What’s the Best Way to Improve Conversions? - eMarketer

What’s the Best Way to Improve Conversions? - eMarketer

What’s the Best Way to Improve Conversions?

OCTOBER 28, 2009

Testing and analysis, of course

Unsurprisingly, companies worldwide told Econsultancy in summer 2009 that the No. 1 conversion relevant to them was sales, with sign-ups and registrations a close second.

Overall site conversion to sale was also the top metric used by client-side respondents, monitored by 68%. That was followed by overall site conversion to response, lead conversion rate and basket conversion rate.

But many companies (39%) are not satisfied with their conversion rates. They reported A/B testing as the most valuable way to improve conversion, with more than one-half of companies saying it was highly valuable and another 42% saying it was quite valuable.

Agency-side respondents to Econsultancy’s “Conversion Report” did not always know what their clients thought about the best ways to improve conversions. A/B testing came farther down the list when agencies were asked what worked, and they overestimated the value of expert usability reviews for their clients.

Even in the difficult economic circumstances, the majority of client-side respondents (70%) reported improved conversion rates in the past 12 months. Interestingly, calculations by Econsultancy determined that an organization was more than twice as likely to experience better conversion rates if there was an employee directly responsible for conversion. Although 52% of agencies said their clients did not have such a person, 60% of client-side respondents reported having a worker devoted to improving conversion rates.