Why Your Website Isn't Getting Enquiries (7 Leaks and How to Fix Them)
A website that gets visitors but no enquiries is not a traffic problem — it is a conversion problem, and it is usually fixable in a day. Before you rebuild anything, find out which of the two problems you actually have: nobody is arriving, or people arrive and leave. The fix is completely different.
First: do you have a traffic problem or a conversion problem?
Open Google Search Console and Google Analytics, and look at the last 28 days. Then read off the table below.
| What you see | What it means | What to fix first |
|---|---|---|
| Under ~100 visitors a month | Traffic problem | Google Business Profile, service pages, getting found locally |
| Hundreds of visitors, no enquiries | Conversion problem | The seven leaks below |
| Visitors, but nearly all leave in seconds | Speed or mobile problem | Leaks 3 and 4 |
| No data at all | You are flying blind | Install analytics before changing anything |
The 10-minute test on your own website
Do this on your phone, on mobile data, not on your office wi-fi:
- Open your site and count the seconds until you can read something. Over three seconds is a leak.
- Without scrolling, can you see one obvious way to make contact?
- Tap your phone number. Does it dial? Tap your email. Does it open a mail app?
- Try to send an enquiry. Count the fields. Count the taps.
- Ask someone who has never seen the site what your business does. Give them five seconds.
Every failure above maps to one of the seven leaks.
Leak 1: No obvious next step
Visitors should never have to work out what to do. One primary action, repeated: at the top, after your services, and at the bottom of every page. "Get a Free Quote" beats "Submit". "WhatsApp Us" beats "Contact". If a visitor has to hunt for your number, they are already looking at a competitor.
Leak 2: No WhatsApp button
In South Africa, WhatsApp is how people prefer to make first contact — it is faster than a form and less awkward than a phone call. A floating WhatsApp button with a pre-filled message removes almost all of the friction, because the visitor never has to think about what to type first.
Leak 3: Broken on mobile
Most of your visitors are on a phone. Text that requires zooming, buttons too small to tap, a menu that covers the screen, or a form that pushes the keyboard over the send button will quietly cost you every enquiry. Test on a real phone, not a resized browser window on a desktop — they behave differently.
Leak 4: Slow loading
Every extra second of load time costs enquiries, and speed also affects where you rank on Google. The usual culprits are huge uncompressed images, a page-builder plugin loading code no one uses, and cheap slow hosting. Compressing images alone often halves load time.
Leak 5: No proof
Nobody enquires with a business they do not believe in. Reviews with real names, photos of your own work, years in business, a physical address and a company registration number all do the same job: they tell a stranger you are real. Stock photos of other people's offices do the opposite.
Leak 6: Contact friction
Every field in your form costs you enquiries. Name, contact and what they need is usually enough — you can ask the rest in the reply. Remove anything you do not act on, especially budget dropdowns and long service lists. And check where the form actually sends: forms that quietly fail, or land in spam, are one of the most common causes of a silent website.
Leak 7: You look like 2015
People judge credibility in seconds, and they judge it on appearance. Tiny text, dated stock photography, clashing colours and a cramped mobile layout all say the same thing: this business may not be around next year. Looking current is not vanity — it is trust.
What counts as normal
As a rough benchmark for a South African service business: out of 100 genuinely relevant visitors, somewhere between two and five making contact is healthy. One in 100 means one or two leaks. Zero out of several hundred almost always means something is broken rather than unpersuasive — a form that does not send, a number that does not dial, or a site that never finishes loading on mobile data.
Fix them in this order
| Priority | Fix | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Test that your form, phone and email actually work | 10 minutes |
| 2 | Add a WhatsApp button with a pre-filled message | Under an hour |
| 3 | Put one clear action above the fold on every page | An hour |
| 4 | Compress images and fix mobile layout | Half a day |
| 5 | Add reviews and photos of real work | Ongoing |
If you get through that list and the site is still quiet, the problem is usually further up the funnel — you may not be getting found at all. Our guide to getting found on Google covers that side, and if a rebuild is on the table, what a website costs in South Africa sets expectations before you ask for quotes.
Recent work
Every one of these was designed in full before the business paid anything.
Related reading
- 6 Trust Signals Every Business Website Needs
- Why Competitors Get More Enquiries Than You
- Turn Website Visitors Into WhatsApp Conversations
- Mobile-First Web Design: Is Your Site Phone-Ready?
- How to Get on Google's First Page in South Africa
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Frequently asked questions
Why is my website not getting any enquiries?
Either nobody is arriving, or people arrive and leave without acting. Check your visitor numbers first. Under roughly 100 visitors a month is a traffic problem and the fix is being found locally. Hundreds of visitors with no enquiries is a conversion problem, and the usual causes are no clear call to action, no WhatsApp option, a poor mobile experience, slow loading, no proof, a long form, or a dated design.
How many enquiries should a website get?
For a South African service business, two to five enquiries per 100 relevant visitors is healthy. One per 100 suggests one or two conversion leaks. Zero out of several hundred visitors usually means something is technically broken — a form that fails to send, a phone number that does not dial, or a page that never finishes loading on mobile data.
Does adding WhatsApp really increase enquiries?
In South Africa it usually does, because WhatsApp is how most people prefer to make first contact. It is faster than filling in a form and less awkward than phoning. A floating button with a pre-filled message removes the friction of deciding what to say first.
How do I know if my contact form is working?
Send yourself a test enquiry from your phone, on mobile data, and check the inbox it should land in, including the spam folder. Do this monthly. Silent form failures after a hosting change or a plugin update are one of the most common reasons a website suddenly stops producing enquiries.
Is my website too slow?
If it takes more than about three seconds before a visitor can read something on a phone using mobile data, it is too slow. Oversized images, heavy page-builder plugins and cheap hosting are the usual causes, and speed also affects how you rank on Google.
Should I rebuild my website or fix it?
Fix first. Working contact paths, a WhatsApp button, a clear action on every page and compressed images cost little and often recover enquiries within days. Rebuild when the site is slow at its foundation, cannot be edited, is not mobile-first, or looks dated enough to cost you trust before anyone reads a word.
About the author. Andy Njiokwuemegi is the founder of Andritha Online (Pty) Ltd (reg. 2026/735468/07), which designs and builds websites, online stores, mobile apps and custom software for businesses in South Africa and abroad. Every website is built in full before the client pays.