8 Common B2B Website Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Here’s the reality: small mistakes on your website can lead to big losses. Slow loading times, confusing navigation, or unclear messaging can drive visitors away. Fixing these issues can boost conversions, improve user experience, and even recover lost revenue.

Quick Stats to Know:

• 75% of website credibility comes from design
• 58% of global web traffic is mobile
• 40% of website issues are critical

Common Mistakes and Fixes:

1. Hard-to-Use Navigation: Simplify menus, use clear labels, and track user behavior with heatmaps.
2. Poorly Placed CTAs: Use contrasting colors, clear text, and position CTAs strategically.
3. Bad Mobile Design: Optimize for speed, simplify navigation, and fix touch interaction issues.
4. Slow Loading Speeds: Compress images, minimize code, and use caching/CDNs.
5. Unclear Business Benefits: Avoid jargon, highlight value upfront, and make content scannable.
6. Overly Long Contact Forms: Ask for essential info only and simplify form design.
7. Accessibility Issues: Improve contrast, add alt text, and ensure keyboard navigation.
8. Missing Lead Generation Content: Add landing pages, case studies, and downloadable resources.

Why It Matters:
Every extra second of page load time or poor user experience can cost businesses thousands of dollars monthly. Start by addressing the most critical issues like speed and mobile design, then focus on optimizing CTAs, forms, and messaging.

Pro Tip: Use tools like Google Analytics and heatmaps to identify problem areas and track improvements.

1. Hard-to-Use Website Navigation

If your website’s navigation isn’t user-friendly, it could be driving visitors away. When people can’t quickly find what they’re looking for, they leave – and that means lost conversions.

Spotting Navigation Issues

The first step to fixing navigation problems is identifying them. Take a closer look at your website’s structure and watch out for these common trouble spots:

• Too many menu items: If your menu has more than seven options, it can overwhelm users and make decision-making harder.
• Unclear labels: Generic terms like “Solutions” or “Products” don’t provide enough information about what you offer.
• Overcomplicated drop-down menus: These can confuse visitors and cause them to miss important pages.

To pinpoint issues, try these strategies:

• Run a content audit: Use analytics to identify your most popular pages. Make sure the top 15% of your content is easy to access from the main menu.
• Do the “Squint Test”: Step back and squint at your site. Can you easily spot clickable elements? If not, simplify the design.
• Track user behavior: Heat mapping tools can help you see where visitors click and how they navigate your site. This reveals natural patterns and potential obstacles.

Once you know what’s wrong, you can make targeted changes to improve the experience.

Improving Your Navigation

“Navigation underpins every critical element – from content to URLs.” – Neil Patel, Co-Founder of NP Digital & Owner of Ubersuggest

Here are some tips to refine your navigation:

Simplify and standardize the layout

• Keep the navigation bar either horizontal at the top or vertical along the left side.
• Limit the main menu to 5-7 items to avoid overwhelming users.
• Use text-based links instead of graphical buttons for better clarity.

Focus on user intent

• Add clear calls to action (CTAs) like “Book a Demo” or “Contact Us” directly in the navigation bar to help user intent.
• Place your most important menu items at the beginning or end of the list, where they’re more noticeable.
• Include essential links in the footer, such as social media profiles and policy pages.

Make labels descriptive

“Don’t sacrifice your branded product or service names to be a robot for search engines. Include commercial keywords only where it’s logical.”

For websites with a lot of content, think about using a mega-menu. This type of menu organizes information more effectively and keeps all options visible without overwhelming users.

2. Poorly Placed Call-to-Action Buttons

Call-to-action (CTA) buttons are the lifeblood of conversions. But if they’re not strategically placed or designed, they can fail to generate the leads you’re aiming for.

Why CTAs Miss the Mark

Several common issues can undermine the effectiveness of CTAs:

• Low visibility: CTAs that blend into cluttered pages or lack contrast are easily overlooked.
• Timing problems: Placing CTAs too early – before you’ve communicated enough value – can reduce engagement.
• Mobile challenges: Small buttons, hidden CTAs, or text that’s hard to read on mobile devices make it difficult for users to take action.

Fixing these problems requires a thoughtful approach to placement and design.

Making CTAs Work Better

Position CTAs Where They’ll Have the Most Impact
Your primary CTAs should align with the natural flow of the user journey. Place them where users are most likely to make a decision.

“A well-designed CTA stands out, uses compelling language, and drives immediate action.”

Leverage Contrast and Color Psychology
Choose colors that stand out and create a clear visual hierarchy to guide users. For example, CareLogger saw a 34% boost in conversions simply by switching their CTA button color from green to red.

Refine Your Button Text
The wording of your CTA matters. A B2B company increased conversions by 38.26% just by changing their button text from “order information” to “get information”. Use action-oriented language that resonates with your audience.

Establish a Clear Visual Hierarchy
Organize your CTAs by priority, so users know what to focus on first. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Apply the AIDA Framework
Structure your page and CTAs to guide users through the decision-making process:

• Attention: Grab attention with compelling headlines.
• Interest: Highlight benefits that matter to your audience.
• Desire: Use social proof to build trust.
• Action: Place your CTA at the right moment to encourage clicks.

3. Bad Mobile Website Design

With 59% of web traffic now coming from mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website isn’t just nice to have – it’s essential. Below, we’ll break down how to spot common mobile design issues on B2B websites and strategies to fix them.

Finding Mobile Design Flaws

Start by identifying where users are struggling. Here’s a key insight: desktop conversion rates are more than double those of mobile devices globally. That gap signals plenty of opportunities to improve.

Common Mobile Design Problems

• Navigation Complexity
  Many B2B sites overcomplicate their navigation. A UserTesting study revealed that users often get lost in confusing menus and unfamiliar product categories. Multi-level menus, in particular, are a pain to navigate on smaller screens.
• Touch Target Issues
  When clickable elements like buttons or links are too close together, users end up mis-tapping, which leads to frustration. Think about crowded search bars, shop buttons, or product categories.
• Slow Loading Speeds
  Speed matters – a lot. Here’s how load times affect user behavior:
  • A 1-to-3-second increase in load time leads to 32% more users leaving.
  • At 5 seconds, 90% of users bounce.
  • By 10 seconds, the bounce rate skyrockets to 123%.

Now that we’ve identified the problem areas, let’s look at how to fix them.

Fixing Mobile Issues

Optimize for Speed and Performance
Speed is critical for keeping users engaged. Here are a few proven tweaks to boost loading times:

Improve Touch Interactions
Google suggests that buttons should be at least 48 pixels wide with enough spacing to avoid accidental clicks.

“Mobile usability requires stricter and more scaled-back design than desktop usability. That’s why you need a separate mobile design. Simply using responsive web design to make the full site accessible on mobile devices results in a substandard mobile UX.” – Jakob Nielsen

Enhance User Experience

• Streamline Forms
  Simplify forms by sticking to only the most important fields. For phone numbers, use numeric keypads to make input easier.
• Optimize Content Display
  Keep your layout clean and ensure all content is easy to access. One UserTesting participant noted, “I feel like there would be more product photos if I viewed the store on my PC, so I’ll wait and complete the purchase there.”. This highlights the importance of displaying complete content on mobile.
• Simplify Navigation
  Limit menu depth to no more than two levels and include a prominent search bar for quick access to products or information.

4. Websites That Load Too Slowly

After refining navigation and mobile usability, there’s another major factor that can make or break user experience: site speed. It’s not just a technical detail – it directly affects conversions. In fact, 40% of visitors leave websites that take more than 3 seconds to load.

How Slow Speed Hurts Business

A sluggish website can have a serious impact on your revenue. Here’s why:

• A one-second delay in load time can slash conversions by 7%.
• Nearly half of users (47%) expect pages to load within 2 seconds.
• For a giant like Amazon, a single second of delay could mean $1.6 billion in lost annual sales.

And it gets worse: if your pages take over 6 seconds to load, bounce rates can more than double. Slow loading times don’t just frustrate users – they can disrupt the entire sales funnel, reducing engagement, satisfaction, and ultimately, revenue. But don’t worry, there are actionable steps to fix this.

Making Your Site Faster

Want to speed things up? Here’s how to get started:

Optimize Your Assets and Code

• Compress images with tools like TinyPNG to reduce file size while keeping quality intact.
• Remove unnecessary white spaces in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.
• Eliminate unused CSS and JavaScript to streamline code.
• Clean up outdated logs and temporary files.

Improve Server Performance

Monitor Performance Regularly

Use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze your website’s speed. These platforms provide detailed reports and practical recommendations so you can fine-tune your site.

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5. Unclear Business Benefits

Your website visitors need to understand your value right away. Research shows that people only read 20% to 28% of the words on a webpage and spend no more than 25 seconds on any given page. If your value proposition isn’t crystal clear, they’ll move on.

Why Messages Fall Short

Many B2B websites fail to communicate their value effectively because they fall into these common traps:

Take this example of ineffective messaging from a real B2B website:

“Essentially an intelligent enterprise that remains ahead of competition and agile to adjust to varied market conditions, Acme is committed to providing you with a customized solution and implementation that is cost-effective, timely, scalable, maintainable and state-of-the-art.”

This text is packed with buzzwords but fails to explain what the company actually does or how it benefits customers.

Writing Benefits That Stick

Clear, compelling messaging is essential for converting visitors into leads. Here’s how to refine your approach:

Lead With the Most Important Point
Use the inverted pyramid style, starting with your core message. For instance:

“Acme is a global management consulting firm. We are the trusted adviser to the world’s leading businesses, governments, and institutions.”

Make It Easy to Scan

• Break up text with short paragraphs, clear subheadings, and plenty of white space.
• Highlight specific, measurable outcomes for customers.
• Test your messaging by asking someone unfamiliar with your business to describe what you do in just five seconds.

Track Your Results
Monitor key metrics like bounce rates, time on site, conversion rates, and exit patterns to see how well your messaging resonates.

As Andrea Harris from Search Engine Land puts it:

“Many visitors to your brand’s B2B website want to simply learn what your company offers and how it is relevant.”

Messaging is twice as important as design when it comes to converting visitors. By focusing on clear, benefit-driven content that directly addresses your audience’s needs, you can boost your website’s performance and generate more leads.

Once your messaging is on point, the next step is to fine-tune your lead capture forms.

6. Contact Forms That Are Too Long

Long contact forms are a major conversion killer. When forms ask for too much information, they not only frustrate users but also cost businesses potential leads and revenue. In fact, 27% of users abandon forms simply because they’re too long.

Why Forms Fall Short

Forms fail when they ask for unnecessary details upfront. For example, Expedia’s infamous ‘company’ field, which served no real purpose, ended up costing them $12 million annually in lost bookings.

Here are some common form issues and how they impact conversions:

Jon Miller, VP of Marketing at Marketo, once said:

“Why should I ask for data, hurt my conversion rate and get bad data when I can buy it cheaper?”

The takeaway? Simplify your forms to keep users engaged.

How to Create More Effective Forms

Streamlined forms can dramatically boost your conversion rates. A great example: Imagescape reduced their form fields from 11 to just 4, resulting in a 120% increase in conversions.

Here’s how you can optimize your forms:

Ask Only for What’s Essential
Stick to the basics. Limiting your form to three fields – like name, email, and company name – can result in a 25% conversion rate. The simpler, the better.

Incorporate Smart Design
Design matters. Use these tips to make forms more user-friendly:

• Place field labels above input boxes for better readability.
• Enable browser autofill to save users time.
• Implement inline validation to correct errors instantly.
• Swap traditional CAPTCHAs for reCAPTCHA, as CAPTCHAs can reduce conversions by 3.2%.

Make Phone Numbers Optional
Mandatory phone fields are a common reason for form abandonment. ClickTale found that making phone numbers optional reduced abandonment rates from 39% to just 4%.

Use Automation Tools
Leverage tools that enrich data automatically. For instance, you can use IP addresses or email domains to fill in company details. This reduces the number of fields without sacrificing valuable information.

For forms that absolutely need more fields, consider breaking them into smaller steps or using a horizontal layout to make the process feel less overwhelming. Regularly analyze form performance and run A/B tests to find the right balance between collecting data and encouraging conversions.

Well-designed forms don’t just convert better – they enhance your website’s overall performance.

7. Website Elements That Exclude Users

The WebAIM Million 2023 report uncovered a startling fact: 95.9% of home pages fail to meet basic accessibility standards. This means countless potential users are unable to access these sites, leading to missed opportunities and lost revenue.

Common Accessibility Issues

An in-depth review of one million home pages identified a staggering 56,791,260 accessibility issues, averaging 56.8 errors per page. Here are two of the most widespread problems and their impact:

These issues directly affect around 15% of the global population. As Technical Writer Nazneenahmad puts it:

“Web accessibility ensures that websites and web apps are usable by everyone, including people with impairments.”

Steps to Improve Accessibility

Fixing these barriers not only ensures compliance with accessibility standards but also improves overall user engagement. Here’s how you can make your site more inclusive:

1. Enhance Visual Accessibility

• Use color contrast ratios of at least 4.5:1 for standard text and 3:1 for larger text.
• Stick to simple fonts like Arial or Helvetica, with font sizes ranging from 12 to 18 pixels.
• Add descriptive alt text to all images to support screen reader users.

2. Improve Navigation

• Create a clear heading structure using proper hierarchy (H1–H6).
• Add “skip to main content” links to assist screen readers.
• Ensure all interactive elements can be accessed via keyboard.

3. Optimize Forms and Content

• Explicitly label form fields using the <label> element.
• Provide clear error messages with instructions for resolution.
• Add captions and transcripts to all video content.

4. Technical Enhancements

• Use WAI-ARIA attributes for dynamic content to improve usability.
• Structure data tables with properly marked headers.
• Write unique, descriptive text for all digital assets.

8. Missing Lead Generation Content

Once you’ve optimized your site’s performance and engagement, the next step is turning your content into a tool for generating leads. Successful B2B websites typically capture leads from at least 3% of their visitors.

Finding Content Weaknesses

A deep dive into your content often uncovers gaps that hinder your ability to turn visitors into leads. Here are some common issues:

Other frequent problems include:

• Blog posts without clear calls-to-action
• No gated premium content (e.g., whitepapers, ebooks, templates)
• Missing conversion forms on high-traffic pages
• Limited social proof from existing customers
• Lack of educational content addressing key customer challenges

Creating Lead-Generating Content

Research highlights that personalized calls-to-action outperform generic ones by 202%. To turn your content into a lead-generation powerhouse, consider these strategies:

1. Optimize Your Landing Pages

Focusing on landing page improvements can boost conversion rates by an average of 12%. For example, a personalized pricing campaign led to a 63% increase in upgrades.

2. Leverage Social Proof

“People trust other people more than they trust brands.”

• Hannah Harris, Author at HubSpot

Running a well-executed G2 review campaign could increase your monthly reviews by 135% while maintaining a strong rating.

3. Diversify Your Content Formats

Reinforce your message by using a mix of content types:

• Webinars for live, interactive education
• Case Studies to showcase customer success stories
• Whitepapers for detailed industry insights
• Blog Posts to keep your audience informed
• Email Sequences to nurture prospects through the sales funnel

4. Add Conversion Tools

• Live chat on key pages to qualify leads in real time
• Short, mobile-friendly contact forms
• Automated thank-you emails, which can achieve a 45% open rate and a 16% click-through rate

These tactics have been shown to deliver impressive results, such as a 27% increase in enterprise demos and a 78% rise in new mid-market signups.

“The clearer your goal, the easier it is to create a site that actually converts.”

• Hannah Harris, Author at HubSpot

Conclusion: Next Steps for Your B2B Website

It’s time to tackle the challenges holding your B2B website back. Start by conducting a website audit using tools like Google Analytics to uncover the most critical issues impacting your performance.

To help you focus your efforts, here’s a priority guide for website improvements:

Start with the changes that deliver the quickest results, like improving page speed and optimizing your mobile design. These “quick wins” can significantly reduce bounce rates and ensure users find essential information effortlessly.

Make sure to track metrics that matter: revenue, pipeline growth, high-intent leads, organic traffic, and goal completions. These data points provide actionable insights, far more useful than vanity metrics. As Phil Vallender, Co-Founder at Blend, explains:

“If you’re doing good B2B marketing, I would actually expect bounce rate to go up rather than down, which is counterintuitive to a lot of advice marketers are given”.

Adopt a step-by-step approach to implement changes. Focus on combining quick fixes with long-term strategies like optimizing navigation, improving CTAs, and enhancing loading speed. This balanced approach has proven successful for companies like Wasp Barcode, which saw a 250% increase in product demos within six months by methodically refining their website.

FAQs

How can I identify and address the most important issues on my B2B website to improve user experience?

To get started, define your business goals and pinpoint the key actions on your website that align with those objectives – whether it’s capturing leads or boosting sales. These actions, often referred to as primary conversions, should shape your focus and priorities.

Next, take a deep dive into your website with a comprehensive audit. Look closely at elements like navigation, calls-to-action, and how well your site performs on mobile devices. Addressing issues that directly affect user engagement and conversion rates should be your top priority. Implement goal tracking and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your progress and uncover areas for improvement.

Lastly, develop a clear optimization plan and regularly evaluate your website’s performance. This ensures it keeps pace with your changing business strategy. Regular updates and tweaks will not only enhance the user experience but also help you achieve better outcomes over time.

How can I improve the mobile design of my B2B website to better engage users and boost conversions?

To make your B2B website work better on mobile devices, start with a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes effortlessly. Keep navigation simple by reducing menu options and using collapsible menus for easier browsing. Speed matters, so compress images, enable browser caching, and remove unnecessary scripts to improve load times. Focus on mobile-friendly content by using short paragraphs, bullet points, and clear, tappable calls-to-action that guide users effectively.

Don’t forget to test your site on multiple devices and browsers to make sure everything works smoothly. Use analytics tools to track performance and pinpoint areas that need tweaking. By implementing these steps, you can deliver a more seamless and engaging mobile experience for your audience.

Why is it important to simplify contact forms on a B2B website, and how can they be optimized to boost conversions?

Simplifying contact forms is a smart move because it makes the process easier for users and boosts the chances that they’ll actually hit “submit.” Overly long or complicated forms? They tend to drive people away. Shorter, well-thought-out forms, on the other hand, feel more approachable and often lead to better results.

Here’s how to make your forms work harder for you: keep it simple. Only ask for the information you truly need – every extra field is a potential reason for someone to give up. Make sure the form is easy to spot on your website, with a clear, clean design that’s simple to follow. Highlight required fields so there’s no confusion, and consider adding small touches like tooltips or examples to help users along the way. Finally, be transparent about how you’ll use their information. A little clarity builds a lot of trust, and trust can make all the difference in whether someone completes the form or not.

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Last Updated on July 6, 2025.

Ricardo Mazzi

Marketing leader, drummer, husband and father of two amazing teenage athletes. Ricardo has been involved in digital marketing for over decades holding leadership positions for various healthcare tech companies. He founded Mazzi Studios during the pandemic to help businesses of all industries plan and execute marketing strategies.