4 Reasons Your Franchise Website is Failing (And How to Fix it!)

Whether we like it or not, today’s internet is more prone to quantity than quality. The average user spends time every day weeding through clunky content, “fake news,” sloppy sites, and irrelevant ads before finding what they really want. As a result, most users develop the ability to rapidly evaluate the overall quality of a site; a recent study of online behaviour as it relates to bounce rates found that users spent as little as 3 seconds forming opinions on-site before “bouncing off” to another page.

Users have no patience for subpar sites, and they’re operating on hair triggers. If your franchise website doesn’t grab their attention and send the right message, you will lose traffic, conversions, and click-throughs, all of which translates to a smaller bottom-line!

In today’s post, the ClickTecs team shares 4 reasons why franchise websites fail to capture the trust and attention of their online audience. Read on for a smart assessment of your franchise website, as well as some solutions to common problems.

Mobile Design Deficiencies

For years now, users have preferred to search for products and services using their mobile devices. Accordingly, failing to optimize your site for mobile browsing is a surefire way to repel a huge percentage of your audience.

Your franchise website designer must understand the unique needs of your online audience, then accommodate them specifically within the site’s architecture. This means considering font and button size, menu layouts, and the look and function of your site across multiple devices.

Pick up your phone, launch a web browser, and access your franchise website. Doing your best to stay objective, take a first-person walkthrough. What did you notice about your experience? Was it difficult to find contact information? Were you spending any time resizing, scrolling, or magnifying text? Were the buttons and tabs “tappable”?

If you think your site needs a mobile facelift, ClickTecs can help!

Uninspiring Content

Unfortunately, many franchise websites follow the “quantity over quality” rule, packing unhelpful pages full of keywords and offering little incentive for visitors to stay on-site. Moreover, extra words, redundancies, and low-value information work as barriers that prevent users from clicking where you want them to.

The content on your franchise website should inspire action, whether that action is to book a consultation, schedule a call, download a report, or to simply ‘Like’ and share a post. This requires clarity and brevity, along with strong value endorsements that capture your brand voice.

The old adage that “content is king” still rules the web today, so either find time to craft yours, or hire someone who can. Once you do, your site can start doing its job, and traffic, leads, and social media shares will increase.

Slow Load Times

As we mentioned earlier, the average user is only giving your site 3 seconds before taking their attention elsewhere. If your page isn’t loading in time, it will never have a chance to do its job, no matter how great your content is. Though many load time issues are related to server selection, ClickTecs web design services can improve load speed by optimizing image sizes, cleaning up backend processes, and otherwise tweaking your franchise website’s architecture.

The Antisocial Aesthetic

Believe it or not, franchise websites that lack active, engaging social media assets struggle to build legitimacy in the eyes of most online users. Millions of people spend hours every day thumbing through social media feeds, and these platforms have become standard for businesses. Quality social media management shows people that your franchise welcomes and appreciates customer feedback, and gives you a great platform to run inexpensive promotions to highly relevant audiences. Don’t fall into this simple trap!

You can learn more about what ClickTecs can do for your franchise website at https://clicktecs.com.