Four Curious Reasons Why People Leave Your Website

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By Michelle Howe, owner of Internet Word Magic:

The rule of thumb is that you have about four seconds to capture the interest of website visitors before they click away. That being the case, have you ever analyzed your website to consider why people would abruptly leave your site?

Let’s take it one step further and really get to the heart of problem by asking yourself, “Why would my target audience leave?” If people who aren’t your target audience leave, you shouldn’t care. They aren’t your potential customer. However, if your potential customers are quickly leaving, you have a serious problem.

Another way to view the problem is to look at your customers’ experience on your website.

Here are four reasons why potential customers might abruptly leave your website:

Wrong Intent

Are you giving your customers what they want? Is your website full of educational resources and your audience doesn’t care about learning, they just want to buy?

Or maybe you have a website with many products with little explanation. If your audience needs more information before they can make a decision, they’ll probably leave your site to find the information they need somewhere else.

In both cases, the website has the wrong intent for its target audience. To avoid intent mismatch, take the time to thoroughly analyze the needs of your target audience. Figure out what would be the best approach to meet their needs.

Personality Mismatch

Your website has a personality, and just as some personalities get along and some don’t, your website’s personality could be a mismatch for your target audience.

For example, is your website filled with too much text, dancing animation, multiple navigation choices, and flashing banners, but your target audience is new to the Internet? A website with so much going on would scare off an Internet newbie.

Or maybe you’ve created a website that is clean and simple, but your target audience is teenagers. They would think your site is boring without sound and animation.

A successful website is a good personality match with its target audience.

Website Usability

How easy is it for your customers to find things on your website? Take a moment to put yourself in the shoes of your customer and visit your website through the customers’ experience.

Start by asking yourself what would be the most common problem they would be trying to solve. And then follow your website’s navigation trail to see what they experience.

How many times do they need to click to get their problem solved? How far down on the page do they need to scroll to get an answer? Can they easily navigate back to the homepage or do they find “dead ends” that trap them on a page?

Make your site as user friendly as possible, based on the needs of your audience.

Visual Layout

The design of your website should be based on what you think will influence your target audience to do business with you.

For example, is your target audience more of an analytical mindset? Then make sure you have tables and graphs, as well as more detailed information.

If your target audience could be described as people oriented, then include pictures of people on your site, as well as happy testimonials from satisfied customers.

Analyze your audience and use design as a persuasive sales technique.

*Conclusion*

Needless to say, there are many more than these four reasons why someone would abruptly leave your site. (I didn’t even touch on the content disconnect.) My hope is to inspire you to simply rethink the problem and come up with innovative solutions that are right for your website.

About the Author:

Michelle Howe, MBA, a former university professor and owner of Internet Word Magic (http://www.InternetWordMagic.com), specializes in search engine optimized writing for websites and developing online marketing strategies.

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