Why your rubbish removal website isn’t getting calls
People are landing on your site and leaving without ringing. Here are the usual reasons, and what to fix first.
By Michael Miller, founder of Requiq · · 3 min read
You can see people are visiting your website, but the phone isn’t ringing. Or you’re paying for Google Ads clicks and only a handful turn into enquiries. Almost always, the problem is one (or several) of the things below.
Work through them on your phone, not your laptop. That’s how your customers see your site.
1. The phone number isn’t obvious
Your customer wants to ring you. Make it impossible to miss: a tappable phone number in the header on every page, and on mobile a call button that stays on screen as they scroll. If they have to scroll to the footer to find your number, some of them won’t bother.
2. It’s slow on a phone
If your site takes more than a few seconds to show anything on 4G, people hit the back button and tap the next result. Big uncompressed photos, heavy page builders, sliders and chat widgets are the usual culprits. Run your homepage through Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool and look at the mobile score.
3. The headline doesn’t say what you do or where
“Welcome to Smith Services” tells the customer nothing. Your first line should say what you do and where, in plain English: “Rubbish removal and house clearance in Leicester and surrounding villages.” Then a short line on why they should pick you.
4. No idea what it’ll cost
You don’t have to publish a full price list, but customers want a rough idea before they ring. A “from” price, examples of typical jobs, or a clear explanation of how you price (by van load, by item, by time) all help. A site with no hint of price gets fewer calls from people worried about being stung.
5. Nothing proves you’re legitimate
Your customer is handing their waste to you, and they can be held responsible if it ends up fly-tipped. Show them they’re safe:
- Your waste carrier licence number, with a link to check it
- Real photos of your vans, your crew and real jobs. Not stock photos.
- Recent reviews, ideally pulled from Google
- A real address or service area, and a real name
6. They can’t tell whether you cover their area
If someone in a village ten miles out can’t quickly see whether you cover them, they’ll assume you don’t. List your main towns and areas clearly, and make postcode or town checks easy.
7. They can’t tell whether you take their stuff
Mattress? Fridge? Builders’ rubble? Garden waste? A short “what we take” list, and an honest “what we can’t take”, cuts a lot of hesitation and saves you time on the phone.
8. The quote form is a chore
Long forms with a dozen required fields lose people. Ask only for what you need to quote: name, phone, postcode, a description, and ideally photos. Photo quotes make pricing easier for you and the process quicker for them.
9. Your ads land on the wrong page
If someone searches “house clearance Derby”, clicks your ad and lands on a homepage talking about removals and parcel delivery, they’ll leave. Send ad clicks to a page that matches what they searched for.
Bonus: you’re not tracking calls
If you can’t see how many calls your website brings in, you can’t tell whether any change worked. Set up call tracking (and track clicks on your phone number, email and WhatsApp buttons) before you change anything else. Then you’ll know.
Where to start
If you only do three things this week: make the phone number unmissable on mobile, put your waste carrier licence and real photos on the homepage, and rewrite the headline to say what you do and where. Then check your site speed.
If the site is slow, hard to edit or just tired, it may be time for a rebuild. That’s what our man and van website design service is for. If the bones are good, our CTR and conversion optimisation work focuses on getting more calls from the traffic you already have.