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The humble 404 page is served whenever something either goes wrong on your site or someone enters a URL that doesn’t exist. Yet this error page could be getting you customers rather than losing you visitors.
Let’s find out how.
The 404 as a dead-end
Don’t you just hate it?
Nothing is more annoying as a visitor than having a 404 page returned.
Some sites have tried to sweeten the pill for us with humorous designs but it still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth whenever you land on it.
Take Kit Kat for example (pictured)
Kit Kat is far from alone – take a quick glance through these engaging and humorous 404 pages to find plenty of other examples.
Yet all of these witty pages are still all missing a trick.
The 404 page as a killer tool for conversion
What do you want from your website visitors?
You want them to either do something or to buy something.
With a little bit of thought, and some design tweaks, your 404 page could be acting as the perfect tool to help them along the way, rather than offering them a cul-de-sac that marks the end of the road.
Instead of just stating the problem (‘page not found’) your 404 page can turn a mistake into an opportunity. Your 404 page could offer a solution.
Here is what you need to do.
- Include a search function on your page to get them straight back to where they want to be
- Make sure the page contains navigation to help them start their exploration again
- Include a compelling reason to leave their email address so you can mail them with offers or updates
- Link to the most recent or popular pages and posts on your site
Of course, there is one thing more effective than a killer 404 page, and that is never needing to call on its services.
If you cast an eye over your analytics once a month you can spot how 404 pages are occurring and do something to minimise them.
But that is another story.
If you want to redesign your 404 page to keep visitors on your site you can give us a call – we’ll turn those mistakes into opportunities for you.