Conversion Ratio

A Web site must convert visitors to customers. If it doesn't convert, what is the point? The ratio of total visitors to converted customers is known as the conversion ratio. For example, if 100 people visit your site today and 4 people submit your form, your site has a conversion ratio of 4 percent. One out of every 25 people took action.

Studies show even small changes to a Web page dramatically affects the conversion ratio. That is why knowing your conversion ratio is so important. If your conversion ratio is 4 percent and you alter your page and it jumps to 8 percent, you know you are on the right track. Every time you make a change, watch your conversion ratio. Monitoring conversion ratio methodically raises your site's ability to do business. You can have a million visitors a day but if your site doesn't convert you are wasting your time and your money.

Loading your site with visitors is a relatively simple matter. All you have to do is buy Ad Words from Google. That will send targeted to the Web page of our choosing. The important question is what are we going to do with the people once they arrive? The answer is we are going to count. We are going to count how many people view the page and we are going to count how many people take action, such as submitting an offer or buying a product. Then we are going to divide the total visitors into the total submissions and calculate our conversion ratio.

Once we know the conversion ratio, we go to work on crafting the perfect offer. We are going to write copy that meets our visitor's expectations. We are going to get them excited. We are going to lower barriers to doing business with us. Every word, every image will be carefully crafted to entice the visitor to take action. All the while we will know EXACTLY what our conversion ratio is and everything we do will be measured against it. All tweaks and modifications are for one purpose: to convert visitors to customers. We are going to do it systematically. If we follow the system, we can't miss.

The Web business is changing. It is growing up. Businesses don't care how pretty their site is or how many hits it gets. Does it get customers? Does it make the phone ring? If not, the conversion ratio is too low. Can a Web site carry a company? You bet it can - but only if you have a high conversion ratio. If you don't measure it, you can't raise it.