12 things you need to know about conversion rates

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Are you tracking your conversion rates in your ecommerce business?  Here are 6 things you need to know about conversions.

12 things you need to know about conversion rates

If you’ve been in business a while you’ll know that acquiring a customer is the most important part of running a business and that’s what marketing is all about.

But what exactly is a conversion?

It’s taking someone from a reader, viewer or just a by-stander and transforming them into a customer. The action they take to do that is a conversion.

But there are many micro-conversions that happen along the way that also matter to your business, its’ every little step that someone takes as they advance down a path hand in hand with your business.

This may be an intentional path like a funnel (if you’ve no idea what a funnel is, you can go here to learn more if you’re like “ WTF is a Funnel?”), or it may be unintentional as someone journey’s through your content and interacts with your brand.

Each step is a micro-conversion by taking action, but some of these actions aren’t always measurable. For example someone may see your instagram post then the next day search for your website. This is a micro conversion as they’re slowly becoming absorbed into your brand, but that journey from fleeting insta image, to google search is not a measurable conversion.

Sure you can track in google analytics the search terms but you will never know how many people who just saw your ad then search for you. But all this is very important in the conversion journey.

The importance of micro-conversions

From the start, it’s not possible to convert 100% of your audience, however you do need to lead them through a trail of breadcrumbs to slowly turn them from someone who has no clue about your brand, to becoming a rabid fan and customer.

Each of the breadcrumbs they pick up, whether that’s a like on a comment, a reply to a message, an opt-in, a filled out survey etc.  each of those points of contact matter.  

And in turn you should be optimizing every stage of your customers' journey through your content to maximize the chances of them taking the next step with your brand.

Why track conversions? It’s the only way to see what’s working and what’s not working in your business. And with that you’re then able to do more of what's working! 

6 things you need to know about conversions

1. Know what stages in the customer journey count as a conversion

As mentioned before it’s important to be able to track the conversions you can.  That means any time someone clicks an ad, clicks through to a link, opts-in to a free offer or even buys from you, those are the metrics you need to track.  This means that you should have tracking on any content you put out there.  You can use Google Analytics for this or the embedded tracking within the software or platform that you use.  

2. Know your conversion rates

Next  you need to know what your current conversion rate is, which is just a term to gauge how many people took action compared to those who could have taken action but didn’t.  If you know that 100 people saw your ad and 2 took the action you wanted (ie. clicked through to a page) then that would count as a 2% conversion rate.

If you’re looking at a funnel where your prospect or lead goes through several stages of a journey, then there will be several different conversion rates along the way.  This is where you need to be careful when you’re looking at others who are boasting of high conversion rates - you need to know at what point of the journey they’re talking about because the metric may be misleading.

3. Track your rates

It’s all very well tracking your conversions but if you’re not recording them in some way so that you can analyze the data and look for trends, then all the metrics in the world won’t help you.  Find a way to keep a record over a period of time. Often these rates can be tracked through your platforms but there’s nothing better than keeping your own spreadsheet (especially if you have several stages of conversion) to assess the numbers.

4. Test the data

Once you’re tracking your data and looking at what’s working, the only way to properly figure out what tweaks make a difference to an ad, an email or a sales page is by testing different variations.  However, just remember to only test one element at a time otherwise you’ll not know what tweak made the difference.  This can be time consuming but well worth it to get accurate data.

5. Conversion vs Revenue

Remember that conversion rates are not always the metrics to keep an eye on. For example I’ve experienced with clients great open rates and click through rates (which are micro-conversions) on an email but very few conversions into sales, and I’ve also had the opposite of lower conversion stats on the emails but much higher revenue generated.  So, remember to keep an eye on the right metrics for when you’re looking for trends. 

6. Quality of lead

Another thing to be mindful of is the quality of lead.  You may have high conversions for an opt-in which would suggest higher sales conversions in the customer journey but if your leads (or people coming into your world) are not the right people, then this will give a false impression on your conversion rates.  Remember to make sure you have the right messaging from the start AND that the journey is relevant to your customer and their stage of awareness.

What can you do to increase conversions at different stages of your customer journey? Here are 6 things you can do…

1. Reduce friction

Customers will have questions every step of the way of the journey, whether that’s taking up a free offer or even purchasing so you have to be prepared to reduce the friction to make the steps they take as easy as possible - which means thinking ahead and answering the questions they are asking in their head. Things like - what happens when they opt-in for a discount code? Will it get delivered to their inbox or will it automatically be added at checkout? Make it easy for people to say yes to your offer.

2. Use clear CTA's (Call To Action)

People like to be told what to do. As much as we all have a rebellious side, we need to know what we are meant to do once we come to a junction. Be clear in any content, or purchase journey what you want your customer to do.  If you need them to share something, ask them directly, don’t leave them guessing. If you want them to opt-in, ask them to add their “name and address to the box below”. Be clear and concise. 

3. Make micro copy exciting

The copy that appears on an action button or above an opt-in is known as microcopy.  Keep to your brand voice but add something exciting.  Rather than “subscribe” try something like “I want this”. Another example is that no-one really wants to subscribe to a newsletter (that’s pretty boring) so add the benefits of why they should do it to get them more interested in hearing from you - give them a taste of what to expect. So instead of “sign up to our newsletter”, “become a Goldilocks insider and receive tips each week to transform your lank locks” (example of a hair product company).

4. Logical steps

At each step of your customers journey through your content, make sure that the process is logical. If you’re using a content drive email then make sure that the copy in the email reflects the destination of the click.  Make sure that it’s a seamless segue so that there’s no confusion in the journey but appears to be part and parcel of the same idea.

5. Test the minutiae

When it comes to testing, you’re looking for maximum gains.  Just like in fitness, a millisecond can make all the difference to breaking a world record, the same is true of the minutiae of your marketing. Only worry about this stage if you’ve got your marketing converted and making sales.  You want to see if things as simple as a change in color on a button can lead to an uplift in sales, or perhaps a change in micro copy on the button.  The minutiae is where you can have fun with testing. Remember to record all variations though!

6. Always be testing

While these are great ways to look at your conversions in a different light, don’t get too caught up in conversions. Metrics matter but at the end of day, the thing you really need to keep an eye on is your revenue. THAT should be your testing control - what, if any, tests or tweaks result in more revenue?

The caveat of course is that it also needs to stay aligned to your mission (why you started your biz in the first place) so that you’re not sacrificing your ethics and morals for more sales.  But the moral of the story is, always be testing wherever you can, and never assume anything unless you have the hard data to back you up.