Death by Homepage: 5 Costs of a Bad Website

Long gone are the days when having a simple, uninspired website translates to steady business growth. We’re not even going out on a limb when we say a generic website is a liability in today’s competitive business landscape. Modern businesses demand a user-first digital experience: a fast, credible, and customized website for both clients and internal teams.

A holistic web strategy is a business requirement, not a ‘nice-to-have’. For customers, the website must be an intuitive, seamless journey that builds trust, articulates value, and facilitates engagement through responsive design, clear calls to action, and compelling content.

Internally, a customized back-end system is crucial. It empowers every team from HR and marketing to operations and IT to work efficiently with robust content management, powerful analytics, and integrated workflows. The synergy between a stellar front-end and a robust back-end transforms a website into a powerful business asset, ensuring success at every touchpoint and is customized to scale as the business grows (which isn’t the whole point to keep the beloved business growing efficiently?).

Buckle up, let’s explore the most frequent website issues encountered and their corresponding business costs:

1. Speed Isn’t a Luxury – It’s a First Impression
   • We can go on and on about this one. A slow website can significantly impact marketing efforts, leading to increased bounce rates, lower search rankings, and ultimately, lost leads and conversions from underperforming campaigns.
2. Great Brands Don’t Make People Guess
   • If users can’t find what they need or fulfill what they need to do quickly, they’ll find a company who can. Poor user experience leads to low conversion rates, customer confusion, and valuable content that internal teams worked long and hard on being hidden and never discovered on the site – meaning stagnant business.
3. A Desktop-Only Site in a Mobile-First World
   • With the advent of computers in our pockets, websites must be optimized for mobile and other devices. Poor reformatting across different devices leads to lost traffic and, you guessed it, lost opportunities like leads and potential sales.
4. When the Website is a Bottleneck
   • Clunky back-ends slow down teams. If they can’t efficiently fulfill their responsibilities, the business won’t grow efficiently. A website should not require a developer for minor changes, like moving a button or updating a title. All this results in is inflated costs and extended turnaround times.
     
     Outdated websites eventually succumb to a critical flaw: the inability to duplicate pages. This hinders rapid deployment and A/B testing while increasing manual effort, thereby impeding agility and scalability.
5. The Hit to Brand Credibility and Growth
   • A poor website exposes the entire business to risk. Whether it’s legal liability, lost talent, or internal inefficiencies, a bad website silently drags down every part of your company. Non-compliance with ADA, GDPR, or CCPA can lead to lawsuits or fines. Hoping to recruit the best and brightest? Outdated UX turns off job seekers, who check out the company site before even applying. What’s more, credibility is often based on design alone. 

If any of the above sounds like it hits close to home, let’s chat about next steps. We offer comprehensive website services, including SiteLaunch packages designed to suit businesses of all types and needs.

We specialize in crafting intentional, scalable, and growth-oriented creative systems. From custom websites to strategic branding, our holistic design services are built with the future in mind to help businesses of all sizes grow efficiently and exceed goals.