Newsletter - Five Steps to a Better Conversion Rate

Performance Marketing Newsletter
February 2010
Five Steps to a Better Conversion Rate

Dear Reader,

The explosion of online channels – from search marketing to display to social media -- has made getting potential customers to your site even easier. Sophisticated web analytics software can show you the source of the visits, the most commonly used keywords, the most-visited pages and more.

But many marketers get to this point and still have unanswered questions about their traffic, namely how can I engage high-potential prospects that visited my site, yet didn't click or download or register like I hoped?

In this month’s feature article, we give you five steps you can take to convert these mystery visitors.

All the Best,
Daniel Laury

Feature Article: Five Steps to a Better Conversion Rate

Marketers know that careful, accurate, and continuous campaign tracking and analysis are just as important to successful online marketing as message, offer and implementation. Rather than taking a macro view of this aggregate data, it's important to drill down to these numbers and use analytics not merely to drive traffic, but to benefit your bottom line.

While estimates vary, there is a growing consensus that conversion rate across industries ranges from 0.5% to 8%, with an average rate of 6.1% according to FireClick (http://index.fireclick.com/). If we take the most optimistic of these estimates that leaves 92% of most website visitors unconverted.

Who is analyzing the activity of visitors who came to your site and weren’t compelled by your offer? Just because they’re not doing what you would like them to, doesn’t mean you should give them the cold shoulder. If you’re not looking at their behavior, you may be leaving a huge opportunity on the table.

Here are five new ways to look at your data to capitalize on that traffic.

Step 1: Redefine Conversion
What do you mean by conversion? Is it getting someone to answer a simple call to action such as clicking on a “read more” link or something more complex like purchasing a product? Typical conversion events include subscribing to a newsletter, downloading an audio file or white paper, completing an email form completion, or buying a product or service.

In the early days of online marketing, many companies simply tracked users who stayed on the site, invoking the “three-page view rule” as a conversion. Now we’ve come full circle. At the Google Analytics user conference in November, Phil Mui, Ph.D., senior product manager at Google, spoke of the concept of “micro conversions.” Micro conversions are small steps that a visitor takes on the way to a full conversion – from clicking on a “read more” link to spending time on your product pages.

Step 2: Test and Measure Micro Conversions
Micro conversions can be tracked by measuring the click-through rate, the read time for content, or the bounce rate for headlines and copy. Testing and tweaking activities at the micro level can improve visitor behavior and boost overall conversion.

For example, “Read more” might not get as high a click-through rate as “Find out how to get a discount.” By improving this click-through, you get the person browsing to take another small step toward your ultimate goal – making a purchase or registering online for example -- improving your overall conversion rate.

Step 3: Leverage Web Analytics
Measuring and experimenting are the key to improving conversion rates. You can't improve conversion without measurement unless you're making educated guesses. So get a good measurement system, learn what it's all about and test your changes.

Google Analytics has become one of the industry's most powerful Internet marketing tools, helping advertisers, publishers, and site owners improve their sales conversion, campaign targeting, and marketing initiatives. Recently redesigned, the free program can reveal even more about where visitors come from and how they interact with your site.

Step 4: Track and Mine the Right Data
Successfully mining and understanding your web analytics software can lead to better ads, strengthened marketing initiatives, and websites that convert more effectively. It’s essential to track important statistics like visitor referrers, navigation paths, page views, geo-location data, and browser type.

You also need to learn where your visitors come from, whether referred by search engines, ads, emails, blogs or affiliates. Know which cities, states, and countries your primary visitor traffic comes from so you can more carefully target future ad campaigns. You may also want to analyze traffic patterns and, of course, micro and full conversions.

Step 5: Segment Your Users
Segmenting visitors will allow you to determine what is resonating with them on your site. If you don't segment, you cannot understand the primary purpose of all visits.  Most marketers don't segment deep enough or differentiate between new and returning visitor behavior.  These days we want to get a deeper look at the user to determine where she or he came from and what they’re doing.

For example, you can segment search terms by landing pages and look at all the keywords driving traffic to those pages, not just the ones you’ve optimized for. You can also create an advanced segment by visitor’s country of origin with page views greater than one, and view the keywords those people used. This is a much more meaningful way to segment, because you are now viewing highly engaged visitors from a particular geography.

Discover and Convert
These five steps will allow you to really get to know your visitors: who they are, what industry they're in, what they are looking for when visiting your site, and what brought them there. You may find out that people are searching for you in a way you never thought of before. Work with your online team or agency to make sure that they have all the data they need to make your campaign a success. Only then will you be able to convert the vast majority of visitors that arrive at your site but are never converted.

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