The cost of a poorly designed website: stop leaking money online
If your website was a shop on the high street, would you walk into it… or cross the road?
The cost of a poorly designed website isn’t just about embarrassment or a few missed enquiries. It’s like having a leaky roof in your shop: you might not see the drips at first, but over time it ruins the stock, the floor and your reputation.
In this guide, we’ll break down the real-world costs of bad web design for SMEs, how to spot the warning signs, and what to do if you suspect your site is quietly scaring customers away.
1. The silent killer: lost trust in the first 5 seconds
Imagine you walk into a restaurant. The menus are sticky, the lighting’s harsh, and the staff ignore you. The food might be amazing, but you’re already thinking about leaving.
Online, that decision happens in under five seconds.
A poorly designed website sends instant red flags:
- Outdated design = “Are they still in business?”
- Cluttered layouts = “This feels dodgy.”
- Blurry images = “If they cut corners here, what else do they cut corners on?”
Those first impressions directly affect:
- Enquiry volume (people won’t fill in forms if they don’t trust you)
- Average order value (nervous visitors spend less)
- Referral potential (no one proudly shares an embarrassing website)
You might be the best in your field, but if your website looks like it’s from 2011, you’re losing people before they’ve even read a word.
2. The hidden maths: how much is your website really losing you?
Let’s put some numbers on it.
Say you’re a local service business:
- 1,000 visitors per month
- 3% of visitors currently make an enquiry (30 enquiries)
- You convert 40% of those into customers (12 customers)
- Average profit per new customer: £250
Monthly profit from the website: 12 × £250 = £3,000
Now, imagine your design is confusing, slow and hard to use, so your enquiry rate is only 1% instead of 3%:
- 1,000 visitors × 1% = 10 enquiries
- 10 × 40% = 4 customers
- 4 × £250 = £1,000 profit
That’s £2,000 per month lost because the website puts people off.
Over a year, that’s £24,000 quietly disappearing – far more than the cost of a professional redesign.
A poorly designed website doesn’t just “underperform”. It actively burns money.
3. Design that confuses = staff that firefight
A bad website doesn’t just frustrate customers – it creates extra work for your team.
Think of it like a confusing car park: if the signs are unclear, people constantly ask attendants where to go. The problem isn’t the people; it’s the layout.
Signs your website is doing this:
- You get lots of calls asking the same basic questions (“Where are you based?”, “What are your prices?”, “How do I book?”)
- Customers regularly email instead of using your forms because they “couldn’t find them”
- People turn up at the wrong time or without the right info because the website didn’t explain things clearly
The cost here is in time and wages:
- Staff stuck answering repetitive questions instead of doing higher-value work
- Longer onboarding because customers are confused about what happens next
- More mistakes because information is scattered or unclear
A well-designed website acts like a helpful receptionist. A poorly designed one is like a locked door with a scribbled note.
4. Bad design makes your marketing more expensive
You can pour money into Google Ads, social media, flyers and networking… but if your website is weak, all that effort hits a brick wall.
It’s like paying for a massive billboard that points people to a shop with the lights off.
Here’s how bad design inflates your marketing costs:
- Lower conversion rates mean you pay more per lead
- High bounce rates (people leaving quickly) harm your ad performance and quality scores
- Poor mobile experience wastes traffic from social media (where most users are on phones)
Example:
- You spend £500 on ads
- 500 people click through (£1 per click)
- A good website converts 5% → 25 enquiries
- A poor website converts 1% → 5 enquiries
Cost per enquiry:
- Good website: £500 / 25 = £20 per enquiry
- Poor website: £500 / 5 = £100 per enquiry
Same ad spend. Completely different results, purely down to design and user experience.
Your website is the multiplier on every marketing pound you spend.
5. When bad design hurts your SEO (and why it’s not just about keywords)
Most people think SEO is all about keywords and backlinks. But search engines care massively about how users behave on your site.
If your design is poor, people:
- Leave quickly (high bounce rate)
- View fewer pages
- Don’t engage or click around
Search engines see this as: “People don’t find this site useful” – and you slowly slide down the rankings.
Common design issues that damage SEO:
- Tiny, hard-to-tap buttons on mobile
- Text that’s difficult to read (small fonts, poor colour contrast)
- Confusing navigation that makes it hard to find key pages
- Intrusive pop-ups that block content
Good SEO isn’t just a technical checklist. It’s about building a site that humans actually like using.
If you’re interested in the more technical side, we’ve also written about technical SEO basics and local SEO strategies – but design and usability are the foundations everything else sits on.
6. Reputation damage: your website as your online handshake
Every interaction with your brand sends a message. Your website is often the first handshake.
A poorly designed site can make you look:
- Smaller than you are
- Less professional than your competitors
- More expensive (because people assume “old and clunky” means “inefficient and behind the times”)
For certain industries – like legal, finance, healthcare or trades coming into people’s homes – trust is everything.
If your competitor’s website feels modern, clear and reassuring, and yours feels dated and confusing, who would you choose as a customer?
This reputational cost is hard to measure, but very real.
7. How to spot if your website is costing you money
If you’re not technical, it can be hard to know whether your site just “looks a bit old” or is actively hurting your business.
Here’s a quick checklist.
Ask yourself (and your team):
- Do we feel slightly embarrassed sending people to our website?
- Do we regularly say, “Our website’s not great, but…” on calls?
- Do customers often ring to ask for information that is on the site?
- Does our site look and feel noticeably worse than our main competitors’?
Ask your analytics (or a simple free tool):
If you have Google Analytics or similar, check:
- Bounce rate: Are a large chunk of visitors leaving after one page?
- Time on site: Are people leaving within a few seconds?
- Device breakdown: Is performance worse on mobile than desktop?
If you don’t track anything yet, don’t worry. You can still:
- View your site on your phone and ask: Would I trust this business if I didn’t know them?
- Ask 3–5 friends or friendly customers for honest feedback
If multiple people say “It’s a bit hard to use” or “I couldn’t find X”, believe them. That’s exactly what strangers are experiencing too.
8. Fixing the damage: where to invest first
The good news: you don’t always need a huge, all-singing, all-dancing rebuild.
Think of it like renovating a house. You fix the structural issues first, then worry about the fancy cushions.
Priority 1: Clarity
- Clear headline on your homepage: who you are, what you do, where you do it, and who for
- Obvious calls to action: buttons that say things like “Get a quote”, “Book a call”, “Check availability”
- Simple navigation: 5–7 main menu items max, using plain language (e.g. Services, Prices, About, Contact)
Priority 2: Mobile experience
- Text that’s easy to read without zooming
- Buttons big enough to tap with a thumb
- No horizontal scrolling
Priority 3: Speed and basics
- Optimised images so pages load quickly
- No broken links or error pages
- Forms that are short, simple and actually send to the right email address
Priority 4: Trust signals
- Real photos (ideally of you, your team, your premises)
- Testimonials and reviews in key places
- Clear contact details and, if relevant, registration numbers or accreditations
Once these are in place, you can then look at deeper conversion improvements, better content, and more advanced SEO.
9. When it’s time to stop patching and start again
Sometimes, tweaking a poor website is like repainting a car that’s already rusting through.
You probably need a proper redesign if:
- The site isn’t mobile-friendly and can’t be easily made so
- It’s difficult or impossible for you to update content yourself
- The design is based on an old template that no longer fits your brand
- Every change feels like a hack or workaround
In those cases, a new, well-planned website often works out cheaper in the long run than constant patching – especially when you factor in the cost of missed leads and extra staff time.
10. Turn your website from cost centre to sales engine
A poorly designed website is like a member of staff who turns up late, shrugs at customers and forgets to pass on messages.
A well-designed website, on the other hand, is a 24/7 salesperson:
- Greeting visitors with a clear message
- Answering common questions
- Guiding people towards enquiring, booking or buying
- Supporting your offline marketing and word-of-mouth
At Los Webos, we specialise in helping UK SMEs move from “a bit embarrassed about the website” to “proud to send everyone there”. We build fast, beautiful, easy-to-use sites that don’t just look good – they pay for themselves.
If you suspect your current site is leaking money, let’s have a straightforward chat. We’ll review where it’s letting you down, explain your options in plain English, and show you how your website can finally start pulling its weight.
Ready to find out what your poorly designed website is really costing you? Get in touch with Los Webos and let’s turn it into one of the most valuable assets in your business.