Why your website generates no enquiries (and what to change)

A website can look polished, attract visitors and still generate hardly any enquiries. For many SMEs that is the normal state of affairs: the site exists, the phone rings through other channels. The cause is usually a handful of small barriers that together make the difference between a visitor and an enquiry.

Below we go through the five points we check first on every SME website.

One clear action per page

A visitor who lands on your site unconsciously asks three questions: am I in the right place, can this business help me and what do I do now? That last question goes unanswered on many sites. There are buttons for a brochure, a newsletter, a quote, a showroom visit and your social media, all the same size.

Choose one main action per page. On a service page that is usually a quote request or an appointment. On your home page it can be a choice between two services that each lead to their own page. Give that action a clear button at the top, repeat it after the explanation and at the bottom of the page. Other actions can remain, in a smaller and quieter form.

Word the button concretely. "Request a quote for your renovation" says more than "Contact". The better visitors know what happens after the click, the lower the barrier.

Speed

A slow site loses visitors before they have read anything. For the loading time of the largest visible element, Google applies a threshold of 2.5 seconds or less. Above that, Google no longer speaks of a good experience.

Speed has a measurable effect on enquiries. In a study by Deloitte commissioned by Google, described on web.dev, an improvement of 0.1 seconds in mobile loading time on lead generation sites led to 21.6 percent more users progressing to the page with the form. The research covered 37 brand sites in Europe and the United States.

The biggest gains usually lie in three things: photos in the right format and file size, fewer external scripts and plug-ins plus good hosting. Test your site on your own phone over mobile data. That is how most of your visitors experience it.

The form

The form is the moment when a visitor decides whether to trust you with their details. Every unnecessary question increases the chance that they drop out.

Only ask what you need to take the first step:

• name
• email address or phone number (both if you really call back)
• a short description of the question
• possibly one choice field that helps you assess the enquiry, such as the type of project

Explain next to the form what happens afterwards: "We will call you back within two working days." Test the form yourself on a phone and on a computer. Also check whether the enquiry actually lands in the right mailbox. A form that quietly ends up in the spam folder is a surprisingly common leak.

Also mention briefly next to the form what you do with the data and link to your privacy statement.

The phone number

Many SME customers prefer calling to filling in a form, certainly for urgent or complex questions. Yet on many sites the phone number only appears in the footer or on the contact page.

Put your number visibly at the top of every page and make it clickable on mobile, so that one tap is enough to call. State when you can be reached. Anyone who calls outside office hours and reaches nobody should know that a form or a callback request is an alternative.

Also make sure someone answers the phone or calls back quickly. The best website does little good when the follow up is slow.

Measure what works

Without measurement you do not know whether your site generates enquiries. Many business owners know their visitor numbers and have no idea how many enquiries come from them.

Measure at least:

• the number of forms submitted per month
• the number of clicks on your phone number and your email address
• through which pages and channels those enquiries come in
• what share of those enquiries becomes a customer

You do not measure that last one on the website. Ask every new contact how they found you and write it down. After a few months you can see which channels and pages really pay off.

Keep the cookie rules in mind. According to the cookie checklist of the Data Protection Authority, cookies that are not strictly necessary may only be placed after valid consent. Choose a measurement method that fits with that.

What you can do now

1. Open your three most important pages on your phone and decide for each page which action you expect from the visitor. If that is not clear at a glance, rewrite the buttons.
2. Fill in your own form and see where the enquiry ends up and how long it takes before someone responds.
3. Set up simple measurement for forms and phone clicks and record the source of every new contact.

We review sites for SMEs across Flanders from Ghent. You can read more about our approach on our websites page. Would you like every enquiry to be followed up automatically in a CRM? Our sister agency hetaibureau.be can help you with that.