Basics of the Buyer to Conversion Ratio

The success of an online business is directly related to the website’s ability to convert web surfers into online shoppers. It with a typical click-through ratio of 1%, and Google doubling their adWord campaign, optimizing conversion has become as important as optimizing for the web.

Once a website attracts that coveted 1% click through, retailers learn the truth about online sales. Most web surfers take three visits before they make the decision to buy. There are very few impulse buyers on the web. However, before you quit, I have some statistics to share:

It took the:

1. Telephone 38 years to reach 50 million users
2. Television 13 years to reach 50 million users
3. Internet 4 years to reach 50 million users

This behavior didn’t start on the Internet. It started with the creation of malls and the lure of ‘something better’ down the hall. In today’s eMarketing consumer, the consumer has a value. Regular customers in the system cost less money to convert than new visitors.

How Online Buyers Convert

The typical eCommerce merchant will see the same visitor return two or three times, hovering around the same items each time. Ultimately, someone will get the sale. Some of the customers you pre-sold will go to other vendors. Their pre-sold visitors will come to yours.

The gurus will tell you that a website can increase their chances of retaining the conversion. Statistics claim that 87% of publishers are unsatisfied with their conversion rates. However, 60% do nothing about it. The rest believe that, if their first effort at e-tailing fails, it is the fault of the web designer, SEO pro, or web host.

Three Stages of Shopping online:

1. Flitting Around the Internet looking for free information and tools.
2. Realizing that DIY costs, or realizing they need a product.
3. Prowling the web looking for the ‘right’ product.

This is why many e-tailers create newsletters, mailing lists, forums, podcasts, free downloads, and chats to give visitors a reason to return.

Do not give up. UK shoppers spent 26 million on the Internet in the six weeks before

Tips to Improve Your Conversion

One way to improve your conversion is to mimic the colors, ad design, and ad styles that mimic those seen on television and print media. Familiarity breeds credibility.

A DIY website will not increase conversions. Many eCommerce businesses need to start with the DIY, but the first purchase should be a website made by a professional in advertising or marketing. They know the colors and text that will convert buyers. A SEO may be able to design a site that ‘speaks’ to the search engines, but it takes an advertiser who understands ‘buyer behavior trends’ to create a website which focuses on conversions.

Another way is to take part in a community frequented by shoppers, not other sellers. This is the #1 mistake most eCommerce business owners make, preaching to the crowd. These communities decrease start-up and increase conversions by keeping you in front of your consumer, no matter how many times they surf the net.

In the end, conversions are just a numbers game. Even the worst designed website can generate sales if they receive enough traffic.