Is Your Corporate Website Killing Conversions? 10 Killers to Fix Right Now

Do you have a corporate website? One that is a brick-and-mortar business website that doesn’t sell anything on it directly (like a lawyer or insurance broker)? Do you think its doing a great job of engaging your visitors or generating leads from them? I have bad news for you. It’s probably not doing very well. But why?

Unfortunately because corporate websites don’t actually sell anything on them, they are often overlooked and neglected by their owners – failing to realize their huge potential for generating leads and engaging their visitors to a higher level. Many of them make mistakes that kill their conversion rates – resulting in high bounce rates and low lead generation rates. To help I have put together a list of conversion killers so you know what to avoid, and how to fix them. Let’s get started…

Killer 1: It looks like an online brochure or TV ad

Many corporate website make the mistake of looking like just an online version of one of their brochures or your latest TV ad – with little interactivity, unique content or value to visitors. Not good for visitor engagement!

How to fix: Treat and design your corporate website like a distinct entity from your other marketing material, and make sure it solves the needs of your website visitors. Give it its own online personality and make it as interactive as possible – create engagement and conversion with your visitors!

Killer 2: It contains long blocks of text with few images

Yawn. People on websites don’t read, they scan. And people are drawn to good images. Many corporate websites don’t seem to understand this and its a sure fire way of increasing your bounce rates and lowering your conversion rates.

How to fix: Simplify and shorten your website text, take out the ‘fluff’, focus on important text only and make use of bullet points. Then add complimentary images that add value – not canned generic images – ideally of real customers.

Killer 3: It doesn’t offer good incentives to contact you

Many corporate websites just rely on having a ‘contact us’ form or link, and expect visitors to use them simply because they offer them. This really is no different that just having your phone number of your website – they don’t excite or give visitors good reasons to use them, resulting in few leads generated.

How to fix: Offer a free consultation or a free guide or ebook as a reason to contact you – and state the value of it to increase it’s worth to visitors. Clearly mention this incentive on your homepage to increase chances of it being seen.

Killer 4: It doesn’t show prominent compelling testimonials

A common mistake is for corporate websites to either not show any testimonials, make them way too long (so are hard to read) or don’t show any on their homepage. Testimonials really help build social proof that people are liking your company and increase the chances of others liking it and using it.

How to fix: Show some compelling short testimonials on your homepage, ideally above the page fold. Twitter testimonials are great for this.

Killer 5: You show mission statement, not value proposition

A mission statement is all about what your business wants to achieve (and are often very boring). They are great for your training your employees, but awful for meeting the needs of website visitors – they are often a waste of space and contribute towards high exit rates.

How to fix: Remove your mission statement and add your unique value proposition on your homepage instead – i.e. why someone should use your company instead of a competitor. This will help explain what you offer and your value to visitors, increasing engagement.

Killer 6: It uses too much technical jargon or many acronyms

Businesses love to make up their own acronyms and use jargon and then cover their websites with them, expecting website visitors to know what they are or mean. Very often though visitors don’t understand, resulting in confusion and higher exit rates.

How to fix: Dumb down your jargon (at least explain it clearly) and reduce usage of uncommon acronyms (at least spell them out!). Go ahead and review your text right now, put yourself in the shoes of your visitors to see what needs fixing.

 

Killer 7: It proclaims you are the best but offers no proof

Many corporate websites love to proclaim there business is the greatest or #1 in their field – yet many don’t back it up with proof. This makes the company look very ego-centric, not customer-centric.

How to fix: Show awards on your homepage that your business has won, along with expert testimonials/reviews, and the amount of years you have been in business. These all help build trust and credibility for your website, increasing conversions.

Killer 8: It doesn’t show business accreditation seals

Apple and Microsoft don’t have to show business accreditation seals on their website to build trust and credibility – people know these companies really well. There is a high chance they might not know your business though, particularly if you are a new company – increasing chances they won’t know or trust you.

How to fix: Join your local business councils or organizations (like Better Business Bureau) and add logos/seals for those in your website footer.

Killer 9: It uses bland non-engaging headlines

Many corporate websites are often guilty of using boring business headlines. These don’t intrigue and compel visitors to stick around and browse their website, meaning higher bounce rates from visitors.

How to fix: Create and use better headlines that intrigue your visitors – try using ones that ask relevant questions or solve for visitors needs, or action-based ones. Here is a great in-depth look at writing better headlines.

Killer 10: It has no good homepage call-to-action button

The homepages of many corporate websites act as dead-ends. People read them, and then often don’t know what to do next because there is no good main call-to-action button, or simply inundate and confuse the visitor with a plethora of links. And then there is the dreaded uninspiring ‘click here’ call-to-action link…

How to fix: Always place a good call-to-action button above the page fold, and at the end of your page. This call-to-action should intrigue your visitors to learn more, or take the next step in the decision making process. Don’t forget to test the wording, color, size and style of it to maximize clicks.

Now over to you – what are the things that drive you crazy with corporate websites? Who do you think has the worst corporate website?