How One Word Or Even One Letter Can Boost Conversi

How One Word Or Even One Letter Can Boost Conversion Rates By Over 400%!

by: Eric Graham

Recently I was reviewing the keyword specific conversion rate data of a consulting client of mine. I have been working with this client for a few months now, helping her improve the sales conversion rate of her website and we have had very good results, taking average conversion rates at her site from below 1% to just over 4.3%.

(Your sales conversion rate is simply the number of unique visitors your site receives vs. the number of sales you make. If you have 3 sales for every 100 visits your conversion rate is 3%.)

Now, one of the keys to improving conversion rates is to continually test and measure every detail of your website, marketing and traffic. While reviewing the data from one of her Google Adwords campaigns I stumbled across a few hard to explain results that perfectly illustrate the very large effect small differences can have on conversion rates.

The keyword ขpiano lessonsข had a conversion rate over the last 30 days of 5.09%. The keyword ขpiano lessonข had a conversion rate of only 1.64%. Both of these keywords had the exact same Adwords title and description, the same average position in the search results and the exact same landing page on my clients website. The only variable is one letter in the keyword… an ขsข. Lesson vs. Lessons. That’s it! Yet the plural version of the keyword (piano lessons) out sold the singular version (piano lesson) by over 300%!

Another key phrase that had an even larger variation was ขhow to play the pianoข vs. ขhow to play a pianoข. Common sense would say that these two phrases would convert almost identically… Wrong.

Again, with identical titles, descriptions and landing pages, ขHow to play the pianoข converted at 5.92%, while ขHow to play a pianoข only converted at 1.42%. That is a whopping 417% difference between ขaข and ขtheข!

Shortterm variations and fluctuations in the conversion rates of individual keywords or landing pages are common. However, the data on both of these keyword pairs was measured over a full 30 days and several thousand clicks for each keyword. I don’t have any easy answers why adding an ขsข to a key phrase or changing an ขaข to ขtheข caused such a difference in conversion rates.

Sure, you can guess at it and draw a few conclusions such as ขplural keywords convert better than singular keywordsข or ขusing ‘the’ in a key phrase is more specific and targeted than using ‘a’ข. However, these conclusions are just guesses. The only real conclusion you can draw from this case study is that you have to test EVERYTHING!

If one word or one letter can have that big of an impact in an Adwords campaign, then a similar change in your main headline or guarantee can have an equally significant impact.

The lesson here is to test, test, test. What should you test?

Test headlines.

Test guarantees.

Test bonuses.

Test colors.

Test subheadlines.

Test your copy.

Test different prices.

Test layouts.

Test autoresponder messages.

Test your USP (Unique Selling Proposition.)

Test ads.

Test keywords.

Test policies.

Test images and graphic design.

Test deadlines.

Test navigation.

Test your checkout process.

Test font sizes.

Test payment options.

Test EVERYTHING!

Now, when you are testing a change, only test one item at a time. This part is critical. Testing only one change will help keep your results as accurate as possible. If you change 4 items at once and see a 1% boost in conversion rate, it is possible 3 items are helping and 1 is hurting, so your conversion rate boost would have been greater with just the 3 changes.

The bottom line is this…

If you really want to take your website’s sales conversion rate to the next level, you must absolutely commit to a focused and longterm campaign of testing and optimizing every aspect of your site. You never know when a small change is going to give you huge results!

Copyright 2004 Eric Graham

Want to improve your conversion rates? Eric Graham is the CEO of several successful online companies. A top authority on eCommerce & Internet Marketing, heกs an indemand speaker & consultant. Visit http://www.websiteevaluations.com today for an indepth evaluation to boost YOUR websites conversion rate!

About The Author

Eric Graham is the CEO of several successful online companies. A top authority on eCommerce & Internet Marketing, heกs an indemand speaker & consultant. Visit www.websiteevaluations.com for a FREE subscription to his eCommerce Mastery newsletter.

This article was posted on April 29, 2004

by Eric Graham

How to Maximize the Value of Every Visitor to Your

How to Maximize the Value of Every Visitor to Your Website

by: Eric Graham

While most marketers are beginning to understand the critical importance of maximizing conversion rates, few are tracking or working to maximize another critical measurement of website effectiveness.

Visitor value…

Visitor value is simply a representation of how much money you make per visitor to your website.

You can calculate visitor value by multiplying your number of sales over a given time by your average price per sale and then dividing by the number of unique visitors you received over the same time period.

(# of sales x price) / (# of unique visitors) = visitor value

For example, if your website made 1,000 sales last month at an average order size of $100 and received 50,000 unique visitors, your visitor value is $2.

(1,000 sales x $100) / (50,000) = $2.00

When split testing modifications to your website, it is important to understand the effect these changes have on visitor value, not just conversion rates.

This is particularly important when testing different price points or working to improve your average order size.

By focusing only on conversion rates when testing different prices, you run the risk of selecting a price point that may convert best, yet produce a lower overall visitor value and profit.

For example, in a recent split testing campaign I conducted for one of my coaching clients we tested three different price points, $17, $27 and $47.

The $17 price generated a conversion rate of 3.4%, the $27 price actually converted the highest with 3.65% and the $47 price point converted at only 3.18%.

Without looking at the visitor value, many marketers would select the $27 price point. However, after calculating the visitor values for each price point, we discovered that the $27 price produced a visitor value of $0.98. But the $47 price produced a visitor value of $1.49.

Even though the $47 price had the lowest conversion rate, because of the higher visitor value it was over 50% more profitable than the highest converting price point.

Once I explain the power and importance of improving visitor value to my clients I am often asked…

ขHow can I improve my visitor value?ข

There are only three basic ways to increase your visitor value.

First, you can improve your sales conversion rates. As long as your boost in conversion rates doesn’t come at the expense of price or average order size, improving conversion will also improve your visitor value.

Second, as I have already demonstrated, by testing different price points for your products, you can often find the ขsweet spotข where your visitor value is maximized.

The third way to maximize visitor value is by working to increase your average order size. Using tactics such as upselling, crossselling and bundling you can quickly boost the average amount your visitors spend per sale.

While my clients and readers all know how passionate I am about maximizing conversion rates, when it comes to changes or split tests on your website that involve pricing or average order size, visitor value is the metric that you want to maximize.

By consistently measuring the impact your conversion rate optimization efforts have on visitor value, you can ensure that your site is living up to its most profitable potential.

About The Author

Eric Graham

Want to improve your conversion rates? Get a FREE website evaluation from one of the worlds top eCommerce and traffic conversion experts. Visit http://www.websiteevaluations.com/free today for your free, noobligation website evaluation today!

This article was posted on August 28

by Eric Graham

Affiliates: 10 Ways to Improve Your Credibility an

Affiliates: 10 Ways to Improve Your Credibility and Conversions

by: Rosalind Gardner

Lack of consumer trust is still the biggest obstacle to online sales, and judging by the amount of spam and scams flying about in cyberspace, surfers are right to remain wary.

Savvy online shoppers, however, know how to determine a merchantกs credibility with onsite information and by asking pertinent questions.

Online merchants and their super affiliates anticipate their visitorsก concerns and address questions before they arise. In return, these customeroriented salespeople are rewarded with sales and conversion rates much higher than their counterparts whose focus is elsewhere.

Here are 10 ways you too can increase your conversion rates by improving visitorsก trust in your sites.

HONESTY: Visitors should know exactly what to expect before they get to your site. Dishonest advertising wastes their time and your money. Theyกll leave without buying, or plans to return.

SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE: Affiliates with high conversion rates usually own the products they sell. Firsthand knowledge lends credibility to their personal reviews and sets them apart from the crowd.

INVITE FEEDBACK: Testimonials from happy customers are an excellent way to build trust in your product reviews.

SELL QUALITY: Complaints, refunds and chargebacks lower your reputation, as well as your revenue. Sell only highquality products.

KEEP DESIGN SIMPLE: Gratuitous animated graphics scream กWebmaster Kindergartenก. Focus on your products, not fancy gimmicks.

SHOW RESPECT: Broken links, graphics and forms are frustrating. Popups, music and noise are maddening. Respect your visitorsก time and space. Make sure your site is free of errors and other annoyances.

BE AVAILABLE: Make it easy for visitors to get in touch with you. A highly visible contact link on every page is usually enough to let visitors know that you are readily available.

EXPOSE YOURSELF: Itกs a psychological fact that trust increases with exposure. Stay in touch with your visitors by sending them useful information through your mailing list.

STRETCH: Affiliates often receive emails better handled by the merchant partner. Don’t ignore those emails. Relaying the message promptly brands you as a professional with both the customer and your partner.

GIVE TREATS: Freebies are like chocolate samples. Few folks will turn them down, and your reputation goes up when they’re good.

As you can see, gaining your visitorsก trust is simple. Simply be trustworthy. Incorporate one or all of the above methods and watch your credibility, conversion rates and sales increase.

About The Author

Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the bestselling กSuper Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other Peopleกs Stuff Onlineก. To learn how you too can suceed in Internet and affiliate marketing, go to: http://NetProfitsToday.com.

This article was posted on March 30

by Rosalind Gardner