Conversion Rate Web Marketing Blog 

In lead generation, data really puts things in perspective. In 2008 we found a trend with one of our customers that looked like this:

Web Leads up 75%

Sales from web leads up 29%

These numbers are going up, so what is the problem? The figures showed that the lead-to-sale conversion rate had dropped dramatically. That means that our customer was not being as effective at converting leads as they were at the start of the year.

Looking inwardly, we engage in marketing because we want to make more profit from our business. So we are either looking for more customers or better customers (higher profit).

For all the effort that you put into getting more website traffic or even website leads, you could be just spinning your wheels. Working harder but not really going anywhere.

The data from our customer above tells us that they were spinning their wheels. Sure, they were making more sales, but they had to spend more time with more leads to get those extra sales.

To demonstrate, look at the numbers below which are exaggerated to make the point:

Before: 10 leads = 5 sales

After: 20 leads = 5 sales

So because the leads have gone up, they are making more sales. But they have to spend much more time to get those extra sales.

Of course, if you didn’t know these numbers, you would be busier than you have ever been before, but you would not be making more profit. Nobody wants to work for nothing.

So at this point, there is a significant danger:

If this company spends all of their effort generating traffic, the numbers show that they are heading for trouble!

The real problem was occurring after the lead was generated, so extra traffic would just make the problem worse. Something needed to be done about the declining lead-to-sale conversion rate.

So why the drop in conversion rate? There are many possibilities including:

• Increased competition in the market (pricing, service, features and response time become important)
• The global economic conditions are causing people to hold off purchasing
• Staff are overwhelmed by a 75% increase in leads, and are being less effective with follow up, response times and general helpfulness
• Staff are not equipped to deal with the extra enquiries effectively (need more training)
• The extra leads are simply not right for the business, and are unlikely to buy (not qualified or bad traffic).

Any combination of factors could account for the drop in conversion rates. The important lesson is that because we closely monitor these trends, we are already 6 months into implementing a program designed discover the real factors and to turn these results around.

It’s really not hard to be able to see when this is happening in your business. All you need to know to be able to manage your lead generation website is the following pieces of data:

1. Visits – How many actual people visit your website (not hits or page views)
2. Enquiries – How many leads you get by email, phone or foot
3. Sales – How many of those leads turn into sales.

Once you have that basic data, you can begin to add to it so that you get a more detailed picture. Unfortunately what we find is that most Australian businesses are still in the dark about their websites because they do not have the numbers.

From the author: If you regularly advertise in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there is a good chance that your website could be generating more leads than it is. The reason is found in your website’s conversion rates.

In order to know how effective your website is, you must have your website KPIs (Visits, Enquiries, Sales). If you don’t have these at your fingertips right now, contact us now to find out how you can.

Contact us on 03 9012 6600 for a free conversion rate review of your website.

Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.

Kogan Technologies launched a cheeky PR campaign this week aiming to win their share of the Australian Government’s $40 billion economic stimulus package.

The Kevin37 campaign is named after the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd and Kogan’s 37” LCD TV.

Let’s just say that the PR campaign was clever and effective! It has given this relatively unknown company a lot of publicity. The campaign has had coverage on TV, radio and in print.

Here is just a tiny snapshot of the types of articles that have appeared online:

• IT Wire
• Daily Telegraph
• Good Gear Guide
• PC Authority

However, you can’t walk into a Harvey Norman or JB Hi-Fi to buy a Kogan TV. Kogan is an entirely online seller, so how is Kogan planning to capitalise on this brilliant PR campaign?

While there is always room for improvement in ecommerce, we really like what Kogan have done. To make sure that PR turns into sales, Kogan have ensured that this campaign is easily referenced from their website. Here are just some of the conversion rate initiatives that they have taken:

1. The Kevin37 campaign gets a spot on the home page amongst the 4 screen rotating banner at the top.
   
2. Kevin37 is also featured in the news section of the home page. Unfortunately it is below the fold on 1024×768 screens, so a number of people miss it. But hey, it is there, and that is a good start.
   
3. Kevin37 is at the top of their products list (click the shop link on the top menu).
   
4. The Kevin37 campaign also gets a blog entry.

Importantly, Kogan has launched a Google Adwords campaign targeting searches related to Kevin37. It’s amazing how many people run marketing campaigns without ensuring that their website shows up in Google results for the key phrases that they use in their ads.

Kogan have a simple clean website with lots of good content. At the very least, they have generated lots of exposure for their brand and products. We’re sure that Kogan’s website has enough of the right elements to ensure that they will sell lots of Kevin37’s from this campaign.

Author: Brett Gilbertson

From the Author: If you run an ecommerce website then you might wonder, “How do I know if I’m getting as many orders as I could be?” The answer to that question is in your website’s conversion rates.

We know that to achieve high conversion rates and sales from your ecommerce website you need an ecommerce platform that is designed to maximise your conversion rates. That’s why we created eComMetrix®.

Contact us on 03 9012 6600 to find out how you could boost the conversion rates of your eCommerce website.