Returning visitors and what they came back for specifically

6 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Introduction

Somebody arriving for the second or third time is a different person from a first-time visitor, in every way that matters. They already know what you do. They are closer to deciding. They came back for something specific — a price, a phone number, an example, a detail they half-remember — and they are frequently irritated by having to find it again.

Almost every small business site treats both identically, which means the returning visitor, who is the more valuable of the two, gets a page designed to introduce a stranger to the business. The remedy is not personalisation technology; it is arranging the page so that the things people come back for are quick to find.

1. Returning visitors and what they came back for is usually one specific thing

The observation.

Not the general proposition. A number, a price, an address, an example, an answer they read before. Their visit is a retrieval task rather than an evaluation. Designing for evaluation when the visitor is retrieving is what makes the second visit frustrating.

2. Find out what they retrieve

The evidence.

Which pages returning visitors land on and go to. Where you have any analytics, this is directly available, and the answer is usually contact details and prices. Ten minutes with that report tells you what to move higher.

3. Make those things easy to reach from anywhere

The structural response.

Phone number, price information and location visible or one click away from every page. This costs nothing and it is what the returning visitor actually needs. A header containing the phone number does most of this on its own.

4. Do not make them re-read the introduction

The irritation to remove.

A long introductory section above the practical detail is helpful once and an obstacle thereafter. Keeping the useful content high on the page serves both audiences. First-time visitors also skim, so this rarely costs anything with them either.

5. Recognise that they are closer to enquiring

The commercial point.

Returning visitors convert at a substantially higher rate. Anything that impedes them is more expensive per visitor than the equivalent obstacle for a first-time reader.

6. Keep your pages stable

The retrieval requirement.

Somebody returning for something they saw before needs it to still be where it was. Frequent restructuring breaks the memory that returning visitors rely on.

7. Do not hide the contact route behind navigation

The recurring failure.

The most common thing a returning visitor wants is a way to contact you. Requiring a menu and a page load for that is a small tax on your most valuable audience.

8. Give them a reason the second visit is not wasted

The addition.

Something new, a recent example, an updated price, a current lead time. A site that never changes offers a returning visitor nothing beyond retrieval.

9. Measure conversion by visit number where you can

The analysis.

Splitting enquiry rate between first and returning visits tells you whether your site serves the second group at all. Most businesses have never looked at it separately.

Be careful about personalising in ways that surprise people. Changing a page substantially based on previous behaviour can be disorienting and, where it relies on tracking, carries consent requirements that differ by jurisdiction. Arranging the page well serves the same purpose without any of that.

Conclusion

Serve the retrieval task, because that is what a second visit usually is.

Find out which pages returning visitors go to, keep contact details, prices and location reachable from anywhere, avoid making them scroll past an introduction they have read, remember that they convert at a higher rate so obstacles cost more, keep your page structure stable so people can find what they saw before, never hide the contact route behind a menu, give them something current so the visit is not purely retrieval, and measure conversion by first versus returning visit.