Are you part of the 3 percent?

While you may think there is nothing particularly exciting about your daily morning Web-surfing session, there are probably lots of marketing professionals who would jump at the chance to hover over your shoulder, observing your every mouse click. But, that’s creepy. So, instead they will view your activity as a data point on a Web analytics report. Whether you are reading the news or buying a gift, you leave a trail of data that, when combined with lots of other data, provides valuable information that has the potential to help a company increase its readership or boost its sales.

For example, do a large percentage of people exit the site upon reaching a specific page? If so, how can that page be modified to encourage continued browsing within the site? Are people more likely to make a purchase after their third visit to the site? If so, how can new visitors be enticed to return again soon?

The Holy Grail of Web analytics is the conversion, which is a desired outcome. Conversions vary depending on the website and its goals. A retailer likely wants Web visitors to make a purchase, while a restaurant might want them to make a reservation through its online system. A company selling items or services not available for online purchase (think real estate or consulting) could encourage visitors to complete a registration form to receive a free white paper. Purchases, reservations and forms are all types of conversions.

You might be wondering what the average conversion rate is. Well, it varies by industry from 2 to 10 percent, as noted in the chart below (MarketingSherpa, 2012).

For an e-retailer (think Target.com or Overstock.com), the average conversion rate is a measly 3 percent. In other words, for every 1,000 visits to the site, only 30 result in a purchase. Even a small increase in this percentage could have a significant affect on a company’s bottom line, hence the great focus on this metric.

GrowthGiant looked at the 10 e-retailers with the best conversion rates and shared some “best practices.” It found that many of them create a sense of urgency, encouraging visitors to buy now to take advantage of a limited-time offer, such as a discount or free shipping. “This psychological feeling of missing out is great for increasing conversions and pushes a lot of people over the line” (GrowthGiant, 2012, “Urgency drives conversions”).

For example, those in the market for a laptop will likely visit several websites to research features and compare options, but this deal for $70 off at Office Depot, valid for “72 hrs only!”, might be just the incentive needed to move an online shopper from browser to buyer, resulting in a conversion for Office Depot.

Another recommendation from GrowthGiant is to make sure you have good photos that give viewers a real sense of what they would get if they were to go through with the purchase. “[Photos are] where customers spend most of the time when deciding on the purchase” (GrowthGiant, “Great photos”). How do you know if people are focused on your photos? A Web analytics tool can tell you how many people click for a larger view of the photo or, if offered, additional views.

Recently, Amazon’s use of photos made me feel confident enough to order a scarf from the site. As you can see from the screen shot below, you can use the thumbnails on the left to view the scarf from seven different angles, and then use the thumbnails on the right to get a close-up view of the various colors available.

Of course, a conversion can be lost anywhere along the purchasing pipeline, including at the online shopping cart or checkout, if it is poorly designed. KISSmetrics offers several tips for increasing the likelihood that an online shopper will follow through with her purchase, such as simplifying the checkout process so it requires as few clicks as possible, and including a security seal, like the one below, to make users feel more comfortable sending their credit card numbers into cyberspace.

What are some factors that make you more or less likely to be part of the 3 percent of retail website visitors to complete a conversion?

References

GrowthGiant. (2012, July 2). Conversion rate optimization tips from top 10 online retailers.

Retrieved November 3, 2012 from http://www.growthgiant.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization-top-10-online-retailers/

KISSmetrics. 40 checkout page strategies to improve conversion rates. Retrieved November 3, 2012 from http://blog.kissmetrics.com/40-checkout-page-strategies/

MarketingSherpa. (2012, Oct. 23) Marketing Research Chart: Average website conversion rates, by industry. Retrieved November 3, 2012 from http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/average-website-conversion-rates-industry#