Website traffic and conversion rates

So your site is still getting hits, but perhaps not as many as it used to. And after people land at your site, they turn around and leave. That is, some stay and make purchases, but what about all those who don’t? Why are those potential customers exiting?

The reasons fall in three main categories:

• What people see or don’t see at your site
• What the competition offers
• The state of the market

Website quality

Your website may have looked flashy five years ago, but if it hasn’t had a design update since then, it might just look dated now. A dated or amateur-looking web design doesn’t inspire confidence in the company.

Is the content clear and relevant to visitors? What might have been good enough a few years ago isn’t necessarily good enough now, with more choices out there for consumers to consider.

Do all the links still work? Running a link checker on the site will find any internal or external broken links.

Analyzing your website traffic stats can indicate what keywords and links are bringing people to your site. New websites and web pages are continually coming online, so your site may have moved down in its position for targeted keywords. Visitors might be finding your site via different keywords than before, which may not be the most relevant keywords.

Pricing

Your prices don’t have to be the cheapest although it often helps if they are. Consumers look at not only the cost of the products themselves, but also the cost of shipping. If the total cost of your products is noticeably higher than that of the competition, some consumers are going to go elsewhere.

On the other hand, having a name that your customers recognize, a good reputation, and a wide range of choices can make up for a small pricing difference for many people.

Service

Do you provide a toll-free phone number? Fast and free shipping? More than one payment option? If you don’t and your competition does, consumers will notice.

The current market

Are your sales seasonal? Is there a drop in the market overall? If your competition is seeing a slowdown as well, sale pricing and more aggressive marketing may bring in more customers, but the numbers may still remain lower than usual.

Looking at the competition

A study of the competition can provide valuable information about how to increase conversion rates.

Is the competition the same as when you last looked? A new competitor may be marketing the same or similar products and undercutting your prices.

What do the competition’s websites look like? Are they more professional looking and appealing than yours? What are their main keywords, and what sites link to them? Do they offer better product descriptions? How easy is information to find? What is their ordering procedure like?

How does their pricing compare to yours, including shipping costs? Are they offering sales or other incentives to buy from them?

Keeping the right focus

According to a Yankee Group study, 66 percent of companies consider the amount of website traffic a measure of success. Thirty-four percent named new customer acquisition as a measure of success, and just 23 percent use revenue generation as a factor.

Website traffic isn’t enough for our online businesses to succeed. We need targeted traffic, and for e-commerce sites, we need to entice those visitors to buy from us. When we get the right people to come, and when our website, products, and prices appeal to those people and they buy, then we have success.