Going Beyond the Website Conversion to Measure Success
A website conversion is when a site visitor takes the action that the business desires. For a retailer, this is typically an online purchase. For a B2B company, this is typically when a lead is generated through a form submission, download or call.
And there are many other flavors of website conversions as well. For a publisher, it can be Page Views (so the publisher can increase advertising rates). For a social community site, it can be Time-On-Site and participation. For a recipe site, it can be recipe printouts.
Website conversions drive business success. Measuring website conversions is useful and helps us to understand how to continually refine our website to meet the needs of our customers.
What I would argue, though, is that we need to take the next step and measure lifetime value of a customer to our business as well. If you are a retailer, you can aim to make a sale and measure your website’s success accordingly. But you should also take the more holistic view, see the potential for a lifetime of sales, and do everything you possibly can to build a long-term relationship with the person.
So, instead of constructing your website exclusively to drive a single sale, construct a process that:
- Drives continual customer touch-points
- Makes your brand relevant in their lives
- Delivers benefits to your customers continually
Let’s say you sell cookies through your website. Offering a 20% discount for a purchase may drive short-term, one-time sales. But how about tying your cookies into your customers’ lifestyles rather than focusing on a one-time discount, which does nothing to build a relationship with your customer.
With cookies, you can offer different types of packages – is the customer a mom looking for a treat to include in her child’s brown bag lunch? Or is it a person looking for fun family desserts? Or is it a person looking for great gifts for family and friends? Or is it an office worker looking to satisfy afternoon hunger? Define the different ways that your cookies fit into your customers’ lives and design packages and solutions accordingly.
The mom looking for a brown bag lunch treat? Offer her a package with brightly colored, individually wrapped, mini-sized cookies for each day of the week. Offer a subscription service so that the mom is sent a new set of cookies each week. Offer a chart that matches the best type of cookie to various types of lunches.
And if you felt compelled to offer a discount?
Well, instead of a one-time discount, what if your website offered the 20% discount for an ANNUAL cookie-lovers membership instead? In this way, instead of focusing on a one-time sale and then HOPING that the customer will come back, you are building a business model on a more solid, predictable, longer-term foundation.
Within this framework, you can deliver fresh new cookies on a monthly or weekly basis. Further to this, you can offer additional, value-add specials throughout the course of the year. You can build a deeper relationship through conversations with your customers. You can provide access to an exclusive website filled with special offers, fantastic cookie recipes and a forum for their voice to be heard:
- Offer members an exclusive opportunity to make recommendations for new cookies
- Offer them the exclusive opportunity to taste test new recipes that are not yet available to the general public
- Hold an exclusive cookie recipe contest, offering to sell the winning cookie
The possibilities are endless, and they apply just as equally to retail as they do to B2B, publishers and just about any other type of website.
These are just a few suggestions to help you construct a great website that drives your business growth over the long-term. If you need additional help, let me know below or at www.WebsiteMarketingNOW.com. Thanks!
August 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I would completely agree with this point. Conversion ratios are important, but how many customers you can make repeat customers is much more important. Having them buy from you time and time again is where the long term value of a customer comes from.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Building customer relationships is important, but what about services that don’t really need repeat customers? For example, my company serves clients on an ongoing basis, sort of a subscription-only business model. I suppose the compelling reason to maintain customer relationships is to retain customers, not simply drive repeated business?
Thanks for the article! I’ve been wondering about my site’s conversion recently, so your advice was definitely needed!
August 8th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Merchant Account Pro - Thanks for your comments!
Kim - Thanks for your comments and question. Your services seem fantastic for the small business, just what so many startups, home businesses and small business owners need.
If the main conversion event on your site is a subscription purchase, then I believe you have a few options for looking beyond the single conversion event to generate incremental, long-term revenue.
The first would be to offer two or three tiers of subscriptions. For example, you can add a VIP-level service. Then, you can approach businesses that initially sign-up for the regular service about upgrading to the VIP service at the appropriate time.
Another option would be to identify complementary subscription services that your customers need, and explore cross-sell opportunities.
You are right, though, that the key to long-term revenue capture with a subscription model is to keep your customers HAPPY. Nothing will beat that.
Hope that this is helpful.
-Tom
August 11th, 2009 at 7:39 am
[...] Going Beyond the Website Conversion to Measure Success Look beyond a single website conversion event to measure success. Aim at maximizing lifetime value to generate higher returns for your business. [...]