Conversion Rate concepts

If you are doing online marketing, then you are constantly searching for a way to make more sales. There are basically two ways to do this. The first one is to increase your reach, target audience, subscribers base, etc. The second way is to increase your conversion rate. Actually, you should try to do both, but getting a high conversion rate is a very important goal and comes first. It's not very easy to do, that's for sure, but there are five simple concepts you should learn about the conversion rate.

1. Always do consider the source.
The source is a place where your visitors come from. It may be a search engine, another website, your e-mail message, banner advertisement or even offline advertising campaign. Importantly, people that come from different sources often constitute completely different audience segments, which results in different conversion ratios. Even if the source is the same search engine, folks who enter "buy PC games" are much more likely to make a purchase than folks who entered "free PC game downloads." Work on increasing the share of people who come from sources that consistently show high conversion ratios.

2. Learn as much as you can about your audience.
Once again, your audience may be comprised of completely different segments. The most simple way is to divide your audience by income, gender, age or marital status. Each segment has to be marketed to differently. If you understand each segment's likes and dislikes, fears and obstacles to making a purchase, you will increase your conversion rate significantly.

3. Make it easy to buy your product.
First, the price. It has to be clearly visible. Plus, include all additional information (like shipping options and money back guarantee), if applicable. The second question is where is that buy button? Most people won't bother looking for it. Keep in mind that folks prefer buying from the websites, not e-mails!

4. Know the statistics.
OneStat.com reports 54.60 percent of Web site visitors look through only one or two pages on a site before leaving; 16.56 percent view two to three pages; and 9.52 percent view only one page. That's over 80 percent! The deeper a visitor goes, the more likely he or she is to make a purchase. Design your website more "buyer friendly". What if a large portion of your audience is opening multiple pages (5+). That's good, isn't it? Actually, most likely they are confused and can't find what they are looking for.

5. Make it obvious.
The whole process of buying should be simple. As should be the reason for making a purchase. Incentives do this just perfectly. "Buy today and save $10". That's pretty compelling reason not to postpone a purchase.


Next week: Practical tips for growing your subscriber list
Prev week: E-mail list segmentation

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