The cost of a poorly designed website: like leaks in your business roof
If the cost of a poorly designed website were an actual bill, it would be the one you never see coming – like discovering a slow leak in your roof after the ceiling caves in.
From the outside, your site might look “fine”. It loads (eventually), it has your logo, there’s a contact page somewhere. Job done, right?
Not quite.
A poorly designed website quietly drains your business: lost enquiries, missed sales, wasted ad spend, and a steady trickle of people choosing your competitors instead.
In this guide, we’ll walk through what that really costs in pounds and pence, how to spot the red flags, and what to fix first so your website starts working like a reliable part of your business – not a leaky roof you keep ignoring.
1. The hidden price tag: what a bad website really costs
Think of your website as a member of staff.
Would you keep someone on the payroll who:
- Ignores customers at the front desk
- Gives confusing answers on the phone
- Loses written enquiries down the back of the filing cabinet
- Turns up late and leaves early
That’s exactly what a poorly designed website does – you’re just not seeing it on a timesheet.
Here’s where the cost shows up.
Lost enquiries and sales (the silent killer)
Imagine you run a local plumbing business. You get 1,000 visitors a month to your site.
- A decent site might convert 5% of visitors into enquiries: 50 leads
- A confusing, slow, badly designed site might convert 1%: 10 leads
That’s 40 leads a month disappearing.
If each job is worth just £150 on average, that’s:
- 40 x £150 = £6,000 a month
- Over a year: £72,000 in potential revenue gone, just because your website made it hard to get in touch.
Suddenly, that “we’ll redo the website when things are quieter” decision looks very expensive.
Wasted marketing and ad spend
Paying for Google Ads, Facebook campaigns or leaflet drops, but sending people to a weak website, is like putting more water into a leaky bucket.
- You pay for every click
- People land on a cluttered, slow, or confusing page
- They leave within seconds
You haven’t just lost a potential customer – you’ve paid for the privilege.
A well-designed website makes the most of every visit. A poor one turns your marketing budget into confetti.
Damage to trust and reputation
People judge your business by your website in the first few seconds.
Ask yourself honestly:
- Does it look current or dated?
- Is it easy to find what you do and where you are?
- Does it work properly on a mobile?
If your site looks like it hasn’t been touched since 2014, visitors don’t think, “Ah, they’re just busy.” They think, “If they don’t look after their own business, will they look after mine?”
That doubt costs you trust. And trust is the foundation of every sale.
2. The most expensive design mistakes (and how to spot them)
Not every problem needs a full redesign. But some issues are like structural cracks – they affect everything.
Here are the big ones.
2.1 Slow loading pages: like a locked shop door
On a busy high street, if a shop door is stuck, people don’t wrestle with it – they walk next door.
Online, a slow website is that stuck door.
Warning signs:
- Your site takes more than 3 seconds to load on mobile
- Images are huge and take ages to appear
- You’ve added lots of plugins or scripts over the years
What it costs you:
- Higher bounce rates (people leaving without doing anything)
- Lower Google rankings over time
- Frustrated visitors who never come back
2.2 Confusing navigation: like a shop with no signs
If people can’t quickly see where to go, they’ll leave.
Warning signs:
- Too many menu items
- Vague labels like “Solutions” or “Resources” instead of clear words like “Services” or “Prices”
- Important pages buried in dropdowns
What it costs you:
- People never finding the services you actually want to sell
- Fewer contact form submissions
- Lower engagement across the site
2.3 Poor mobile experience: like squeezing a shop into a cupboard
More than half of web traffic is on mobile. If your website only really works on a desktop, you’re turning away half your visitors.
Warning signs:
- Tiny text that needs pinching and zooming
- Buttons that are hard to tap with a thumb
- Layouts that break or overlap on small screens
What it costs you:
- Instant drop-offs from mobile users
- Lower search rankings (Google cares a lot about mobile)
- Missed “on the go” enquiries – often the most urgent, ready-to-buy visitors
2.4 Weak or missing calls-to-action: no one is asking for the sale
Some websites do a great job explaining what they do… and then never clearly ask the visitor to do anything.
Warning signs:
- No clear button or link telling people what to do next
- Calls-to-action hidden at the very bottom of long pages
- Vague text like “Learn more” instead of “Get a free quote”
What it costs you:
- People reading, nodding… then leaving
- Fewer phone calls, bookings and enquiries than you should be getting
2.5 Outdated design: like faded signage and flickering lights
Design trends don’t matter for vanity – they matter because they influence trust.
Warning signs:
- Tiny centred text across the whole page
- Flashing banners or auto-playing music (yes, still out there!)
- Low-quality images or old clipart
What it costs you:
- People assuming your business is behind the times
- Premium pricing feeling harder to justify
3. How to measure the damage (in simple terms)
You don’t need to be a data analyst to see whether your website is leaking money.
Here’s a simple way to check, using three basic numbers.
Step 1: Work out your website’s conversion rate
Ask yourself for the last 30 days:
- How many people visited your website? (Traffic)
- How many enquiries, calls or sales came from the website? (Leads)
Then:
Conversion rate = (Leads ÷ Traffic) x 100
If 500 people visited and 10 enquired:
- 10 ÷ 500 = 0.02
- 0.02 x 100 = 2% conversion rate
For most small business sites, 3–5% is a reasonable target. If you’re under 1–2%, there’s real room for improvement.
Step 2: Put a value on each enquiry
Roughly:
- How many website enquiries become paying customers? (Close rate)
- What’s the average value of a customer?
If 1 in 4 enquiries becomes a £200 job:
- Each enquiry is worth about £50 on average
Step 3: Estimate your monthly leak
Now imagine improving your site so your conversion rate climbs from 2% to 4%.
With 500 visitors a month:
- 2% = 10 enquiries
- 4% = 20 enquiries
That’s 10 extra enquiries a month.
At £50 per enquiry, that’s £500 additional revenue a month – or £6,000 a year – from the same traffic, just by fixing how your website works.
That’s the true cost of poor design: not what you paid to build the site, but what it stops you earning.
4. Quick wins: where to fix first for maximum impact
You don’t have to rebuild everything from scratch to see a difference. Start with the areas that affect visitors the most.
4.1 Make your contact options obvious
Your website should answer, in seconds: “How do I get hold of you?”
- Put your phone number in the header on every page
- Add a clear button like “Get a quote” or “Book a call” above the fold
- Keep your contact form short – name, email, phone, message is usually enough
4.2 Tidy your homepage like a shop window
Think of your homepage as your shop window on the high street.
It should clearly show:
- Who you help (e.g. “Accounting for UK small businesses”)
- What you do (e.g. “Tax returns, payroll, bookkeeping”)
- Why choose you (e.g. “Fixed fees, no jargon, friendly support”)
- What to do next (e.g. “Book a free 15-minute call”)
Remove anything that distracts from those four things.
4.3 Fix the worst mobile issues
Check your site on your own phone. Ask a friend or family member to try it too.
- Can you read the text without zooming?
- Is there a clear button to contact you?
- Do images and sections line up properly?
If the answer is “no” to any of these, getting your site properly responsive is a high-impact fix.
4.4 Speed up the slowest pages
You can use free tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to see which pages are dragging their feet.
Simple improvements include:
- Compressing large images
- Removing old plugins you don’t use
- Limiting heavy animations or sliders
You don’t need a perfect score – but shaving a few seconds off load times can significantly reduce drop-offs.
5. When it’s time to stop patching and start rebuilding
Sometimes, like an old car that keeps failing its MOT, a website reaches the point where constant small fixes cost more than a proper replacement.
It may be time for a new build if:
- The design looks obviously dated compared to your competitors
- It’s hard or impossible to make basic changes without breaking things
- Your business has changed (new services, new audience, new locations) but the site hasn’t kept up
- You’re embarrassed to send people to it
In those cases, a well-planned redesign isn’t just a “nice to have” – it’s an investment that can pay for itself in extra enquiries and sales.
6. Turning your website from cost centre to top performer
A poorly designed website is like a leaky roof: you can ignore it for a while, but the damage quietly spreads.
The good news? Once you understand the cost of a poorly designed website, you can make clear, practical decisions:
- Fix the worst leaks (speed, mobile, contact options)
- Measure your conversion rate so you can see improvements
- Decide whether a refresh or a full rebuild makes more sense
At Los Webos, we build fast, clear, conversion-focused websites for UK SMEs – sites that feel simple for your customers and powerful for your business.
If you’d like a straightforward view of how much your current site might be costing you, we can help.
Book a free website health check with Los Webos – we’ll walk through what’s working, what isn’t, and what changes would give you the biggest return, in plain English and without the hard sell.
Your website should be your hardest-working salesperson, not a silent drain on your profits. Let’s make it earn its keep.