Have you ever wondered how often people switch out their smartphones? On average, consumers upgrade their smartphone every three years or once their installment plan ends. The key reason for switching? Smartphones become obsolete with the release of new models every year. The same can be said for websites today.
There are many signs you need a new website—the most obvious being its outdated appearance. Imagine walking into an open house that hasn’t been updated in decades. There’s no denying it’s time for a makeover. However, there are also some not-so-obvious signs it’s time for a new website. Here are five we encounter fairly often.
1. Poor User Experience
Nobody wants their customers to have a bad experience with their business, especially online. According to IMPACT, 79% of people who don’t like what they find on one site will go back and search for another site. A bad experience could mean:
- Trouble finding what they were looking for online
- Your site took too long to load or images failed to load
- Frustration from clicking on broken links
If you don’t know how customers feel about your site, just ask them! You can conduct a simple survey asking customers whether they’re satisfied with your site. Having their feedback will help you make data-driven decisions for your business.
2. Not Mobile Responsive
Mobile responsiveness means your website is optimized for viewing on various mobile screen sizes. According to socPub, 57% of users will not recommend a business to others if it does not have a mobile-friendly website. Not having your site optimized for mobile devices often leads to a negative user experience. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re probably missing out on the majority of your potential customers.
3. Outdated Branding or Content
A business can’t be stagnant. Everyone understands that businesses change and evolve over time. Your marketing initiatives change, your long-term goals change, and you create new products and archive old ones. Your website should reflect where your business is now, not where you were.
How often should you update your website? A good rule of thumb is to rebuild or revamp your website about every two years. Technology and search engines continually adapt over time. By keeping your website up-to-date and in line with current design and development trends, your business will thrive online.
4. Long Load Times
Internet users have an extremely low attention span. It takes a person 50 milliseconds to formulate an opinion on whether they like your site, and if so, how long they’ll browse it. Just 0.05 seconds can make or break your business. If your webpages take too long to load, customers will leave and go to a competitor’s website or elsewhere on the internet. Optimizing your site for page and image load time is crucial.
5. Too Much Clutter
Your business will continue to grow and expand over time, and your website will evolve as you add new products and services. Adding more content could clutter your site and irk visitors. To improve navigation, create a sitemap that diagrams your top-level navigation all the way down to the footer. This will help you guide visitors more effectively and easily through your site.
Build a Better Website
Understanding when it’s time for a new website is the first step; implementing the changes comes next—and that part requires some specialized knowledge and skills. At Campaignium, we can help you make your website better. Learn more about our website design and development services or contact us directly if you think your website’s overdue for a tune-up.
