Traffic investments load the funnel.
There is a lot of focus on increasing traffic to websites when assessing online marketing tactics. This is for good reason: Without website visitors, no one is there to make a purchase or learn what your business is all about.
Website traffic tools are sold most often (likely) because it’s the easiest non-invasive marketing influencer a third-party can offer. Website traffic tools include a wide range, from offline to online: billboards to pay-per-click to social media will all grab some amount of website traffic.
Conversion investments widen the mouth.
The forgotten focus is on website conversions. Conversions include sales, downloads, contact form completions–any specific business goal on a website. Conversions are influenced by a number of on and off website considerations, some examples: qualified traffic, website design, website usability, images.
There is an extremely high amount of permutations a visitor can navigate through in order to make it to the actual conversion. This is where the analytics nerds love to play, with exciting results. (There’s a fantastic example beginning on slide 15 of Google Analytics Decision Making.)
Too many companies get lazy about making design updates or testing out interfaces. I get it–it’s not easy. Website interfaces and design require a balance of science and art. And it’s not a set-it-and-forget-it process. What you’ll learn from the results, however, are worth every investment made.
Consider the following example chart.*
There’s a reason not to be lazy about making conversion rate investments. Even if the average transaction value of each conversion was only a dollar you can still see significant impact across the board. So why are so many companies only focusing on increasing website traffic?
Website traffic is a clear necessity for business growth. Just make sure you test out ways to improve conversion rates regularly.
*Please note: Conversion rates are often low percentages on average. Even incremental changes at tenths of a percentage can make a significant difference (depending on website volume). This chart was kept simple for illustrative purposes.
