A company, through its brands, may have many collateral objectives, but its main premise will undoubtedly be one: to sell . That’s why marketing departments spend days devising strategies to make their products or services popular.
To measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign, simply count the sales associated with it. The same thing happens in the digital environment, but in this case, the main indicator of success will be conversions . How many times do people take the action you developed a campaign for? That’s what one of the most popular performance indicators measures: the conversion rate.
Also known as conversion rate , it’s a metric that counts each time one of your website visitors performs a certain action. Which one? From a pre-order to a click on a specific CTA or entering their information into a form on your website.
These are just a few examples, but the truth is that each website may have a unique set of conversions to achieve . Whatever the case, you should consider the conversion rate that the digital platform is recording to make the best decisions, whether to continue on the path you’ve started or look for ways to achieve a higher level.
How to calculate the conversion rate?
To calculate the conversion rate, as may seem obvious, you’ll need to count basic records: the number of conversions completed within a specific time period and the number of visitors to your website during that same period.
Once you have this data, you’ll need to use the conversion rate formula below:
Conversion rate = (conversions / visits received)* 100
The calculation process is quite simple. Start by dividing conversions by the number of visits to obtain an unquestionable indicator of the campaign’s success. Then, simply multiply the result by 100 to determine a percentage that will be much easier to interpret.
For example, let’s review the case of a website selling sporting goods that records the following data: 26,850 visitors and 8,910 conversions in the last month. Simply plug this data into the formula to obtain the corresponding percentage:
Conversion rate = (8,910 / 26,850) * 100 = 33.18%
It’s that simple! You’ve just determined the conversion rate in a practical example very similar to what you’d find in real-life settings. And all this without requiring any special knowledge; you just need to make sure the data collected from your website comes from reliable sources like Google Ads or Facebook Ads and Google Analytics .
As you may have noticed, this is a mathematical operation that is within everyone’s reach. But that’s not all! Once you have the conversion rate in your hands, the most important part remains: interpreting that result .
What is a good conversion rate?
After making the necessary calculations, it’s time to assess the conversion rate . When can that rate be considered good or bad?
It would be excessively daring to establish a general scale that could be applied to all types of websites, because the truth is that each one will have its own objectives.
Furthermore, the interpretation of the conversion rate is also conditioned by the development phase of the website , since it is not the same whether it is a site that has just started its journey or one that already has a demonstrable track record.
With the above, we want to establish the idea that it would be a mistake to limit conversion rate analysis to a standardized value. It goes much deeper than that! To understand this, it’s necessary to understand that a conversion isn’t always a sale .
So, it’s best to compare the conversion rate with the money invested in developing that online campaign. Why? Simple: a poor conversion rate in percentage terms may be good when its ROI is favorable. Otherwise, a website that registers an exponential conversion rate with few sales will not be profitable .
In short, a conversion rate isn’t rated based on the percentage obtained, although it is a key factor to consider. The final judgment will depend on how much money you earn from the few or many conversions your website collects.
But beyond that, you should always take the time to track this metric, and remember that it’s not about getting just any kind of conversion—not at all!—rather, you should focus on getting conversions that are worthwhile .
How to improve conversion rate?
By calculating your conversion rate, you’ll identify opportunities for improvement to change a negative trend or enhance a positive one. The key is making the right decisions that will lead you to success.
To achieve this goal, you may need to make structural changes to your content strategy for your digital platforms. But don’t worry! Below, we delve into the details with 5 tips to improve your conversion rate without dying in the attempt:
1. Create a landing page
When you start an ad-based strategy, you’ll not only need to focus on hiring the best ad platforms, you’ll also need to focus on preparing the place where you’ll receive those people who click on your ads.
This is what’s known as a landing page . It’s the first place your visitors see when they access your website. Is it attractive? Is it functional? Does it deliver what the ad promises? These questions give a clear idea of how effective the landing page will be .
If your landing page isn’t consistent with this, it’ll only take a couple of seconds for people to leave. Your goal here is to create an engaging , yet concise, landing page . Without a good landing page, your conversion rate will plummet!
2. Formulate your hypothesis
The second step is to look back at which elements of your online strategy aren’t as optimized as you might expect. This way, you’ll be formulating a hypothesis to better identify what needs improvement. Examples? The following:
- Headline: Many say that first impressions count. Data supports this theory, as it’s estimated that only 2 in 10 people misread a content title. Therefore, you should try to pique their interest from the very beginning with headlines that inspire them to continue.
- Offer: Why should people convert on your website? Study the offer you’re making in detail and try to introduce variations. A common mistake is putting all your eggs in one basket. Don’t let that happen! Make several offers and then stick with the one that generates the best conversion rate.
- Calls to Action (CTA): These are messages that push people to make the desired conversion. They must be expressed in purposeful language to be effective. The best advice here is to also have a handful of CTAs at your disposal. Test them all and choose the best one!
- Media used: Often, all of the above points are well developed, yet you still register a low conversion rate . In these cases, it might be worthwhile to completely change the strategy. Why not completely change the website’s branding ? How about trying a different type of content or a change in the brand’s communication style?
3. A/B Testing
In the previous points, we’ve repeatedly mentioned the importance of testing to identify which elements capture the audience’s attention. Going into a little more detail, a good way to do this is through A/B testing , that is, conducting a controlled test in which you prepare two variants of your landing page with their respective hypotheses.
The next step is to split traffic between the two to obtain solid data on which performed best. Finally, once you have a large enough database to identify the best of both worlds, stick with it and learn from what didn’t work.
4. Work on your ads
A generic ad will rarely deliver great results. Don’t leave anything to chance! Instead, focus on researching the type of content that most appeals to your target audience. That will be the cornerstone of creating winning ads.
Another point to consider is the ad’s content itself : both the copy and the audiovisual resources must be able to capture attention in a couple of seconds. It’s best to hire specialists who can help you with this.
In addition, there must be a direct correspondence between the information expressed in your ads and what they will find once they reach the corresponding landing page .
5. Pay for what really works
Finally, a very important recommendation: Use your results to stop wasting money! What do we mean by this? A/B testing, as well as web analytics, will allow you to distinguish what works from what doesn’t .
Also calculate the conversion rate for each of your traffic sources , keeping only those with a positive ROI and eliminating those that aren’t significant. As you repeat this process, you’ll hone your ability to focus on what really works . It’s all about investing wisely!
If you follow all these steps, you will have created the necessary conditions for your website’s conversion rate to be the best it can be.
