Alan Gayle is a sales and marketing consultant specialising in the construction industry. In this column he offers advice on how to make an impact in the market. This he turns his attention to the conversion.
You may remember back in February I wrote about the importance of Word of Mouth (WoM) marketing. In this month’s column I want to move on to the next step – conversion.
First, a quick recap of WoM:
- It’s about getting customers to talk positively about you and getting regular referrals
- Many consider it the holy grail of marketing
- A prospect is seven times more likely to buy if they have been referred
- The internet has made WoM even more important
- Use your website and social media to improve WoM
Now back to this month’s topic. Let’s start with a definition. I think MarketingSherpa’s glossary best explains conversion. “The point at which a recipient of a marketing message performs a desired action.”
Before we go on, a quick recap of AIDA. A = Attention, I = Interest, D = Desire, A = Action.
It’s the Action part of AIDA that relates to conversion.
It’s about getting your potential customers to respond to your call to action (CTA).
The way to measure your conversion rate depends on what action you are calling on your customers to make. If you operate an e-commerce website, (ie your website has a ‘shopping basket’ for visitors to buy online) your CTA will be to entice them to buy something from you. If you don’t have a shopping basket, perhaps your CTA is for people to download a brochure.
To calculate your conversion rate, simply divide the number that took the required action by the total number of visitors, then multiply by 100 to give you a percentage.
Conversion Rate = Number that take action ÷ total visitors X 100.
For example, if 150 visitors to your website last month bought something, and you had 800 visitors in total, your conversion rate was 18.75%.
It’s important that your CTA is tangible and realistic. In most cases you won’t be trying to make a direct sale but you should still be able to calculate your conversion rate using a more relevant CTA such as downloading a brochure, requesting a sample or signing up to a newsletter.
The best result is to get a new enquiry. An enquiry is a lead which, over time, can become a sale. Particularly if you implement a ‘data collection plan’ for interested prospects that are not yet ready to buy. You can send them further information, aimed at turning them into your future customers.
Comparing your conversion rate each month (or at least every quarter) with previous rates, will indicate how effective or ineffective your website is and whether your response rates are improving or not.
The same applies to all your marketing communications, including e-mailshots, point of sale promotions and advertisements.
One very important point to remember is that SEO (search engine optimisation) is virtually pointless without a conversion strategy.
What’s the point of having thousands of website visitors every month if none of them makes contact with you?
If your marketing efforts are producing a steady stream of new enquiries, then you’re doing it right. If not, it’s time to re-think and create a more compelling offer (that’s the ‘desire’ phase of AIDA) with a more effective CTA.
What’s the alternative? Cold calling?
Unless your company is already well known, cold calling can be a time-consuming and expensive option. When was the last time you bought something from a cold caller? Exactly! That’s why marketing is so important. You have to get your company known (the ‘attention’ phase of AIDA), and your prospects interested (‘interest’ phase).
Improving your Conversion Rate is the essential element that is often overlooked by small businesses. It can improve your effectiveness and reduce your costs. Use it with WoM and you will have a winning combination.