What are the 9 tell-tale signs your retail business needs a new website?

Your website is your shop window online, so it must draw in customers.

It should also give you a good return on investment…shouldn’t it?

Do you have the feeling there’s something not quite right about the way your website is performing?

There are some tell-tale signs that your website just isn’t working for your business and if your website has any of these, you need to change it.

1. Your conversion rate is poor – How many of your website visitors become paying customers? If that figure is lower than you’d like, there’s something holding them back when they visit your site. Your content isn’t resonating with them. It doesn’t show them how your business answers their problems. It doesn’t persuade. It’s time for some new content, and that could also mean some new images, which are hugely persuasive if you get the right fit with your words.

2. Your bounce rate is high – How many visitors bounce off after one page and don’t explore further? Take a look at your Google Analytics to see whether this is a problem with your site. Something’s losing them along the way. It could be your content or that you’re targeting the wrong people with adverts and social media posts.

3. Your customers complain about it - Most people who are unhappy will simply go away, so if someone is actively complaining about your site, you need to sit up and listen. They’re telling you what others have simply been thinking. Turn this situation around and improve your site, and you could have new advocates for your business.

4. It’s slow loading – The bounce rate probability increases by 32% when the loading time for a page goes from one to three seconds. It’s a huge bugbear for many people. Take a look at the size of your images and the sort of design your site is using to speed things up.

5. It looks awful on mobile phones – All websites need to look great and have good functionality on all devices. If it’s ugly and unreadable on a mobile, you’re losing sales. They’ll click on your competitors’ sites.

6. The product descriptions suck – If they don’t sell the benefits, have great images or video, and all the detail customers need, you’ll be losing sales.

7. Your checkout system is clunky – How many would-be customers are lost after the basket stage? You can bet they won’t come back, and they may well be telling other people all about it.

8. You don’t have a live chat function – Customers will have questions and expect someone to answer them when THEY want.

9. You don’t double or triple the investment you make in it – Take the amount you spend on your website and its hosting, then add up all the sales which come in through it. If your ROI is just covering the cost, or not covering it, that must be improved.

So, how do you go about getting the right website for your retail business?

Talk to a website developer about how your business operates and how you need your website to operate.

A good developer will take the time to understand your business, its value proposition, and your relationship with your customers.

They will also ask you about your goals.

Then, they will give you solutions to ensure you get a website which makes you money, instead of costing you money.