Getting new customers on the web boils down to only two choices: capture your audience’s attention or lose their interest permanently. Today’s wired customers are known for having a short attention span, which means that content marketing strategists need to level up their online approach. Specifically, you only have an average of eight seconds to convince website visitors that you’re worth their time.

As if this wasn’t challenging enough, it turns out that customers are more cautious than we think when it comes to trusting a business website. This is understandable, as online fraud and data breaches are spreading rapidly nowadays. Aside from that, today’s customers can easily find alternatives to brands who fail to meet their expectations. So, if your site performs poorly, potential customers can quickly find another brand website that works efficiently.

But what does poor website performance actually mean for customers? Here are the seven main things that drive customers away from brand websites, as derived from What Erodes Trust in Digital Brands, a survey recently conducted by IT security and data service provider Neustar and independent research firm Ponemon Institute.

1. Errors, mistakes, and inaccuracies

If you think that spelling, grammar, and other “minor details” won’t matter to your site visitors, think again. A whopping 91% of surveyed individuals said that they wouldn t trust a website that contains errors, mistakes, and other forms of inaccuracies. So show that you respect your customers by making sure that every bit of data you publish is correct and backed by research.

2. Frequent crashes and unavailability

If your ecommerce website frequently encounters glitches and often becomes unavailable, you ll be losing a lot of potential clients. According to the survey, 88% of customers don t trust websites that usually crash or go offline.

3. Lax authentication process

You’re probably thinking that you’re getting more customers by making it easy for them to verify their identity, but recent statistics say otherwise. According to 75% of survey participants, you’ll be doing customers a great service by implementing strict authentication procedures, as making them easy would expose your website to numerous threats.

4. Long loading times

In these extremely fast-paced world, customers prefer brands that can quickly deliver their services. It s not surprising that 67% of the survey participants say they’re unwilling to wait for websites that take too long to load, so make sure to optimize your website’s performance.

5. Previous security breaches

Unsurprisingly, 63% of customers try to stay away from sites that have previously been hacked. This would then require you to implement strong IT security measures and solutions to ward off malicious attacks to your system.

6. Poor data protection

With every online transaction, people have to deal with the idea of entrusting their personal and credit card information to an ecommerce website. Add the possibility of poor online data security and they’ll find even more difficult to trust a business website. If your business doesn’t employ data security to protect your users information, you d likely lose a big percentage of customers.

7. Too much reliance on passwords

Passwords should offer an extra layer of protection to user data, but they shouldn t be the only thing that stands between cybercriminals and customers.

Your ecommerce website is a virtual representation of your brand. It has the power to attract, inform, and convince visitors to buy your products and services. To make the most out of your online venture, make sure your site promotes professionalism, efficiency, and trustworthiness.