5 Website Truths for Marketers

1. Slow Site = Leaky Funnel

Even the best campaigns (which let’s face it, do you churn out anything else but amazing campaigns?) can’t overcome a sluggish website with confusing navigation and fragmented branding. Sources all over the internet will tell you – even a 1-second delay in load time reduces conversions and user satisfaction. 

2. Visitors Judge You in Milliseconds

Modern marketing with new(ish) kids on the block like AI and entertainment mills like TikTok mean your marketing goals are likelier about scaling attention than scaling traffic. It takes milliseconds for users to form an impression of your brand all based on the website – whether brick and mortar buildings are part of the business or not.  

3. Templates Kill Credibility

As we’ve shared, website templates and out-of-the-box, ready-to-rock designs may mean a fast launch – but they certainly won’t help you stand out in a digital landscape vying for short attention spans.

More importantly, it’s very likely you’ll hear, “Sorry, we just can’t do that with the current site,” with every request. Eventually, leadership will ask for custom UX or your team will want to tailor the site for your ideal customer. That website template will have customization limitations, or not allow certain integrations with feature add-ons and software. Templatized websites cannot accommodate future growth, such as integrating new software or adding languages.

4. Bye, Marketing Budget. Hello, Underperformance

We don’t need to tell you, dear marketer, that poorly built websites hurt ad performance. Slow load times and bad UX lower your Quality Score, can raise cost-per-click, and even means more valuable internal time spent trying to fix issues or finding workarounds.

If there’s anything the board can get on board with, it’s putting something in place that stops the budget from draining and results in better performance with those dollars graciously bestowed to the marketing team.

5. SEO Suffers and Ranking Drops

It’s simple. Slow or janky sites rank lower. Google uses Core Web Vitals (load, interactivity, and layout stability) as ranking signals. Lower search visibility translates to fewer organic visitors – meaning that outdated websites are leaving free money on the table.

Data

It’s Data Time

Dust off your measurement and benchmarking hat, and break out the toolbox. Use tools at your disposal to determine load time metrics as well as evaluate bounce and conversions by site sections.

Track

Track Impact

Pull out all those reports you likely already have from quarterly wrap-ups. Share before and after performance metrics tied to conversion rates, traffic, ad spend, and even the time spent looking for website support and solutions.

UX

Emphasize UX and Collaborate with Internal Teams

Turn that humdrum water cooler conversation to chit chat about web speed, modern frameworks, and more – don’t forget to mention how speed and good design strongly influences brand trust and acquisition.