Conversion rates are not an overly complicated metric. If one hundred people visit your website and two make a purchase, your conversion rate is 2%. Simple math right?
To drive sales, signups, whatever you are selling either increase conversion rates or overall traffic. The two directly feed into your ultimate goal.
Conversion Rates
Conversion rates are low. Very low. So low you often wonder why am I missing so many people? Why do perhaps ninety eight of every hundred visitors opt not to buy from me?
They are so low, we often don’t focus on them. We accept “poor results” as the norm and focus on the “bigger picture,” overall traffic. In other words we implement an SEO strategy at the expense of the user experience.
Numbers Game
The digital world is a numbers game. The more people you can reach, the more sales you will achieve. It’s how most of us look at it. But hold on for just a moment.
Imagine we have 100,000 visitors to our site each month. A 2% conversion rates produces 2,000 sales, signups, whatever.
If our goal is 3,000 “somethings” then conventional logic would say let’s increase overall traffic to 150,000 per month. A 50% rise in site traffic is no small task though. For many our traffic is at best stagnant. At worse contracting.
Focus On The Math
But if we can increase our conversion rate from 2% to 3% then we can sell 3,000 “somethings” with the same traffic. Still, this is a 50% increase in conversion rates. Again no small feat.
But there are other benefits to higher conversion rates. Like happier customers. More customers. And lots of happy customers are the basis of anything viral. They spread the word. For free.
They are better than any paid ad you can buy. They have more street credibility than a Google AdWord on the side of a search page.
So How
To improve conversion rates focus on the overall user experience. Things like improving navigation. Making sure product descriptions are clear and easy to read. And of course find. And on all different devices. From mobile to iPad to desktop.
Focus on increasing product reviews. We are all more comfortable buying when our peers support our decision.
Make the checkout process straightforward. Easy, secure and enjoyable.
Focus on content marketing (please read, Content Marketing for more) to drive traffic. After all, data shows that any given time only 4% of visitors are shopping. The other 96% is researching.
To read some other crazy metrics, please visit our Did You Know page.
It’s Not Rocket Science
Increasing conversion rates is not overly complex. Simply walk in your customer’s or visitor’s “digital shoes.” Experience what they experience. Ask yourself if you would buy from you?
It’s less about spending money and more about being honest. We all want to believe our business is the best. Optimized for perfection. But newsflash. None of us are.
We all have opportunities for improvement. And it often starts with conversion rates.