Why does my website get no inquiries?
A website usually gets no inquiries for one of six reasons: the right people never find it; they find it but cannot tell quickly what you do; it is slow or awkward on a phone; there is no clear next step, or the form is broken; inquiries arrive but are missed or answered late; or inquiries do arrive but nobody can tell where from. Each one can be checked in an afternoon.
The six usual reasons, and how to check each
- Nobody finds it: search for your main service and your town on Google, and ask an AI assistant who to hire. Are you there?
- It does not say what you do: show your homepage to someone for five seconds, then ask what you do and where. Nielsen Norman Group has found that users often leave web pages in 10 to 20 seconds.
- It is hard to use on a phone: open it on your own phone on mobile data. Is it quick, readable and easy to tap?
- There is no clear next step: is there one obvious button or form on every page? Fill in your own form and see whether the message reaches you.
- Inquiries get missed: check every inbox, spam folder and message app the site sends to. In an audit of 2,241 U.S. companies reported in 2011, 23% never responded to a web inquiry at all.
- You cannot see what works: if inquiries are not recorded with their source, a site can look like it does nothing when one channel is working.
What to fix first
Fix anything broken first: a form that does not deliver, a phone number that is wrong, an inbox nobody reads. Then make the first screen say what you do, where and for whom, with one button. Then work on being found. Bringing more visitors to a site that loses them is the most expensive way to fix it.
Sources
- Jakob Nielsen, "How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages?", Nielsen Norman Group, September 11, 2011
- Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads", Harvard Business Review, March 2011
- SmartCompany, "Are you letting online leads go cold?" (July 1, 2011), reporting the study's figures
Related answers
- What should a service business homepage say?
- Should you upgrade your website or rebuild it?
- What is a lead system, and does a small business need one?
Websites, upgraded or built
Most businesses do not need a new website. They need the one they have to load fast, say clearly what they do and ask the visitor to take one step.