#1 -Stop measuring the average conversion rate

Conversion Rates needs to be segmented. I will give one simple fictitious example (with fictitious numbers). Let us pretend that I am airtickets.gr and I have a banner for in.gr with very high traffic but a very, very low level of conversion. Let us also say that I have 1 million total visitors with 1000 conversions and a 0.1% conversion rate. The banner for in.gr gives me .5 million visitors and only 25 conversions with 0.005% conversion rate.
So the conversion rate without the in.gr banner for my site would have a 0.195% conversion rate, which is 90 % more than currently. Instead of reporting averages which are misleading you have to measure the segmented conversion rate. Conversion Rate from direct , search , yahoo, google, organic, banners , affiliates etc. In This example the banner for in.gr also serves a branding purpose. We should measure the segmented conversion rate becasuse averages telling lies.
If we want to be more advanced we have to measure online using traditional retail methods, like for like.

#2 -Stop being obsessed about conversion rates

Everybody has a different conversion Rate even in the same industry. Most of us have completely different business processes, different pricing structures, different customer service techniques, and different online and offline marketing strategies? Why should we want to compare conversion rates? What we should do is measure segmented conversion rates and then just try to improve each different conversion rate. I find any discussion about conversion rates useless if we can not suggest ways to improve it.

#3 -Focus on absolute Conversions (leads, bookings, sales) not Conversion rates

The easiest way to dramatically improve the Conversion Rate is to stop all marketing activities (searches, banners, Radio etc) and have only the returning visitors to your site. This will dramatically improve the conversion rate.
However, websites (as businesses) are here to sell and we should be much more concerned about absolute conversions rather than conversion rates. We should improve conversion Rates (and web analysts are  the most qualified professionals for improving conversion rates) but we should really focus in the absolute conversions, which will increase revenues. I always prefer to have very high absolute conversions number rather than a good conversion Rate.

#4 -Conversion Rates are not hard to Improve

Yes there are some very, very good websites that have invested heavily in the design, usability, optimization, web Analytics etc; it is therefore difficult to optimize conversion rates. Nevertheless, the majority of websites still lack the basics and it is not so difficult to discover what could be improved and optimized.
One simple example: Small online retailers in the UK had an X% conversion Rate. They changed their customer support with a toll free telephone number (e.g. 0800) and placed the number in the header of the website. Conversion Rates jumped to 2,5*X%  (This did not alter telephone calls it only improved the online conversion rate ). Instead of digging into all the clickstream data we can think innovative about what we could improve for our customer profitability and the conversion rates will follow.

There are many ways and techniques to optimize the conversion rates. One of the most efficient way is to start testing your site.

#5 -Focus on the customer rather than on the Conversion Rate

Customers come to your site to do basic research. Do they easily find what they want? Do you have reviews on products? Enough product details? Good product description? Timely and quick telephone support? Vistitors come to look for “help,” want to find the nearest store, come to find information about careers and jobs, and come for various other reasons.
Do you want to improve revenues and profit? Then put you customer needs first and everything else will follow.

Related Material

• 544 Conversion Rate Optimization Tips
• Google Website Optimizer
• Is Conversion Rate Enough?
• Measure the Real Conversion Rate & “Opportunity Pie”
• Conversion Rate Basics & Best Practices

What is Your opinion? Do you have any other recommendations to add?