Abandonment - Why Visitors Don't Turn Into Customers

09 March 2011

Affiliate marketing is a great internet tool that needs to be investigated by anyone with a website. A well thought out plan will not only get the traffic onto the site but if managed properly will keep visitors there. This in turn offers more chance of them turning from mere visitors to valued customers.

Affiliate marketing needs to have substance. Whoever is affiliated to a site needs to have similar products or services on offer to the site it is affiliated to. Without this fundamental tie the whole objective becomes a pointless exercise.

With this fact well established and understood, the problem of transforming the visitor into customer has to be addressed. Why do visitors have a quick look at a site and then click off it? The answer to this is usually because:

1. There is nothing that instantly grabs the visitors attention
2. The site is hard to navigate and appears untrustworthy
3. The site is boring and lacks professionalism
4. The site doesnt have clarity when it comes to instructions
5. The site requests too much info before letting a visitor really get into it
6 The sight has confusing SEO links

When a visitor first clicks onto a site they need to be instantly interested. They have to be told what services or products are available and that these are better than anything else on the market. They need this information to stand out boldly in order to get them keen and to investigate the site even further. If this does not happen the visitor will leave the site straight away.

A visitor needs to feel secure when they click onto a site. They have to know that they are dealing with a real company so they need to see just who they are dealing with. This information has to be clearly visible to the new visitor. Without the feeling of security a visitor will quickly leave the site.

A site has to have a professional look to make a visitor know that they are dealing with someone who is serious about a product or service. The pages have to be clearly designed, easy to follow and read. Too many adverts on a page will distract the visitor and make them wonder off.

If a site is not user friendly the visitor will abandon it immediately, because time is money.
Everything on the site needs to be clearly described. Visitors should be invited to download a free demo or create a free account, but not asked to do too much in one go. Everything about the site has to be made easy for the visitor to do or they will not do it and leave.