How clients look at you.

[rth_discos]

Cool...

is there an industry benchmark for conversion rates? I’m guessing that 100% isn’t automatically a good thing, it could just mean your prices are too low (though 100% a the right price would be of course).

No there isn't. There are too many factors that affect conversion rate to have a "industry benchmark". Which is why you can only work to improve an existing conversion rate. There are two factors that affect conversion rate - the actual website, and the traffic to the website. And this is why it's hard to have a benchmark, as the traffic to the website varies so much.

It does make it more difficult when building the first website for a client, as they have no existing conversion rate to work with, so it's a case of managing expectations.

With existing websites, it's a case of whether tweaking the existing website will be most effective, or does it require a complete website build. And then there's the consideration of what profit each sales makes. If £2,000 investment sees 1 more premium car with a £20,000 profit in being sold per year, then it's good value for money investment.

Most people simply try and increase traffic to the website when they want more sales. And that can get quite expensive when you're dealing with Pay Per Click advertising campaigns. Which is why I recommend first looking at what the current website traffic is doing.

For example, Fred spends £50/month of AdWords, and get 5 enquiries per week, leading to 2 confirmed bookings per week.
He could increase his spend to £100/month of AdWords, and likely get 10 enquiries per week, leaving to 4 confirmed bookings per week.

But what if he looked at the website first and made changes?

Potentially, he could increase his enquiries from 5 to 8 enquiries per week, leading to 3 confirmed bookings per week.

Meaning when he increases his spend to £100/month of AdWords, he then could see 16 enquiries per week, leading to 6 confirmed booking per week.

And there you can see the benefit of improving your conversion rate.

And there are lots of aspects to look at - it isn't even always based on what the majority want. If 99 out of 100 visitors are happy to email in, and don't care about telephone numbers, then it seems all is OK. But actually, by having a telephone number, you could then convert the final 1 person.

Do this for a few areas, and you can quickly start mopping up those extra conversions - particularly ones who have looked at other mobile discos and not found a phone number. Suddenly, that one person is much easier to convert, as you then have a point of difference over your competitors.

It's a massive, massive area, but looking at your conversion rate on your website is so important if you want to generate more enquiries - especially if you are spending on online advertising, so that you can make that spend work as hard as possible for you.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Interesting reading.

I guess I am one of those that is happy to plod along and doesn't think about the website side of things in too much detail. Mine is pretty basic but it is packed full of information and from the feedback that I get from customers when I ask how they found me or what was the deciding fact that led them to book with me, a fair percentage report that the website answered all of their questions.

Most of my work is generated via recommendations and residencies and I am more than happy with that. Year on year I have got busier and if the last 6 weeks are anything to go by with regards to enquiries and confirmed bookings, 2015 will be my busiest year since I went self employed in 2005.
I update my website regularly (and yes, it is probably clear that I am no website designer. Like Toby I use Dreamweaver but in my case it's with very minimal knowledge).
I think it is important to have a presence on the web but I think in all honesty that I could probably get away with not having one these days.

With reference to colours etc, I use mainly blues and reds but that's just my preference and I've never really thought about it that much.
As I said, interesting reading and thanks. There are more than likely a few things I could take on board from what's been said already.

Yes, we all want to improve but I am more than happy with how things are going for me. I don't want to get any busier really as I am always booked and I am not in the 'cheap' bracket. I'm not offering premium rates either. My research shows that I am going out at a price above the middle ground which suits me.

[Benny Smyth]

No there isn't. There are too many factors that affect conversion rate to have a "industry benchmark". Which is why you can only work to improve an existing conversion rate. There are two factors that affect conversion rate - the actual website, and the traffic to the website. And this is why it's hard to have a benchmark, as the traffic to the website varies so much.

It does make it more difficult when building the first website for a client, as they have no existing conversion rate to work with, so it's a case of managing expectations.

With existing websites, it's a case of whether tweaking the existing website will be most effective, or does it require a complete website build. And then there's the consideration of what profit each sales makes. If £2,000 investment sees 1 more premium car with a £20,000 profit in being sold per year, then it's good value for money investment.

Most people simply try and increase traffic to the website when they want more sales. And that can get quite expensive when you're dealing with Pay Per Click advertising campaigns. Which is why I recommend first looking at what the current website traffic is doing.

For example, Fred spends £50/month of AdWords, and get 5 enquiries per week, leading to 2 confirmed bookings per week.
He could increase his spend to £100/month of AdWords, and likely get 10 enquiries per week, leaving to 4 confirmed bookings per week.

But what if he looked at the website first and made changes?

Potentially, he could increase his enquiries from 5 to 8 enquiries per week, leading to 3 confirmed bookings per week.

Meaning when he increases his spend to £100/month of AdWords, he then could see 16 enquiries per week, leading to 6 confirmed booking per week.

And there you can see the benefit of improving your conversion rate.

And there are lots of aspects to look at - it isn't even always based on what the majority want. If 99 out of 100 visitors are happy to email in, and don't care about telephone numbers, then it seems all is OK. But actually, by having a telephone number, you could then convert the final 1 person.

Do this for a few areas, and you can quickly start mopping up those extra conversions - particularly ones who have looked at other mobile discos and not found a phone number. Suddenly, that one person is much easier to convert, as you then have a point of difference over your competitors.

It's a massive, massive area, but looking at your conversion rate on your website is so important if you want to generate more enquiries - especially if you are spending on online advertising, so that you can make that spend work as hard as possible for you.

Very interesting read. Thank you for that.

[Tom]

Interesting reading everyone, thanks for sharing.

Expect a few more questions like this. Like to see how people think and what they do regarding their work. Just trying to get people thinking

[Benny Smyth]

It's actually an interesting topic. My website, for example, I used purple because it's the most common colour scheme used for weddings (at least in my experience - I'm sure others will differ).

[Tom]

Interesting to see what colours mean and what companies use them.

[DJ Jules]

Maybe black and white wasn't such a great choice for the logo then....

[Andy P]

As I sent my son of to uni last year to study advertising and media I took a left out of what he was learning and apparently this season strong neons and bright colours are all the rage. I made my site on wix, and while seo is not great I used the free routes to get noticed (yell, google+, freeads etc).

Currently many of my enquiries are coming via the website and it seems to be holding up well for something I did myself. I'm always tweaking it and taking on feedback.