Websites are often judged on how they look, but what really matters is how they work for real people. In this guest article, Simon Peat, founder of Visiospective Digital Consultancy, shares a practical perspective on website touchpoints and conversions, grounded in how users actually behave online. Simon helps eCommerce and other founders add customers and monthly revenue from their existing website traffic.
Most businesses think about their website like a funnel and understandably so. Your visitor arrives at the top, flows neatly down through the pages, pops out the bottom as a customer.
If only.
In reality, real users don’t follow funnels. They bounce around. They visit your homepage, click to a product page, go back to Google or ChatGPT, read a review, return three days later on their phone, abandon their cart, then finally buy after getting your email reminder.
It’s messy. And that’s completely normal.
The problem is, most websites are designed for the fantasy funnel, not the real journey. So let’s talk about how to optimise for actual humans instead.
Start where they land (not where you think they land)
Here’s something that surprises a lot of business owners: your homepage might not be your most visited page.
Depending on your SEO and how people find you, they could be landing on a blog post, a product page, or your About page. Each of those pages needs to work as an entry point, not just a stop along the way.
Check your analytics. Find out where people actually arrive. Then ask yourself: if this was the first page someone ever saw, would they understand what we do and why they should care?
If the answer’s no, that’s your first fix.
Follow the drop-offs
Every website has leaky points; places where potential customers quietly disappear.
Maybe it’s your pricing page (too vague? too expensive-looking?). Maybe it’s your contact form (too long? too intrusive?). Maybe it’s your mobile checkout (too fiddly? too slow?).
The good news is your analytics will tell you exactly where people leave. The bad news is most businesses never look.
Spend 15 minutes in Google Analytics looking at your top pages and their exit rates. Where are people giving up? That’s where your attention should go, not on driving more traffic to a site that’s leaking visitors anyway.
Think like a sceptical stranger (or find one)
You know your business inside out. Your visitors don’t.
They’re arriving with questions: What exactly do you do? Is this for someone like me? Can I trust you? How much does it cost? What happens if it goes wrong?
Every touchpoint on your site should be answering those questions, not creating new ones.
Read your own website like a first-time visitor. Better yet, ask someone who’s never seen it to talk you through their experience. Watch where they hesitate. Listen to what confuses them.
That confusion is costing you customers.
Small fixes, big impact
You don’t need a complete redesign to improve conversions, often it’s the small stuff:
- A clearer headline that says what you actually do
- A visible phone number for people who hate forms
- Testimonials placed where decisions happen, not buried on a separate page
- A simpler checkout with fewer fields
- Buttons that look like buttons
None of this is glamorous. But it works.
The real secret
Optimising touchpoints isn’t about tricks or hacks. It’s about respect.
Respect your visitors’ time. Respect their questions. Respect the fact that they don’t know you yet and have no reason to trust you.
Make every click feel worthwhile. Make every page answer more questions than it creates. Make it easy to say yes.
Do that, and the conversions will follow.
This article is a reminder that your website is not a static brochure but a working part of your business. Paying attention to how people move, hesitate and decide across your touchpoints can unlock growth without chasing more traffic. At Creative ID, we believe in the power of considered touchpoints to shape perception, build trust and drive meaningful action, online and offline. When every interaction is treated with intention, commercial results tend to follow.
Thank you to Simon for contributing this guest article and sharing his experience.
Until next time,
Vaishali