There is no point having a website if people are going to leave it immediately. Here are some common and simple mistakes that many websites make that lead to customer frustration and cause them to "bounce" away.
1. Website is not mobile friendly
More and more users browse the web on mobile devices. If your website is not mobile friendly (or responsive) then you will be losing most if not all of these visitors very quickly. Modern, responsive websites should look great on all device widths, from desktop to mobile. Another benefit is Google gives priority to mobile friendly sites in searches performed on mobile devices.
2. Website design is outdated
Modern website design is converging on clean, clear & crisp messages. Visitors expect to get an immediate sense of your site's core messages and they are immediately turned off if a site looks dated, cluttered or just poorly designed. Take a look at some of the sites you like the look of and see how clean their design is.
3. Automatic videos/sounds
Your website should not automatically play a video or a sound when someone arrives at your website. Visitors find it annoying and intrusive. If a visitor is already listening to music or a video on another window your media will conflict with that. Also many visitors will be navigating to your site in public spaces such as at work or on mobile devices.
4. Slow loading
A website should load within half a second on average. If a site takes longer than 2 or 3 seconds to load visitors will simply navigate away. Google has published research showing that decreasing a site load time from 3 seconds to under a second can increase visitor retention by over 100%.
5. Unclear navigation
Some sites are larger than others, and the larger your website is the clearer your navigation needs to be. If should be clear to a visitor how the site is structured at a high level but also how they can drill down into more detail and most importantly where they are at any given time. Various tools such as drop down menus, breadcrumbs and side navigation can help to ensure a visitor is always able to move around the site quickly and easily.
