When implementing any sort of paid customer acquisition, you’re most likely keeping a close eye on the conversion and click-through rates.
And while metrics are important, marketers often equate a high click-through rate (CTR) with a healthy advertising campaign — which more often than not isn’t the case.
While a high CTR can indicate to Google you are helpful and attractive to searchers, it doesn’t always help to increase conversions, which at the end of the day is what drives sales.
Stop focusing on vanity metrics
CTR isn’t a bankable currency and while increasing CTR by 150% sounds Impressive, there’s a high chance these results may never turn into new business or further revenue.
If you’re optimising solely for high CTR — I can tell you right now, it’s not as important as you might think. It provides a false sense of success and doesn’t measure performance. Anyone can focus on CTR, and when you prioritise this, you’re slamming the breaks on revenue-driving goals that are far more important.
You should really be monitoring metrics that can better evaluate the performance of your digital campaign including: reach, bounce rates and sales. Measuring the success of an ad campaign lies more in how your prospects interact with your brand, not just the ad they click on.
Quality over quantity
The age old debate of quality over quantity applies here too. Just because someone clicked on your ad, doesn’t mean they are interested in your brand and while your CTR may be high, it may still result in a low conversion rate, which is the whole reason you’re investing in digital advertisements anyway.
Conversion rate dives deeper into the customer journey, analysing not only if they clicked on your ad, but if they actually followed through with a purchase.
The story behind the click
One of the biggest issues with CTR is that it doesn’t give you the entire story behind the click. What happens after the customer clicks on your ad? How do they interact with your landing page? Did they leave without looking at a second page?
Conversions allow for more visibility over your campaign and how consumers interact with it. Improving your conversion rate can also allow you to get more sales without having to increase traffic. This means if you double your conversion rate, you essentially double the value of your ad spend.
Why your ads aren’t converting
If you’re getting clicks, but no conversions — you’re strategy may need to be adjusted. Even if you aren’t focusing on CTR, there are a million reasons why your ads may not be converting.
Whether you’re engaging in PPC or social campaigns, conversions matter. Luckily, there are a range of ways you can optimise your site and improve them. Conversion rate optimisation or CRO uses A/B testing to test your campaigns. By identifying new goals and determining how the conversion rate can be improved, you can boost the overall performance of your website.
Wrong keywords
Keyword research is one of the most important steps before launching a PPC campaign and before you go blowing your budget on bidding for high-volume keywords, understanding what you’re looking to accomplish with your campaign can bring better results.
Investing in keywords that bring the highest search volume may increase your CTR, but at the end of the day, they are often more general and can result in a lower conversion rate because you’re targeting the wrong things.
Ad copy isn’t speaking to the landing page
Engaging your target audience through engaging ads to promote discounts, free access or unique opportunities is common. However, if you can’t deliver what you’re promising — expect that conversion rate to drop. Your copy should be convincing and concise, but not too embellished. It should align directly with what your prospect will click through to.
Do you understand your audience
In order to make sales, a strong understanding of your audience is required. It’s important to address who you’re trying to convert and consider what stage of the sales funnel they fall into. Are you generating interest or hoping them to take immediate action?
Understanding your audience can make or break your ability to drive conversions and increase sales. Need help with this? Sick of mediocre results with digital marketing? Our team of specialists can work with you to develop a knock-out strategy to increase conversions and drive sales.
