What makes visitors want to stay on your site? In our profession, we call that “stickiness”. Stickiness is anything about a website that encourages a visitor to stick around. You want to make your website as “sticky” as possible because the longer visit, the closer you are to a sale and the more likely we’ll return.
That being said, here are 10 things that would make me run away from your website as quickly as possible. Does your current website do any of these?
- Use of Flash – there are many, many reasons why designers no longer use Flash and why they impede usability, so please, just don’t do it.
- Confusing, irrelevant content – Have you ever landed on a website where it wasn’t immediately clear why you were there, what the site was about, how it was relevant to your search and was just plain confusing? How long before you hit the back button to search? Make it clear what your site is about, who you are and why I should stick around on your site. Give me a reason to stay.
- Unattractive design – Putting aside what I do for a living for a moment, seriously, if you have a dated, disorganized, or otherwise unattractive website, I’m bailing.
- Autosound – We’ve all had this happen: You’re working away in the quietness of your office environment doing a little online research when suddenly, you load a site with annoying sounds blaring from your speakers. And why does it always seem to take longer than necessary to find the volume/sound controls? Sound should be a controlled option.
- Popups – Ahhh, the pop-up window. Most people want the information they are seeking immediately. Pop-ups get in the way of us reaching that goal and are therefore deemed as annoying to most web users. Unless you have a really good reason for your Pop-up (and I struggle to think of one of the top of my head), skip it. I recently visited a website that had a pop-up news item right on their home page so that every time I had the unfortunate need to return to their site, I had to get the same information again and again …. and again. It gets old. Fast.
- Poor navigation – Although I’ve stuck poor navigation in the middle of my list, it is really the number one reason most people will exit your site. Navigation is so important to a well-structured, well-designed website that I cannot stress it enough. Tied to #7 below, being able to quickly locate the information we are seeking in a matter of moments is the critical difference between users staying on your site or hitting the back button and perhaps (gasp!) clicking on your competitors site instead. And if your competitors’ site is more intuitively designed, well, you have an enormous problem.
- Hard to find information/No clear hierarchy – Sometimes the navigation may be clear enough, but your page content is a mess. Clear page titles, subheads and presentation of information is important not only for the viewer, but for page ranking and search engine optimization (SEO) purposes as well.
- Irrelevant content – We all know that Google continues to put emphasis on website content – meaning, how your website comes up in search results is directly connected to how relevant your content is to each individual page within your website. Make darn sure that what each page of your website has the best spot on content you are able to provide. Not a writer? Hire one. {We know plenty}.
- Poor grammer/spelling mistakes – There is no excuse. Proofread, please! And, if you do make the occasional typo or spelling mistake (and we all do), it’s the web for Pete’s sake – so go fix it immediately!
- Too many clicks – This leads back to how we – website users – want our information quickly. I’m not going to sit around and click, click, click too many times to get the information I need when I can quickly get it with less clicks on someone else’s site. Be aware of what information your potential clients and customers seek often and put it upfront (for example, your hours of operation or phone number, etc.).
Well, that’s my quick list. I hope it helps you take a critical look and make some positive changes to your own company website.
And now it’s your turn. What would you add to this list? What makes you navigate away from other company websites?
~Amy
