Are you struggling to attract visitors to your website? The visitors you do attract might not stay for long. In fact, about 90% of consumers won’t return to a website after a bad experience. If your site is old, outdated, and full of website bugs, it could hurt your brand’s reputation. Since websites are the online face of your business, a broken, buggy site means a broken and buddy brand.
Not convinced? Keep reading to discover how website bugs affect business reputations. Improved website functionality could give your business the boost it needs.
With regular website updates, you can avoid bugs while maintaining a positive and reliable business image – read on to learn more!
How Website Bugs Can Negatively Impact Your Business
Consumers expect a fast, easy user experience (UX). Otherwise, they’ll leave without clicking around. This reduces the number of conversions your website can potentially gain. In fact, 70% of online users have abandoned their carts due to poor web design.
How else do they affect your business? Here are nine additional ways that you need to know about.
1 – Leaves a Poor Impression
Over-crowded website. Source from: Arngren
People are naturally curious. When your brand is first discovered, where is the first palace people turn to to find out more? Your website. That’s why it’s important to make a strong first impression.
An old, outdated site that’s full of website glitches will scare customers away. Consumers will think you’re behind the times and they’ll turn to a company that appears more relevant and up-to-date instead.
Consider the first impression you want to make with your customers. Do you want them to think you’re sleek and cutting-edge? Maybe you want to look professional or appear as an industry thought leader. An up-to-date website can help you accomplish just that.
Failing to modernise your site, on the other hand, will hurt your business image. You’ll make a weak first impression that people will remember. Instead of associating your brand with positives, people will remember the negative experience they had on your site.
2 – Hinders Customer Service
Search bar helps to quickly find what you’re looking for. Source from: Weblium
Website glitches can impact your ability to provide top-notch customer service, too.
Is your website prepared to help visitors as soon as they land on your website? Will they have an easy time navigating from one page to the next? Is your navigation organised?
Is it easy for consumers to contact you or convert on the page?
You can improve your website functionality for better customer service. An inviting homepage can draw customers in and encourage interactions.
You can also make it easy for people to find what they need. Better customer service increases conversion.
However, you’ll achieve the opposite if your site is full of glitches. Consumers will feel disappointed, frustrated and will most likely take their business elsewhere.Be sure to regularly update your website with customer service in mind. You’ll keep your customers happy and help them make a purchase.
3. Hurts Your SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) can help your website pages appear on Google. When someone searches for your product or service, your site can appear. A higher ranking can help you:
- Attract more website visitors
- Boost brand awareness
- Help you appear as a thought leader
- Position you ahead of competitors
- Boost conversions and sales
- Improve your ROI
- Increase brand credibility
As people continue visiting your site, your ranking will improve, too.
There are many on-page factors that can impact your ranking. For example, Google looks for pages with high clickthrough rates and dwell times.
If people visit your website, get frustrated and leave, these metrics will drop. Your bounce rate will increase instead. A high bounce rate can hurt your SEO.
Don’t let website bugs hurt your SEO ranking. A lower ranking will impact your ability to draw in customers.
Instead, you can use UX design trends to boost your site performance and SEO ranking.
4. Reduce Brand Trust and Loyalty
Real Estate agent website, showing his professional and friendly. Source from: SitebuilderReport
People form about 75% of their judgment on a website’s credibility based on the site’s aesthetics. Meanwhile, 94% of people don’t trust outdated websites.
Website glitches and old, unappealing pages can hurt your business image. Consumers will have a hard time trusting an outdated site. If you don’t build brand trust, you can’t retain long-time customers.
Meanwhile, disappointed visitors are likely to spread the word about their negative experience.
Consumers want to find brands they can rely on and trust. You want to update your website to show consumers that you’re professional, friendly and reliable.
5. Puts Your Behind Competitors
Check out the competition. Are their websites up-to-date, fast, and easy to use? Their improved website functionality could hurt your business image.
Leaving website bugs across your pages could put you behind the competition.
Consumers compare brands online. They’ll see your site is behind the times and trust your competitors instead.
6. Leave You Vulnerable to Online Threats
Leaving your website unattended can leave you vulnerable to online threats such as hacks. An old, buggy website has holes in their security measures which leave your website open to ransomware or an attack.
Leaving your website vulnerable also leaves your customers vulnerable.
If you’re hacked, your customers will have a hard time trusting you in the future. Instead, keep your website up-to-date and compliant
7 – Complicates the Customer Journey
An organised website makes it easy for consumers to flow from one page to the next, helping them get them to where you want – the purchase page. Website glitches complicate the process, essentially acting as roadblocks towards a conversion.
8. Devalues Your UVP
Slack focuses on credibility and productivity. Source from Slack
Your unique value propositions (UVPs) can set you apart from the competition. Customers might not recognise your UVPs if they’re battling website bugs, though. In fact, glitches can devalue your UVPs.
Instead, learn how to fix your website. A fast, easy-to-use website can show customers you’re there to help. You can find new ways to highlight your UVPs to draw customers in.
9. Impedes Conversions
A better user interface (UI) could boost your website’s conversion rate by 200%. Better UX could yield conversion rates of up to 400%.
If your website is difficult to use, customers won’t click around. They won’t fill out a form or explore your online shop. You could lose conversions as a result.
If your SEO ranking drops, you’ll struggle to draw customers to your website. You’ll miss out on potential sales as a result.
Are you creating pay-per-click advertising landing pages on your site? Your ad ranking could drop if your site is slow, too.
You can work with a web design and development company to make sure your website is easy to use. Adding conversion opportunities can boost your clickthrough rate and dwell times. Meanwhile, you’ll draw in new conversions and sales.
With a functioning, up-to-date website, you can boost conversions and your ROI.
How to Fix Your Website
Protest Sportswear, a shoppable lookbook, uses appealing content for the web design. Source from hubspot
Now that you understand how website bugs can impact your business image, it’s time to make a change!
The best way to improve your website is to focus on the user experience. UX design trends can help your website look and function at its best.
First, remove clutter from your website. Focus on content that conveys your brand’s value. Too much clutter can confuse customers and cause your site to lag.
Once you’ve removed the clutter, add white space to give your content room to breathe. Organise your content using headings and subheadings. Try to use short sentences and paragraphs, too.
Make sure your buttons are eye-catching and easy to click on. Improve your forms, too. Keep them short and to the point.
Don’t forget a strong call-to-action to boost conversions and fast load times for maximum UX.
As you spot website bugs and broken links across your site, consider hiring an experienced web design and development company. With their help, you can improve your website’s functionality. They can speed up your pages and ensure you’re mobile-optimised.
With their help, you’ll never fall behind again!
Avoiding Website Bugs: 9 Ways an Old Site Can Hurt Your Business
Avoiding website bugs is essential to your business image. Otherwise, a glitching website could scare off customers. They’ll remember that bad experience on your site and turn to your competitors instead. With help from a web design and development company, you won’t have to fall behind.
Instead, you can improve your website functionality and boost business. Need help with your website? That’s what we’re here for! Contact us today to help you get rid of your website bugs.
