If you’re business is not producing the online sales and profits you want, knowing only four crucial numbers can instantly show you where the problem is.
And how to fix it.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Visitors: how many people show up to your website each month? You can track these easily in your web hosting account, or you can use a service like Google Analytics.
2. Optins: How many of your unique visitors join your optin email list? In other words, how many of them raise their hand saying, “yes, you have my permission to market to me via email”? If this number is not at least 25% of your Unique Visitors, you have a problem with your opt-in conversion process. You need a more compelling “ethical bribe” to get the opt-in… or better copy describing that bribe… or a more effective page design… or to add/delete/alter some of the elements on the opt-in page (more on opt-in pages in a future post).
3. Order Page Conversions: Between your opt-in page and your Order Page is your “sales page”. That’s the page where your sales letter lives. This sales page has one job and one job only: to persuade the reader to click the order button (which takes them to the Order Page). When that happens, we have an “Order Page Conversion”. 10% of your total Unique Visitors is the bare minimum conversion you’re looking for. I have written sales pages that convert at 30% or more. That’s not as unusual as you may think. If you’re not getting at least a 10% conversion to the Order Page… your sales letter needs work (could be the copy… could be the design… could be the offer… but something is not working!).
4. Sales Conversions: When someone actually fills out the order form on the Order Page, and clicks the button completing their credit card transaction… that is an actual Sales Conversion. It’s different from the Order Page conversion; there is always a certain level of “abandonment” from the Order Page. Some people put their credit card information in wrong; others receive a decline notice; and some, remaining unconvinced and perhaps merely curious as to what Order Page looked like, simply abandon their purchase and click away. So your third conversion is from the Order Page to the Thank You or Download Page… and this is your actual Sales Conversion. If that Sales conversion is below 5% of your total unique visitors, examine your Order Page for possible bottlenecks (is the order form easy to understand? Does it work? Does it look like the rest of your site or totally alien? Could you add something that might increase conversion, like a testimonial, or audio, or video? Could you take something away, like too much copy or garish graphics?).
Market by the numbers – these four simple ones – and watch your results improve.