Website copy mistakes that confuse customers

Most website copy problems are not about grammar. They are about a customer arriving with a simple question and leaving without an answer: what do you do, do you do it near me, roughly what does it cost, and how do I get you. Jargon, vague claims, walls of text and missing basics are the usual reasons. The good news is that each one has a plain fix you can make in an afternoon. Here are the mistakes that confuse customers most often, and what to write instead.

1. Trade jargon the customer does not use

Every trade has its own words, and after years in the business you stop noticing them. Customers do not know them, and often feel too awkward to ask.

• An HVAC company writes "SEER2-rated split systems" when the customer is looking for "a new air conditioner that saves on the power bill".
• A dentist writes "prophylaxis" for a cleaning.
• A web of "remediation", "mitigation" and "abatement" on a mold company's page, when the customer just wants the mold gone.
• An accountant writes "Schedule C preparation" for "taxes for your small business or side job".

The fix: use the customer's word first and the trade word second, if at all. "Teeth cleaning (what your insurance calls prophylaxis)." Listen to how callers describe the problem, and use their words in your headings.

2. Vague claims that could belong to anyone

"Quality service at affordable prices." "Customer satisfaction is our top priority." "Your trusted local experts." These lines are not false. They just tell the customer nothing, because every competitor says the same.

The fix: replace each claim with a fact that proves it.

• Instead of "experienced": "Licensed master plumber, working in Erie County since 2003."
• Instead of "fast": "Most repairs done the same day if you call before 11 am."
• Instead of "affordable": "Drain cleaning starts at a set price, quoted before we start."
• Instead of "we care": "We put down floor covers and clean up before we leave."

If you cannot back a claim with a fact, it is safer to leave it out.

3. Walls of text

A long paragraph on a phone fills the whole screen. Many visitors scroll right past it, including the one sentence they needed.

The fix: break text into short paragraphs of two to four sentences, add a plain heading every few paragraphs, and turn any list hidden in a sentence into a real list. "We do repairs, installations, inspections and maintenance for furnaces, boilers and heat pumps" reads better as two short lists.

4. Saying "we" before saying "you"

Many pages open with the business's story: "Founded in 1987 by brothers Tom and Jim, we have grown..." The customer came with a problem and is reading about someone else's family history.

The fix: open each page with the customer's situation and what you do about it. Move the history to the about page, where people who want it will find it. "Locked out of your car or house? We get you back in, usually within 30 minutes anywhere in Mesa." Then, lower down, "We've been doing this since 1987."

5. Missing the basics

The most confusing copy is the copy that is not there. Customers often cannot find:

• Where you work. No town on the home page, no service area anywhere.
• What you do not do. A painter who does interiors only, a groomer who does not take large dogs, a cleaner who does not do move-outs. Not saying so wastes calls on both sides.
• How to reach you. A phone number only in the footer, in small gray text, not tappable.
• What it costs, roughly. No prices, no ranges, not even what the price depends on. Should you list prices on your website? talks through the options.
• Hours. Or hours that are a year out of date.

The fix: put the who, what, where and how-to-reach basics on the home page, and the rest on the relevant pages.

6. Clever headlines that hide the point

"Making Dreams Come True Since 1994" could be a bakery, a travel agency or a builder. Puns and slogans can be charming in person, but on a website a stranger reads the headline to find out whether they are in the right place.

The fix: make the headline say what you do and where, plainly, and put the slogan lower down if you love it.

7. Saying the same thing on every page

When every service page says "we offer the highest quality work with a focus on customer satisfaction", visitors start to skim, and the pages blur together. The same happens when town pages are identical except for the town name.

The fix: each page should say something only that page says: the specific steps of that job, the questions people ask about that service, photos of that kind of work.

8. Mixed messages

The home page says "free estimates", the contact page says "estimate fee applies". The site says "24-hour service" but the voicemail says "call back during business hours". These contradictions make customers wonder what else is not true.

The fix: read your whole site in one sitting once a year and check that prices, hours, area, guarantees and phone numbers say the same thing everywhere, and match your Google listing.

9. Errors that undermine trust

A few typos are not fatal, but a misspelled business name, a wrong phone number, a broken link or "Lorem ipsum" placeholder text left on a page make a business look careless. They are especially costly on pages about precision work, like accounting or electrical.

The fix: have someone else read each page on their phone, tap every link and button, and call the number.

How to find your own mistakes

You are too close to your own text to see most of these. Two quick ways to see it fresh:

• Ask a customer. Next time someone books, ask what they could not find on the site, or what nearly made them call someone else.
• Ask a stranger. Give someone outside your trade the site on their phone for two minutes, then ask what you do, where, and how they would contact you.

For the bigger picture of writing in your own voice, see writing for your website when you're not a writer.

What to do this week

• Circle every trade word on your home page and main service page, and add the customer's word.
• Replace three vague claims with facts.
• Break the longest paragraph on your site into short ones with a heading.
• Check that your town, phone number and hours are visible on the home page.
• Read the site once for contradictions in prices, hours and area.

If fixing all of this on your current site sounds like a project you will never get to, you can see your site rebuilt first with your own information in clearer words, and correct anything that is not quite right.