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Digg it UP - Improving Visitor-to-Customer Conversion Ratio - Few Interesting Facts
With all its glitz and glamour, many people believe that working in advertising is all fun and games. Nothing could be father from the truth as advertising agency people are some of the hardest working professionals around. At its very core, advertising is still a business and a very competitive business at that. Now, if despite that knowledge, you still think that advertising is a good place of employment, then read on to get a better idea of how the advertising world works.Basically, advertising serves the function of promoting goods and services through the mass media, which includes television, radio and print, mainly newspapers and magazines. Advertising also uses other non-traditional media to do its work such as outdoor advertising and through organizing special promotional events. In a
The three-click rule states that any page in a web-site should be accessible in three clicks. Call your visitor lazy, idle or bore - he/she is unlikely to click more than three times to reach the destination page.
The implication for this fact is simple - make your web-site really easy - easy to find, easy to remember, easy to understand and most important - easy to navigate.
Do you use navigation bar in each page ? How many clicks are required to reach home page from any other page ? Do you use an internal search engine ? How easy is it to find 'Order Form' ? How many clicks required to reach 'Send Enquiry' or 'Contact Us' page ?
Fact No 4: The 12-click dead
So there you are facing bad debt and getting angrier. Your money, your hard work and no return. The guys don't even answer your calls. Sorry Mr x is away from his desk, would you like to leave another message on voicemail (like that will make any difference).Alright lets go back in time - what could you have done differently, when did you realize this was going to become a problem? how would you have dealt with this knowing what you know now?All good questions so let's analyse and see what we can come up with.First off why did you wait? You knew it was due. You could have chased it sooner. Then things got worse because not only were you owed money but another order came in and you were so busy feeling good about the new business you didn't question it. Maybe a credit check way bac
Successful marketers constantly endeavor to learn consumer habits and shape their marketing strategy accordingly. Learning behavior of potential customers in the Web help you prepare accordingly and drive a successful deal.
I have compiled here some interesting facts and statistics on web surfers behavior. Let us understand these and examine their implication on web marketing strategy, specifically how this knowledge can contribute to marketing success in the Internet.
Fact No 1 - Web-Site is Essential for International Business
First thing first - to be successful in Internet, you must have an Internet presence. The 9th Annual Middleburg/Ross Survey of Media Professionals found that over 70% of working journalists list the company website as the first stop when researching a breaking story or a feature. Same is the case with other professionals whose first port of call on any subject is the company web-site. Having no web-site mostly mean no customer and hence no business. There are other more compelling reasons like building trust, 24-hour storefront, business e-mail etc. The days of doing business over Internet using free or paid e-mail are truly over - if you are serious about your business and expect serious customers from Internet - professional web-site is essential.
Fact No 2 - You have barely 5 seconds to impress and engage a visitor
Research shows that web surfers tend to scan through pages before they read anything. What it means in reality is - a surfer may leave your website even if you have loads of useful information. You must be able to engage him/her before he/she decides to move out. In the dial-up days - it used to be called 'Battle for 20 seconds' when surfers decided to read-on or move out of a web-page within maximum 20 seconds. Today, with broadband connection and faster servers - a web-site has barely 5-seconds to impress a visitor.
What is the implication of this fact ? In addition to fast loading, attractive design and lay-out - you must provide the surfer easy and convenient click options. As soon as the scan is over and the surfer feels comfortable about the web-site, he/she should be able to locate interesting links to click. Select right keywords, highlight and bold at least 7 per fold - and you are telling the customer what to do within those 7 highlighted or bold words... Your website has more of a chance of converting a visitor into a customer
Fact No 3 - The Three-Click Rule
The three-click rule states that any page in a web-site should be accessible in three clicks. Call your visitor lazy, idle or bore - he/she is unlikely to click more than three times to reach the destination page.
The implication for this fact is simple - make your web-site really easy - easy to find, easy to remember, easy to understand and most important - easy to navigate.
Do you use navigation bar in each page ? How many clicks are required to reach home page from any other page ? Do you use an internal search engine ? How easy is it to find 'Order Form' ? How many clicks required to reach 'Send Enquiry' or 'Contact Us' page ?
Fact No 4: The 12-click dead
The public is the most important aspect of any kind of business. The public is the one who buys from you, and the public is the one who gives you free advertisement. This is why it is important for your business to have a good image in the public.One marketing tool that you can use for your business is called public relations. This is one of the most effective yet overlooked tools in the business world. It is a fact that businesses that make use of public relations as a marketing tool are far more successful in terms of gaining the public's trust.Making your business more public friendly can mean gaining the confidence and trust of the people. Public relations are a cheap and a more effective way to do it. So, before you set out and get an expensive TV advertisement, try to think of your
Fact No 1 - Web-Site is Essential for International Business
First thing first - to be successful in Internet, you must have an Internet presence. The 9th Annual Middleburg/Ross Survey of Media Professionals found that over 70% of working journalists list the company website as the first stop when researching a breaking story or a feature. Same is the case with other professionals whose first port of call on any subject is the company web-site. Having no web-site mostly mean no customer and hence no business. There are other more compelling reasons like building trust, 24-hour storefront, business e-mail etc. The days of doing business over Internet using free or paid e-mail are truly over - if you are serious about your business and expect serious customers from Internet - professional web-site is essential.
Fact No 2 - You have barely 5 seconds to impress and engage a visitor
Research shows that web surfers tend to scan through pages before they read anything. What it means in reality is - a surfer may leave your website even if you have loads of useful information. You must be able to engage him/her before he/she decides to move out. In the dial-up days - it used to be called 'Battle for 20 seconds' when surfers decided to read-on or move out of a web-page within maximum 20 seconds. Today, with broadband connection and faster servers - a web-site has barely 5-seconds to impress a visitor.
What is the implication of this fact ? In addition to fast loading, attractive design and lay-out - you must provide the surfer easy and convenient click options. As soon as the scan is over and the surfer feels comfortable about the web-site, he/she should be able to locate interesting links to click. Select right keywords, highlight and bold at least 7 per fold - and you are telling the customer what to do within those 7 highlighted or bold words... Your website has more of a chance of converting a visitor into a customer
Fact No 3 - The Three-Click Rule
The three-click rule states that any page in a web-site should be accessible in three clicks. Call your visitor lazy, idle or bore - he/she is unlikely to click more than three times to reach the destination page.
The implication for this fact is simple - make your web-site really easy - easy to find, easy to remember, easy to understand and most important - easy to navigate.
Do you use navigation bar in each page ? How many clicks are required to reach home page from any other page ? Do you use an internal search engine ? How easy is it to find 'Order Form' ? How many clicks required to reach 'Send Enquiry' or 'Contact Us' page ?
Fact No 4: The 12-click dead
This is for those who don't believe me when I talk about the dangers of "mystery money" schemes.The terms "pyramid scheme" and "Ponzi scheme" are used almost interchangeably. However, the scheme for which Charles Ponzi is most remembered was not a pyramid.If you aren't aware of the story of Ponzi, you'll likely find it familiar. This man promised to double your money in 90 days, and he kept his promise -- until the day he was arrested for fraud. He had created such a personal mystique that he continued to receive money from new investors while in prison.How could someone with so many satisfied customers end up in prison? Because fraud is fraud no matter the results. Ponzi claimed to be investing peoples' money and giving them the proceeds. What he was actually doing was giving
Fact No 2 - You have barely 5 seconds to impress and engage a visitor
Research shows that web surfers tend to scan through pages before they read anything. What it means in reality is - a surfer may leave your website even if you have loads of useful information. You must be able to engage him/her before he/she decides to move out. In the dial-up days - it used to be called 'Battle for 20 seconds' when surfers decided to read-on or move out of a web-page within maximum 20 seconds. Today, with broadband connection and faster servers - a web-site has barely 5-seconds to impress a visitor.
What is the implication of this fact ? In addition to fast loading, attractive design and lay-out - you must provide the surfer easy and convenient click options. As soon as the scan is over and the surfer feels comfortable about the web-site, he/she should be able to locate interesting links to click. Select right keywords, highlight and bold at least 7 per fold - and you are telling the customer what to do within those 7 highlighted or bold words... Your website has more of a chance of converting a visitor into a customer
Fact No 3 - The Three-Click Rule
The three-click rule states that any page in a web-site should be accessible in three clicks. Call your visitor lazy, idle or bore - he/she is unlikely to click more than three times to reach the destination page.
The implication for this fact is simple - make your web-site really easy - easy to find, easy to remember, easy to understand and most important - easy to navigate.
Do you use navigation bar in each page ? How many clicks are required to reach home page from any other page ? Do you use an internal search engine ? How easy is it to find 'Order Form' ? How many clicks required to reach 'Send Enquiry' or 'Contact Us' page ?
Fact No 4: The 12-click dead
Mailing lists may be the cause of more heartbreaks than anyother single factor in mail order. A poorly chosen list, a weakmailing and the high cost of mailing to a list can tax theoptimism of a new dealer very, very quickly. Arm yourself withknowledge before embarking on a course like this!Whether you should use a mailing list to sell your productdepends on several things:Is it too complex an offering to be explained in a 30 word ad?Can you afford to mail 200 to 1,000 pieces on the chance thatyou won't get a single order?Can you make a profit selling your product to only two to twentypeople in a 1,000 piece mailing?Will a re-order of your product be required, and can you makeyour re-orders pay for the losses you will likely get frommailing to a list?Do you
What is the implication of this fact ? In addition to fast loading, attractive design and lay-out - you must provide the surfer easy and convenient click options. As soon as the scan is over and the surfer feels comfortable about the web-site, he/she should be able to locate interesting links to click. Select right keywords, highlight and bold at least 7 per fold - and you are telling the customer what to do within those 7 highlighted or bold words... Your website has more of a chance of converting a visitor into a customer
Fact No 3 - The Three-Click Rule
The three-click rule states that any page in a web-site should be accessible in three clicks. Call your visitor lazy, idle or bore - he/she is unlikely to click more than three times to reach the destination page.
The implication for this fact is simple - make your web-site really easy - easy to find, easy to remember, easy to understand and most important - easy to navigate.
Do you use navigation bar in each page ? How many clicks are required to reach home page from any other page ? Do you use an internal search engine ? How easy is it to find 'Order Form' ? How many clicks required to reach 'Send Enquiry' or 'Contact Us' page ?
Fact No 4: The 12-click dead
Ready to accept credit card payments for your e-business? Learn everything there is to know about getting a merchant account. Thinking of going online to expand business in this e-commerce era? Accepting and receiving payment is a tough challenge. Foremost, familiarize yourself with
the jargon of Merchant Accounts.All merchant account providers offer different services to enable you to
accept online payments through credit cards. Take your time to choose best and
appropriate merchant account provider by exploring all pro & cons and to avoid
adversities. Look for the details that distinguish one provider from next on the
parameters & evaluators of - Rates and Rolling Reserves, Chargebacks and
Chargeback Fees, Monthly Limits/Inflexible limits, Underwriting and Risk
Assessment, After-sales
The three-click rule states that any page in a web-site should be accessible in three clicks. Call your visitor lazy, idle or bore - he/she is unlikely to click more than three times to reach the destination page.
The implication for this fact is simple - make your web-site really easy - easy to find, easy to remember, easy to understand and most important - easy to navigate.
Do you use navigation bar in each page ? How many clicks are required to reach home page from any other page ? Do you use an internal search engine ? How easy is it to find 'Order Form' ? How many clicks required to reach 'Send Enquiry' or 'Contact Us' page ?
Fact No 4: The 12-click deadline
An average user clicks 12 times before leaving a website. If any page is accessible within 3-clicks, one may safely assume that the surfer will visit 3 or 4 pages of your website.
Implication of this fact - you must present your visitor with something to act on (purchase/enquire/e-mail/fill order-form) in each page, so that chances of a sale is high within 12 clicks. Without your site being easy, attractive, memorable, and clear... you will just lose that visitor.
Fact No 5: Importance of 7th Visit
Most buyers complete their purchase-related research within two or more weeks before they buy. During this period - he/she makes, on an average, 7 visits to the web-site.
- During this 2-weeks/7-visit duration - your web-site must be able to make a lasting impression on the customer. Some of the key success factors during this pre-sale days are
- Your web-site must be up and running. If the buyer finds your web-site down on crucial purchase-day - the implication needs no explanation.
- Prompt customer service. Nothing is more disastrous than delayed and incomplete response to pre-sale queries
- Apart from timely and precise communication, the tone and style of communication should be able to inspire confidence. For example, while paying to any PayPal merchant - PayPal displays the number of people who have paid this merchant before you. Such reference of successful sale significantly impresses a semi-decided mind to go for a deal.
All days in a week are same - right ? Obviously wrong, as most of us will not equate a weekly-off day (e.g. Sunday) with any other working day.
So is the case with web surfers. Research has shown that Saturday and Wednesday are the most popular days of the week to surf the Net. So, these are the two days when you want your email to land in your customers' inbox or its the two days when you want to test market a new sales item. All in all, its the two days you should do whatever it takes to double your daily e-commerce income.
This is not to suggest that you slack off other days of the week but only to highlight the importance of these two days when customers are out there - perhaps in larger number. Its more like prime time TV - when more viewers can be found before the Idiot box.
Conclusion
Attracting more customers to your web-site is important, but perhaps more important is the conversion ratio - how many visitors turn to customers. Understanding behavior pattern of web surfers can greatly help in steering visitors to sales path. New market research constantly throws interesting new facts on surfing behavior. One should be aware of such surveys and suitably
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