Why Saudi Business Websites Lose Enquiries: 12 UX Mistakes to Fix First

Most Saudi business websites lose enquiries because of a handful of fixable website UX mistakes: an unclear offer, a weak mobile experience, long forms, half finished Arabic, slow pages, no WhatsApp route, thin trust signals and leads that never reach the sales team. None of these need a full rebuild to start fixing. This guide walks through 12 common problems and the order to tackle them so enquiries rise quickly.

Why website UX mistakes cost Saudi businesses enquiries

A visitor who lands on a company site in Riyadh or Jeddah usually arrives with a simple question: can this business solve the problem, and how is it contacted? Every extra second of confusion, every missing Arabic label and every broken button is a reason to go back to the search results or the next ad. Website conversion in Saudi Arabia is shaped by local habits too. Buyers expect Arabic first, they move between phone and WhatsApp constantly, and they want to see that a business is real, licensed and reachable.

The good news is that most problems show up quickly in a structured review. Watching five real people try to make an enquiry on a phone will usually reveal more than a month of guessing.

The 12 website UX mistakes to fix first

1. The offer is not clear in the first screen

Many homepages open with a slogan, a stock photo and a vague line about excellence. Visitors should understand within a few seconds what the business does, who it serves and what to do next. Replace abstract headlines with a plain statement of the service, the location served and a single primary action such as "Request a quote" or "Message us on WhatsApp".

2. The mobile experience is an afterthought

Most Saudi visitors browse on phones, yet many sites are still designed on a large monitor and squeezed down. Common symptoms include tiny tap targets, menus that cover the screen, text that needs zooming and sticky banners that hide content. Design the mobile layout first, test it on real devices, and keep the contact action within thumb reach on every page.

3. Forms ask for too much

Long forms with mandatory fields for company size, budget, job title and a detailed message stop people before they start. Ask only for what is needed to reply: a name, a phone number and a short note. Collect the rest on the first call. Use the right keyboard on mobile for phone and email fields, accept Saudi number formats with or without the country code, and show errors next to the field in plain language.

4. Arabic is partial or machine translated

Half Arabic sites are one of the most damaging website UX mistakes in the Kingdom. Menus switch language unexpectedly, buttons stay in English, forms are left to right in an Arabic layout, and copy reads like a literal translation. Arabic should be designed as a first class experience with proper right to left layouts, readable Arabic fonts and copy written by native speakers. Our Saudi website design guide covers bilingual layout in more depth.

5. Pages load slowly

Heavy sliders, uncompressed images, unused scripts and cheap hosting make pages slow, especially on mobile data. Slow pages hurt both visitor patience and search visibility. Start with the templates that receive the most traffic, compress and resize images, remove unused plugins and third party scripts, and measure Core Web Vitals before and after. Our Core Web Vitals service focuses on exactly these fixes.

6. There is no WhatsApp option

In Saudi Arabia, many people would rather send a WhatsApp message than fill in a form or call. A site without a visible WhatsApp button is ignoring the channel buyers prefer. Add a WhatsApp button on key pages with a prefilled message that mentions the page or service, and make sure someone actually answers within working hours.

7. Trust signals are weak or missing

Buyers want proof that the business is real. Missing commercial registration details, no physical address, no team photos, stock imagery everywhere and testimonials without names all erode confidence. Show real project photos, a clear address and map, licence or registration details where relevant, and genuine reviews with attribution.

8. Navigation is built around the org chart

Menus often mirror internal departments rather than what visitors are looking for. Group services by the problems customers have, keep the main menu short, and make sure every service page links to related services and a contact route. If a visitor needs more than two taps to find the service they came for, the structure needs work.

9. Calls to action compete with each other

Some pages carry six buttons with equal weight: download, subscribe, call, chat, book and follow. When everything is important, nothing is. Pick one primary action per page and one secondary option, and make the primary action visually obvious.

10. Enquiries do not reach the CRM properly

A form that sends an email to a shared inbox is not a lead process. Messages get lost, nobody knows who replied, and there is no record of where the lead came from. Connect forms, WhatsApp clicks and calls to a CRM with the source page, campaign and language, and assign each lead to a named person. If the current system is a spreadsheet, a CRM built around your sales process can close that gap.

11. Nothing is tracked

Without tracking, there is no way to know which pages, ads or keywords produce enquiries. Set up analytics events for form submissions, WhatsApp clicks and call taps, pass campaign details into the CRM, and review the numbers monthly. Tracking also shows where people abandon forms, which is often the fastest route to more enquiries.

12. Thank you pages and follow up are ignored

After someone submits a form, many sites show a tiny message and nothing else. A proper thank you page should confirm the enquiry, set expectations for when the business will reply, and offer a WhatsApp link for urgent questions. An automatic acknowledgement in the visitor's language reassures them that the message arrived.

A prioritised fix order to increase website enquiries

Not every problem deserves the same urgency. The order below starts with fixes that are quick and directly affect whether enquiries arrive, then moves to deeper work.

Why tracking comes first

It can feel backwards to fix measurement before design, but without it there is no way to prove which changes helped. Even simple event tracking on forms and WhatsApp clicks gives a baseline. Conversion rate optimisation in Saudi Arabia, or anywhere, depends on comparing before and after, not on opinions in a meeting room.

When to rebuild instead of fix

If the site cannot handle proper Arabic, runs on an outdated platform that cannot be updated safely, or the team is afraid to touch it, patching may cost more than starting again. In that case, plan the rebuild carefully to protect existing search rankings. Our guide to enterprise website migration explains how to move without losing traffic.

UX design in Riyadh and across the Kingdom: local details that matter

Good UX design in Riyadh, Jeddah or Dammam follows the same principles as anywhere, but some local details make a clear difference.

• Working week and hours: show Sunday to Thursday hours clearly, and explain response times during weekends and holidays.
• Prayer times and Ramadan: adjust response expectations and campaign timing around these periods.
• Payment options: for ecommerce or booking sites, show familiar methods such as mada, Apple Pay, STC Pay, Tabby and Tamara where offered.
• Phone formats: accept local mobile numbers in common formats without errors.
• Location clarity: state which cities you serve and whether you visit clients on site.
• Privacy notices: give a clear Arabic and English notice about how enquiry data is used, in line with PDPL; confirm details with counsel.

Checklist: a quick UX review you can run this week

1. Open the homepage on a phone and ask a colleague what the business does after five seconds.
2. Try to send an enquiry on mobile, in Arabic, and time how long it takes.
3. Click the WhatsApp button and check the prefilled message and the reply time.
4. Submit a test form and confirm it reaches the CRM with source details.
5. Check that the thank you page sets clear expectations.
6. Run the busiest pages through a speed test and note the slowest elements.
7. Switch languages on several pages and look for English left in Arabic layouts.
8. Review the footer and About page for registration details, address and real photos.
9. Count the buttons on your main service page and identify the single primary action.
10. Check analytics for form starts versus completions to find abandonment.

If this review raises more questions than answers, a structured website audit covers UX, speed, tracking and SEO together.

How Codeeo helps Saudi businesses fix website UX

Codeeo has delivered more than 200 projects across the UAE and the US with a team of 80+ across Dubai, Riyadh and Karachi. That team covers UX and interface design, development, CRM integration and digital marketing, so fixes to a site and the campaigns sending traffic to it can be planned together.

Codeeo has an office in Riyadh, where clients in the city can meet the team in person to review their site. Businesses elsewhere in the Kingdom work with the team through video calls. Codeeo is rated 4.7 from 23 Google reviews. If a property business is among the sites you are reviewing, our guide to real estate website development goes deeper into that sector.

To find out which of these mistakes are costing your business enquiries, get in touch with the Codeeo team.