hurts your eyes to read.  After a few minutes of some irritated clicking around, you give up and return to Google to try again.

This is a common issue that can be easily solved by making sure your website is user friendly and easy to find what you're looking for.

Here are some suggestions for making your website more user-friendly:

• Include a primary navigation menu.
• Use text that is clear and easy for the eye to follow. 
• Use visual cues to guide users.
• Add a search bar.

2. Your Website Isn’t Made for Mobile Devices

In today's world, having a mobile-friendly website is more essential than ever. Statista estimates that there are approximately 7.26 billion active mobile users! And the numbers are only anticipated to grow.

So, if you want to stay competitive, your website must be optimized for mobile devices. If it isn't, you're going to lose a substantial portion of your prospective audience.

Make your website more mobile-friendly by doing the following:

• Upgrade to a mobile responsive design.
• Use Google Fonts that are large and easy to read.
• Use big buttons.
• Integrate mobile navigation.

Depending on your website's age and platform, it could be as easy as installing a simple plugin, or as complex as starting over, using a more modern and updated design approach. 

3. Your Website Loading Times are Too Long.  

A slow-loading website is another reason for low conversions. . Users expect websites to load virtually instantaneously in today ’s hyper-paced society. If it takes more than a few seconds for your site to load, you're probably losing visitors - and potential customers.

If a website takes longer than three seconds to load, 40 percent of users will simply give up and go elsewhere. Yes, you read that correctly: 50% of your visitors could be gone in 3 seconds, and you may never see them again.

There are several ways to increase the speed of your website. This includes:

• Making use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN).
• Image optimization.
• Reduce HTTP requests.
• less redirects
• Turning on browser caching.

4. You Still Aren’t Using Popups

Pop-ups are one of the most successful ways to convert website traffic into leads and sales, with an 11.09% conversion rate.

The key to success using pop-ups is to make sure they are targeted and relevant to your audience. Assume you're offering an automated phone system to small businesses. In that situation, your pop-up could offer a free consultation to assist businesses in determining the best phone solution for their needs. 

If you're selling women's clothing, your pop-up might give 25% off their first purchase.  Popups play a huge role in getting the right content in front of the right person at the right time.

5. You aren't taking advantage of Video

Images are great, but video can do even more for your website's conversion rate. This is because videos are a very strong tool for capturing attention, conveying information, and building trust.

Assume you're attempting to market your digital workplace platform to small enterprises. You could make a clip demonstrating how your platform improves company communication and collaboration. This is much more likely to be engaging and successful than a large block of text explaining the same thing.

Other ways you can use video include creating a compelling explainer video that talks people through your product or service, or video testimonials from delighted customers to convert your visitors into leads.

6. You Don’t Have a Clear Call-To-Action

A call-to-action (CTA) is content that motivates website users to take a certain action. A CTA could be a button that says 'Sign up for our newsletter' or 'Download our e-book,' for example.

CTAs are an important part of every website since they guide visitors to the intended action.  Without clear CTA's  isitors may be unsure what to do next. 

When creating CTAs, be sure to:

• Keep them brief and sweet: anything more than five words is excessive.
• Use action terms such as 'Download,' 'Sign up,' or 'Watch now' to ensure visitors understand what you want them to do.
• Make your CTA buttons stand out from the rest of your content by using contrasting colors.
• Put them in a prominent spot: Don't bury your CTAs at the bottom of the page or in a sidebar. They should be front and centered - in the spotlight.

7. You are not testing and optimizing. 

Finally, one of the most significant things you can do to improve the conversion rate of your website is to test and optimize on a regular schedule. The only way to tell what does and doesn't work is to constantly experiment with various approaches and evaluate the outcomes.

A/B testing is a terrific technique to track different aspects of your website to see which ones work best. A/B testing involves creating two versions of a page (Version A and Version B) and sending traffic to both to evaluate which performs better.

Summing Up… 

These are just a few of the many reasons why, despite getting loads of traffic, your website has a low conversion rate. But the good news is that in many cases, making even minor improvements here and there can make a huge impact on your conversion rate.

Keep in mind that not all of these modifications are quick or simple to apply. Some necessitate a great amount of time, effort, and expertise.  If you want a more "hands free" approach to boosting your conversions - connect with us today!