A potential customer clicks through to your website. They are interested, ready to explore, and possibly ready to buy, showing user behavior. Within seconds, they leave.
Your website might work perfectly well, but if visitors cannot find what they need, the opportunity disappears.
At marketingSHOWCASE in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (17th Sept), Will Roberts of WebBox explored how AI is changing expectations online.
Moreover, his talk highlighted a challenge for marketers: as user behavior shifts, websites must keep pace.
Here are five practical takeaways to help yours do exactly that.
1. Get the first ten seconds right
Visitors should quickly understand what you do, who you help and what to do next. Vague headlines and confusing navigation make that harder than it needs to be.
“What does the user understand about your business in the first 10 seconds?”
Try showing your homepage to someone unfamiliar with your business. Can they explain your offer without scrolling through several pages?
Think carefully about how you measure success, too. More time on site does not necessarily mean more interest. Someone who quickly finds an answer and makes an inquiry may have had the better experience.
2. Make your content relevant
Your visitors have different needs. Your website should help them find the information that matters to them.
Start small. Match landing-page headlines to the campaigns bringing people there, reflecting user behavior. Make sector-specific case studies easy to find. Offer next steps that suit both early research and purchase decisions.
“Relevance beats redesign.”
Before committing to a rebuild, consider whether clearer messaging and more relevant content could improve the experience you already have.
3. Remove unnecessary effort
An inquiry form with ten fields might be convenient for your sales team, but how does it feel to the person completing it?
If you only need three pieces of information, start there.
Review the actions that matter most, whether that is booking a call, registering for an event or finding a service. Look for unnecessary steps and places where visitors might hesitate.
Remember that people bring expectations from the digital services they use every day. Your competitors’ websites are only part of the picture.
4. Turn reports into action
Website reports are useful when they help you decide what to do next.
Look beyond traffic totals. Review where people leave, examine user sessions and identify recurring difficulties.
Then choose something to investigate or improve. A clearer call to action or a shorter booking process gives you a specific change to measure.
Build time for analysis into your reporting routine so the findings lead somewhere.
5. Keep improving after launch
“Performance comes from iteration and not perfection.”
Treat your website as something that needs regular attention. Make manageable changes, measure their impact and use what you learn to decide what comes next.
Start with one important visitor journey this week. Experience it with fresh eyes and find one thing you could make easier.
For more practical ideas from speakers like Will Roberts, explore upcoming marketingSHOWCASE events and bring fresh thinking back to your team.
