The last time you heard from me, I shared some pretty cool data from an experiment we ran. We ran 20 top technology websites through Drift’s Friction Slayer to understand how they’re performing (and give you a few hints on what you can do to improve your website experience).
In case you missed them, here were the five make or break elements:
- A lightning-fast website performance
- Accessibility
- Personalization
- Real-time conversations with Conversational Marketing
- Eliminating static forms
Now I’m back with even more insights to share.
3 More Ways to Improve Your Website Experience
After taking a look at the five elements I listed above, Friction Slayer then adds points for three additional elements:
- A ‘contact us’ page
- Security
- Readability
These three elements won’t make or break your website, but they can certainly take your website experience to the next level. And who doesn’t want that?
Here’s more on what Friction Slayer recommends adding – and why:
1. Add a ‘Contact Us’ Page
Your website is your storefront – especially these days.
A ‘contact us’ page is a great place to collect hot inbound leads and start conversations with sales reps so it’s easy for someone ready to buy (or just has a question) to talk to a real person.
Friction Slayer adds five points for websites with a page like this, and of the B2B companies we analyzed, only smaller businesses had them. None of the companies larger than 5000 employees had a dedicated ‘contact us’ page – while all of the companies under 500 employees did.
The takeaway? Stop making it hard for your prospects to buy from you. A ‘contact us’ page with a dedicated chatbot is an easy way to be more available to them.
2. Strengthen Your Security
The one thing every single company we analyzed had in common? A strong security score. Every site had a valid SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate – so if you’re not paying attention to this security step, you’re missing out. Not only is this essential to protect your company and your customers, but SSLs also offer SEO advantages and easier access to your site for visitors.
3. Ensure a Level of Readability
The single biggest opportunity for the companies we analyzed is one of the easiest elements to change: Readability.
Friction Slayer calculates the readability by looking at site text and analyzing it with the Flesch-Kincaid readability test. This classic test determines the reading level of a given text based on how easy it is to read (how many words and sentences) and how complicated the text is (how long the words and sentences are).
Every company we analyzed scored low on this test. On a scale of 1 to 10, the average was a measly 3.
There’s no reason your website copy should be college-level or above, even if you have a “complex” product. As a general rule of thumb, aim for a middle-school reading level.
Yes, your audience may hold college degrees. They may even have PhDs. But that doesn’t mean they should have to work hard to understand your product, what it does, and the value it provides.
Try Friction Slayer for Yourself
Now that you’ve got even more benchmarks to go off of, it’s time to try Friction Slayer for yourself. It’s super easy to use – just enter your URL here, and we’ll analyze your site from top to bottom to help you understand how to build a more streamlined, frictionless web experience your visitors will love.
Is a bad web experience costing you your next customer? See how your website stacks up with Friction Slayer.
