What makes a website convert

A website can look great and convert nothing. The opposite is also true: some plain pages fill in their contact form every single day. The difference is almost never looks — it is five concrete decisions.

1. It loads fast

Before reading a single word, the visitor decides whether to wait or leave. Every extra second of loading time takes a slice of your conversions, especially on mobile. If your site takes more than 2.5 seconds to show content, that is the first thing to fix.

2. People understand what you do in 5 seconds

Try this: show your homepage to someone for five seconds and ask what you sell. If they miss it, your message is not clear.

A good headline answers three questions:

• What you do.
• Who it is for.
• What that person gets out of it.

3. There is proof that it works

Testimonials, real case studies and concrete numbers weigh more than any adjective. “We are the best” convinces nobody; “we went from 3 s to 0.8 s load time” does.

4. Each page has one single goal

If one screen asks visitors to call you, download a PDF, follow three social accounts and subscribe, nobody does any of it. One page, one main action.

5. It is easy to use on a phone

More than half of your traffic comes from a phone. Comfortable buttons, text that is readable without zooming, and short forms. Ask for eight fields and you will get half the messages you would get asking for three.

None of these five things is a matter of taste. They are product decisions, and all of them can be measured.

Where to start

If you only touch one thing, start with speed: it improves the first impression and it is usually the quickest win. From there, clarity of message and one goal per page.

Want to know what is holding your site back right now? Write to us and we will tell you, no strings attached.