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Registered User
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Converting Visitors to Sales - Google Analytics
we run a website that sells high-end signed limited edition books.
this is the geographical layout (Google Analytics) from today, Jan. 29th. ![]() most of these people are visitors from the #1 Stephen King fan-based website on the internet. A contest to give away several 1st editions have people on a scavenger hunt to find answers to several questions. Here's the problem: Most of these people are SK fans/readers. However, what we offer are very expensive items and I fear that most of these people can't afford anything, given by the conversion rate. How do I sell something to these people? anything... today was the largest 1 day volume , with 160 unique visitors and 800 pageviews. Any advice/ideas would be highly appreciated... Thanks!! |
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The Unsettler
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what was the conversion rate if you don't mind telling
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"I want my two dollars" "Goodbye and thanks for the fish" "Proud Member and Supporter of the YWL" "Brandon Won" |
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Registered User
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Quote:
Last edited by on-ramp; 01-29-2007 at 07:08 PM.. |
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Registered
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Edmonton
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Why not offer some products that would appeal to these visitors?? But as Wayne stated, that's not a whole lot of visitors so it may not be worth the hassle.
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Registered
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Location: Mid-life crisis, could be anywhere
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I wonder what the "true" number of real, potential customers actually is? I have a site that I study as well, and am continuously baffled by the high level of traffic, yet comparatively low number of sales. I've suspected that "many" visitors during a typical day are probably search spiders, indexers, competition, etc, etc. Would be interesting to find some real data out there regarding this.
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Targa, Panamera Turbo
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Houston TX
Posts: 22,366
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have you tried e-bay?
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Michael D. Holloway https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Holloway https://5thorderindustry.com/ https://www.amazon.com/s?k=michael+d+holloway&crid=3AWD8RUVY3E2F&sprefix= michael+d+holloway%2Caps%2C136&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 |
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Registered User
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Quote:
Just to give you an idea on numbers... according to Google analytics, for the month of Jan, there were 926 visitors on our website with 4,100 pageviews... result was 1 order. this is a poor conversion ratio. however, as Wayner pointed out, it's a niche market..how many people actually buy that Ferrari or Lamborghini? maybe 1 buyer every 1,000 visitors/lookers is a good ratio for this business. Motion, good point...I would be interested to find that as well. Last edited by on-ramp; 01-30-2007 at 06:20 AM.. |
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Targa, Panamera Turbo
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Houston TX
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Check out these two website for the same company. Which one do you think gets more sales? BTW, they both have the same traffic:
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Michael D. Holloway https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Holloway https://5thorderindustry.com/ https://www.amazon.com/s?k=michael+d+holloway&crid=3AWD8RUVY3E2F&sprefix= michael+d+holloway%2Caps%2C136&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 |
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Targa, Panamera Turbo
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Houston TX
Posts: 22,366
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Sorry...
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Michael D. Holloway https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Holloway https://5thorderindustry.com/ https://www.amazon.com/s?k=michael+d+holloway&crid=3AWD8RUVY3E2F&sprefix= michael+d+holloway%2Caps%2C136&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 |
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Dept store Quartermaster
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: I'm right here Tati
Posts: 19,858
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The second one as the first is so difficult to read.
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Cornpoppin' Pony Soldier |
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Registered User
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i would think the second one... it's easier on the eyes. the black text on white background is good contrast. the black background is hard to read and uninspiring.
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Targa, Panamera Turbo
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Houston TX
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Yep, #2 increased sales dramically for them. The thing is, this guy is really good at design and layout but has no clue as for as web marketing is concerned. I'm not implying a correlation just an observation is all. Do you deal in all sorts of rare, signed books or do you stick to one type?
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Michael D. Holloway https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Holloway https://5thorderindustry.com/ https://www.amazon.com/s?k=michael+d+holloway&crid=3AWD8RUVY3E2F&sprefix= michael+d+holloway%2Caps%2C136&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 |
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Registered
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Check out your Marketing Optimization section and see what your Keyword Conversions and stuff are. Depending on the cost of the words, you could setup an AdSense account to target the keywords that people type most often before clicking your link. AdSense can cost $$ though if lots of people click but don't buy anything.
Wayne is dead on: 160 unique visitors a day isn't much. If you really want to sell stuff, especially online, you need high traffic. If you don't mind, you might want to include what site it is here, as certain members might be able to give you tips to increase traffic, or the layout to increase sales. Look at where your principal sources of traffic are coming from, besides the bookclub website, and then optimize for that. Are you a member on the book club site? If so, post there OFTEN on SK issues and include your URL with some good marketing in your signature line. With the limited details, it's hard to say for sure, but here are some guidelines:
BTW, I don't link how GA shows referrers. I use ExtremeTracking.com to track for referrers and like it much more. YMMV.
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I turn away with fear and horror from this lamentable sore of continuous functions without derivatives. --Charles Hermite Fakelife.com Nothing to do with archery anymore. Porsche/BMW/Ferrari/Honda videos |
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SlowToady, the website is www.veryfinebooks.com
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The Unsettler
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I would tend to agree that the web may not be the market for your products.
Your homepage cycles product on reload. Not sure why this is beneficial to you. When I hit it the 1st time the cheapest item was $450, subsequent hits got me sub $300 products. Some of your books are north of $2k. If I'm coming here and seeing prices like that I'm probably leaving pretty quick. You do have items priced in the $30 and up range. I would focus on a layout that does not give people sticker shock when they 1st arrive. As far as the higher priced items they appeal to a serious collector. How much of the purchase experience for this consumer is related to "touching and feeling"? Or put another way how likely is someone to plunk down a grand or so for something that they can't do a PPI on? Don't have any advice on how you deal with that other than trying to build a name and reputation within that collector community. I'd recommend building a couple of different sites with different target objectives, ex: one that publishes the lowest priced items 1st and has a special prominent "featured" high ticket item then do some A/B splits on the traffic and see what it does to conversion and depth/length of visit.
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"I want my two dollars" "Goodbye and thanks for the fish" "Proud Member and Supporter of the YWL" "Brandon Won" |
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the "touching and feeling" is all done through images and good detailed descriptions of product condition. there is no physical store where you can walk in and see the product.
with regards to price, it's like walking into a dealership that sells Ferraris , Lamborghinis and Porsches. Of course you would expect "sticker shock"... if you want something cheap, go buy a Ford... the problem is my niche market may be too small for what I'm trying to do . I look at my competitors and they've been around for a while so I know the business model works and the formula works. btw, what is significant daily visitor traffic? The 150-200 visitors in 1 day is a good day. Most of the time it's only 20-50 a day...OR with the # products listed, and traffic, 1-2 sales per month is pretty damn good!!??? This is what I'm trying to figure out...maybe i'm not being realistic on expectations. Thanks. |
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Registered
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The overall site design and layout is pretty good, although you might want to think about the placement of the Lilja's Library banner. To me, a banner near the top of the page like that says "CLICK ME!" which leads a visitor, and potential customer, away from your site. I'd think about maybe putting it under the under the books and before the feedback form. Then, if they don't see anything that appeals to them, they can click it (but not before).
Also, maybe try having the books on the main page show the lower priced books. I realize your customers are probably used to seeing higher prices than the rest of us, but if they see $800 right off the bat, they might think "wow, this is $$$." Just a thought. In that same vein, you might want to have the default sorting for your books pages (eg, signed first edition) be "Price: Low To High" to avoid potential stick shock. That way, they can see exactly what is in their price range. I think I might have one or two other ideas for you, but I have to go to programming class...
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I turn away with fear and horror from this lamentable sore of continuous functions without derivatives. --Charles Hermite Fakelife.com Nothing to do with archery anymore. Porsche/BMW/Ferrari/Honda videos |
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Quote:
with regards to price, For each category, you can do a sort by "Price:Low to High".. so someone looking for items under a certain price can sort them in this manner. I agree about the banner up on top, it's inviting visitors away from my site. thanks. |
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The Unsettler
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by on-ramp
the "touching and feeling" is all done through images and good detailed descriptions of product condition. there is no physical store where you can walk in and see the product. I realize there is no store, was posing the question of whether or not the hands on experience is an issue. I'm not into collector books so I don't know the answer to that. with regards to price, it's like walking into a dealership that sells Ferraris , Lamborghinis and Porsches. Of course you would expect "sticker shock"... if you want something cheap, go buy a Ford... When I walk up to a Ferrari dealer I know who they are and what they sell and know that it will cost a lot. I have no idea who veryfinebooks.com is. I have no expectation of what pricepoint to expect. I may have wandered in from a google search but was not actually looking for a high end book dealer. I might buy a $30 book spur of the moment but the $500 and up books will scare me off before I ever know you have cheaper stuff. the problem is my niche market may be too small for what I'm trying to do . I look at my competitors and they've been around for a while so I know the business model works and the formula works. My feeling also, which is another reason to expand your customer base to the less expensive books as well. btw, what is significant daily visitor traffic? The 150-200 visitors in 1 day is a good day. Most of the time it's only 20-50 a day...OR with the # products listed, and traffic, 1-2 sales per month is pretty damn good!!??? This is what I'm trying to figure out...maybe i'm not being realistic on expectations. That's a tough one to answer, depends on a lot of variables particular to your business.
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"I want my two dollars" "Goodbye and thanks for the fish" "Proud Member and Supporter of the YWL" "Brandon Won" |
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Super Moderator
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Conversion rates are sickeningly low... If you're doing 1-2% I'd say you're getting a phenomonal conversion...
Just for reference... Vertical Conversion Rate (%) Catalog 6.1 Specialty stores 3.9 Fashion/apparel 2.2 Travel 2.1 Home and furnishing 2.0 Sport/outdoors 1.4 Electronics 1.1 All verticals 2.3 However in your case you've realized that the browser you've brought over is not your demographic target, so you shouldn't expect even a 1-2% rate... Much lower... Nothing to worry about unless you want to start selling SK novels?
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