According to Marketing Sherpa, a conversion is “the point at which a recipient of a marketing message performs a desired action.” In other words, a conversion is simply getting someone to respond to your call-to-action. This could be opening an email, registering for a newsletter, and requesting a demo amongst other things.
In a B2B sales funnel, a series of small ‘desired actions’ constitutes a larger end-goal of a completed purchase: signing up for updates, adding a product to cart, interacting on social media, are all important indicators of a visitor’s engagement level and the approach to take to secure the sale.
The value of conversions cannot be overstated in today’s environment of increasingly well-informed shoppers: having the right conversion initiatives are of critical importance in turning unique visitors into repeat customers.
Conversions are measured by calculating the conversion rate, which simply divides the number of completed ‘desired actions’ by the number of visitors. If a website isn’t achieving a desired conversion rate on a given page, element, or goal, conversion rate optimization strategies are usually implemented. This typically involves A/B testing and web personalization to improve the user experience and conversion rate.
Smart marketers view conversion marketing as part of their long-term strategy, not a quickly executed plan. Although internet traffic has increased dramatically over the past decade, conversion rates have not. Therefore, many believe the best approach is to convert existing visitors, not necessarily to find new ones. The best course of action is to use a personalization engine to customize your visitors’ experiences so you can keep and engage the ones you have, and ultimately increase conversions. When in doubt, continuously test the elements of your webpage and ensure your visitors are receiving the most data-driven experience possible.
