It is quite fulfilling to have people appreciate your work. This can be through likes, comments, tweets, and sales. However, getting the appreciation and attention you want from your website visitors is getting harder every day. We live in an era where information is readily available and visitors only skim through content to get what they want.
Keeping web users on your website for a few seconds can take time and effort. This is why you need to know the reasons why visitors leave your website.
For starters, you need to ensure that your website’s content is enticing enough to make the visitors want to stick around. You need content that will convince them your website is worth their time. According to data collated by Jetpack, the average time a user spends on a webpage is 52 seconds. If you consider the amount of information found on most websites, this is a very short period.
So, what are the reasons a visitor leaves a website, creating a bounce rate that’s not good for business? Often, looking at what makes you leave a website immediately can provide some vital clues.
Table Of Contents
1. Website Is Too Slow
According to a Kissmetrics report on loading time, around 47% of visitors expect websites to load in under two seconds and 40% will find an alternative if a site takes over three seconds to load. Before looking at more studies that involve loading speed, you need to understand the expectations of visitors within the loading time.
Jakob Nielsen, in his book, Usability Engineering, breaks down the important time limits occurring in delays between a user’s action and a response.
- 1 second. In cases where an application responds almost instantaneously to the action of a user, there is a direct manipulation image. In most cases, users will think that the responses were generated by their actions and not by a computer. This direct manipulation element is important in a user’s engagement.
- 1 second. This time will create a feeling of a computer generating results instead of a user. While this is the case, users will still be focusing on their thoughts. This means they will still retain the sense of being in control, although, on a lower scale. If it’s a web page, it should take one second to load so that users have a sense of control and feel they can navigate your site easily and freely.
- 10 seconds. This is a long period that will take away any feeling of control users might have left. Their minds will mostly wander and, in most cases, they will leave the website in question. If a webpage takes 10 seconds or more to load, giving an indication of the progress will go a long way in helping the situation. This is because users will know exactly what to expect and not wait blindly.
It does not matter how fresh or interesting the content on your website is; people will always get tired of waiting for it to load. If your competitors have faster websites, your users will go there.
Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo always consider the speed at which your website loads. Google is pro users, which means it is looking for websites that give users a great experience. Loading speed is an important factor in a user’s experience, which explains its importance in Google ranking.
Looking to Grow Your eCommerce Revenue?Request a Quote
What Other Studies Say
If you’re wondering “What is a prime reason users may leave a website?” consider these numbers shared by the Chief Executive Officer of Mraen Corporation in a LinkedIn post.
Amazon carried out an analysis of its web performance in relation to sales using A/B tests. They found a 1% decrease in conversion for every 100-millisecond delay in loading. Walmart reported a 2% increase in traffic on their website with a reduction in loading speed of one second. Each time load time decreased by 100 milliseconds, there was a 1% increase in conversion.
According to multiple studies, the period people wait for a website or page to load is becoming shorter every day. Web users are becoming increasingly impatient, which means that any slight delay will see them leave your website immediately and find an alternative that most probably belongs to a direct competitor.
2. Website Is Not Responsive
When it comes to what may be the reason for people not spending time on your website, how it looks and functions on mobile devices could be a possible cause for concern.
Responsive web design involves creating websites that adapt to different screen sizes and devices that include desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Given that a significant number of people use mobile devices to get online, it’s crucial for your website to be responsive. If it’s not, you may expect a large chunk of visitors to leave without performing desired actions.
These are the main reasons why people leave a website that is not responsive.
- Poor user experience. A website that is not responsive is typically difficult to navigate on a mobile device, which then leads to a poor user experience (UX).
- Slow loading times. If you don’t optimize your website for mobile devices, it might take longer to load on a mobile phone or tablet. This can be frustrating for its visitors.
- Inconsistent design. Non-responsive websites tend to have inconsistent designs across different devices. This might make it difficult for users to find what they need.
- Difficult to read. Non-responsive websites might have text that is too small or difficult to read on mobile devices, often requiring users to zoom in and out.
- Limited functionality. It is common for non-responsive websites to have limited functionality on mobile devices. In such instances, users might find it challenging to complete certain tasks or access different features.
3. Problems With Website Layout
If your website has a disorganized structure, you might be dealing with a high bounce rate quite often. A quick website redesign can deal with a number of problems. Always keep in mind that most people will just scan through the content and not read everything word for word. During their short stay on a website, they expect to be in a position to grab the key elements in the content without struggling. The elements they gather through their scans play a crucial role in the decisions they make next.
There are many principles in web design and not implementing them might be the reason why visitors leave your website too soon. For instance, if you have a visual hierarchy, it is a clear indication to users that you want them to prioritize some content on the page.
William Hicks, through the popular Hicks’ law, explains that users’ reaction rate is direction proportional to the options you present to them. If you have a blog that carries a significant number of articles, having a filtering system will eliminate distractions and give your audience a chance to find what it’s looking for quickly and easily.
4. The Auto-Play Problem
One possible reason why visitors leave your website is that it has Auto-Play videos. For most web users, videos that play on their own are irritants. They then focus on finding and closing the video or the tab with the video, and if that’s not easy, you may expect them to leave.
As you build your website, make sure you think about where visitors will be when they land on it first. If they are not in the comfort of their homes or are in places where watching videos is inappropriate, chances are they will close that tab and forget about your website.
At all times, you need to take into account how much control means to users. When a video plays on its own, it takes away this control. For example, if visitors to your website are listening to music when they land on the first webpage, you might give them a good reason to close your website, which could then translate into a high bounce rate and no conversion.
Looking to Create a Marketing Strategy?Request a Quote
If something is playing, you must give a user an obvious place to pause the video or audio. The best thing is to avoid these elements completely. If you have to have them, it is a good idea to give control to the user.
If you want to know how annoying Auto-Play can be, look at the case of Facebook. After 24 hours of launching Auto-Play ads, there were millions of searches related to how to block the annoying ads. If you do your own research, you might find a connection between users staying and leaving a website in relation to Auto-Play content.
Remember that many people find them irritating. Instead of finding where they are playing and how to pause them, they might simply leave the website or close down the page.
5. Boring Content
To get visitors to stick around, you need to create interesting content that will keep them glued to the screen. Most website owners concentrate on the homepage and forget all about the other pages. Incidentally, most visitors do not enter a website through this page. After all, it’s common for people to find websites through search engine results, links on other sites, and social networking platforms.
The truth is that the homepage is no longer the center of attraction like it was a while ago. Blogs and articles are the go-to solutions for many content creators and they play an important role in content marketing. This tells you that each page should be up-to-date and compelling enough to keep visitors on the site for increased engagement.
If you don’t want visitors to leave your website, you should strive to provide neutral content that does not include complex words. People don’t want to read jargon because it will confuse them. If you are selling something, explain what it is and how the user may benefit from it using simple words.
A thorough article will do a lot of good, not only in keeping visitors on a website, but also in their purchase-related decisions. If visitors to your website can relate and react to its content, you can rest assured that the conversion rate will always be on the higher side.
6. Dormant Blog
A common answer to “Why do people leave a website quickly?” is an inactive blog. Simply put, if your visitors have nothing fresh to read, they will leave. They might check your blog one more time and if they still find nothing, they might never return. As a result, you might want to consider coming up with posting schedules and sticking to them.
While no study indicates the perfect frequency of posting, you must avoid keeping your visitors waiting for too long.
In some scenarios, posting too often can be irritating for your target audience. This might also result in filler content that most visitors do not like. If you post less often, your readers might visit a competitor’s website that offers fresh and relatable content. Bear in mind that you’ll have a hard time maintaining a loyal following if they have no new content to consume.
7. Absence of Contact Information
Web design stats shared by Zippia indicate that 44% of users leave websites that don’t provide contact information in the form of email addresses, phone numbers, or contact forms. What’s also important is that users should be able to find your contact details with ease, and you need to provide it in a clear, concise, and easy-to-understand manner.
Providing contact information is important because it helps establish trust among web users. Not paying attention to this aspect might be the reason visitors leave your website, thereby leading to high bounce rates.
Conclusion
The goal of a website owner is to attract traffic. However, this is not enough if the visitors do not stay long enough to get the information they need and perform desired actions, like making a purchase. You need time to convince web users to do what you want, and you may achieve this by keeping them on your website for longer.
Now that you know the reasons why visitors leave your website, you may make the necessary adjustments to prevent a high bounce rate. Remember that people visiting your website don’t do so with the aim of leaving in a few seconds, they are looking for solutions and you need to provide them quickly and efficiently.
If you’re still not sure about why do visitors leave your website, seeking help from a digital agency with expertise in web design might work well for you.