Your website is getting visitors. People are finding their way onto your pages. But the phone isn’t ringing, the contact form is quiet and you’re wondering what the problem is.
The answer isn’t always that you need more traffic.
If people are visiting your website but not making enquiries, there may be something stopping them from taking the next step. That could be unclear information, a contact form that isn’t working, a lack of trust or simply visitors who aren’t looking for what you offer.
Before spending more money trying to attract people to your website, it’s worth checking what happens when they arrive.
Here are seven things to look at.
1. Is your contact form actually working?
Let’s start with something surprisingly easy to overlook.
When was the last time you tested your own website’s contact form?
Not just looked at it. Actually filled it in and checked that the enquiry arrived.
A form might appear to work perfectly but fail to deliver notifications to the correct inbox. Messages might land in junk, go to an old email address or never arrive at all.
The same applies to telephone buttons, booking links and quote request forms.
Try making an enquiry through your website as though you were a customer.
Check that the form submits successfully, a confirmation appears and the message reaches whoever is supposed to receive it.
There isn’t much point encouraging more enquiries if they’re disappearing into the digital equivalent of a black hole.
2. Are the right people visiting your website?
Not every website visit is a potential customer.
Someone might arrive after searching for general information, clicking an unrelated link or looking for a service you don’t actually provide.
That’s why website traffic numbers only tell part of the story.
It’s worth looking at which pages people visit and, where your analytics tools provide the information, how they’re reaching your website.
For example, if you’re a local tradesperson covering East Sussex, visitors searching for your particular services in the areas you cover are likely to be more relevant than people looking for general advice from the other side of the country.
If you’re getting very few visitors, visibility may be the main problem.
If you’re attracting relevant visitors but not receiving enquiries, it’s worth looking more closely at the website itself.
Those are two different problems, and they need different solutions.
3. Can people immediately understand what you do?
Imagine someone has never heard of your business.
They arrive on your homepage.
Can they quickly understand what you offer, who you help and where you work?
Or do they have to scroll through several sections of vague wording before getting to the useful information?
Headlines such as “Excellence Through Innovation” might sound impressive, but they don’t tell someone whether you can repair their roof, manage their property or design their website.
Clear wording usually does a better job.
Something as straightforward as “Roof Repairs and Roofing Services in Hastings and East Sussex” tells the visitor far more about what they’re going to find.
You don’t need to cram every service into your homepage headline.
You do need to make it obvious that they’ve come to the right place.
4. Are your service pages answering real questions?
A service page shouldn’t just say that your business provides an excellent, professional and reliable service.
Most businesses would say that about themselves.
Your customers want to know what the service involves and whether it’s suitable for them.
Depending on the business, they might be looking for information about the areas you cover, what’s included, how the process works, whether you can help with their particular problem and what happens after they make contact.
They may also want an indication of cost or how you prepare a quotation.
The clearer your answers, the easier it is for someone to decide whether to get in touch.
This is also why separate, useful service pages can be worthwhile.
If your business offers several different services, giving each one enough space helps visitors find the information that matters to them.
It also gives search engines a clearer understanding of what those pages are about.
5. Is it obvious what someone should do next?
People shouldn’t have to hunt around your website to work out how to contact you.
If you want visitors to request a quote, make that action easy to find.
If you want them to book a consultation, provide a clear route to the booking page.
And if telephone enquiries are important, make sure the number is easy to use, particularly on mobile devices.
Buttons labelled “Learn More” have their place, but sometimes a clearer instruction works better.
“Request a Quote”, “Book a Consultation” or “Ask Us a Question” tells people exactly what will happen when they click.
Make sure your most important pages offer a sensible next step.
You don’t need a button every three sentences, but you shouldn’t leave people wondering what to do either.
6. Does your website give people confidence in your business?
Someone might understand your services perfectly and still hesitate to get in touch.
Why?
Because they haven’t decided whether they trust you yet.
This is particularly important when someone is considering a service that involves spending a significant amount of money or inviting a business into their home.
Genuine photographs, examples of completed work, useful customer reviews, clear contact details and information about the people behind the business can all help.
A simple explanation of how you work can also make a difference.
Customers want to know they’re dealing with a real business that understands what they need.
You don’t need to fill your website with endless claims about being the best.
Show people what you do, explain it properly and give them reasons to feel comfortable contacting you.
7. Have you tested the website properly on your phone?
It’s easy to review a website on a large computer screen and think everything looks fine.
But your customers might be viewing it on their phones.
That changes things.
Text that’s comfortable to read on a desktop can become awkward on a smaller screen. Buttons might sit too close together. Important information can end up buried underneath oversized images.
And a contact form that works beautifully on a laptop might be frustrating to complete on a phone.
Open your website on your own mobile and try using it as a customer.
Can you find the service you need? Can you read everything comfortably? Is it easy to tap the telephone number or submit an enquiry?
Don’t just check whether the page technically fits on the screen.
Check whether it’s actually pleasant to use.
Does your website need rebuilding?
Not necessarily.
Sometimes the problem is something relatively straightforward, such as improving the wording on a service page, making contact details more visible or fixing a form.
Other times, the website’s structure, design or content might no longer reflect the business.
The sensible starting point is understanding what’s causing the problem before deciding what needs changing.
If a refresh or replacement turns out to be worthwhile, we’ve also written a guide to how much a small business website costs and what affects the price.
The aim shouldn’t be to spend money on a new website simply because the old one isn’t perfect.
It should be to have a website that properly supports your business.
Is your website doing enough for your business?
A website doesn’t need to be complicated to be useful.
It needs to help the right people find you, understand what you offer, feel confident in your business and take the next step.
At Kangaroo Connections, we help businesses across Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne and the wider East Sussex area with website design, website refreshes, clearer content and ongoing website support.
If you’re getting visitors but not enough enquiries, we can help you work out where improvements might make sense.
Explore our website design services in Hastings and East Sussex or get in touch to talk through your website.
