subject: Where The Referrals Come From [print this page] With all of the demands on your time as an ecommerce entrepreneur, it is useful to know where you can get the biggest bang for your energy spent. Engine Ready, an Internet market research group, recently updated its 2008 study of referral patterns with 2009 data.
Conversion Rate
As you might expect, the greatest conversion rate comes from those users who arrived at your site by having bookmarked it or gotten there by directing entering the URL. The even better news in that category is that the conversion rate for those returning or arriving directly has increased 124% to an impressive 7.4%.
Organic search did not fare nearly as well with a 1.3% conversion rate that barely increased from the year before. In fact, paid search did measurably better with a 2.0% conversion rate, representing a 43% increase from last year.
Average Value per Visit
The data is pretty similar in terms of value per visit which is basically a measure of how the conversion rate data spreads across the number of visitors to a site. With its high conversion rate, direct access users had a value of $7.03/visitor, a 23% increase over last year. Paid search also did well at $2.38 per visit, a 27% increase over last year. Organic search ratings continue to show poorly with an average value of $1.35 per visitor, same as last year.
Average Value per Order
Here is where it all gets interesting. Order value went down across the board, the victim of a poor economy. The biggest loser was direct access users, those who tended to know the site they were going to either because they had been there before and bookmarked it or had learned its URL from some other source. They are still shopping, as demonstrated by that 7.4% conversion rate, but the average order value dropped 44% from $170.32 to $95.29! Paid search value dropped as well, though less precipitously, from $138.04 to $117.06, a 15% decrease. Most interestingly, organic search order value had the least drop, from $117.09 to $106.64 or 9%.
What is the message?
The overall message is clear; the economy hurt Internet sales as much as it has hurt bricks and mortar sales. All order values are down and it is clear that people are looking for bargains. But what is the deal with organic rankings versus others? After all, paid links are generally on the same page with organic rankings, they are likely being seen in the same sweep of the page and in fact, when people search, they are looking for the organic search results, not the paid ads.
Some industry watchers believe that part of the problem may be in the way websites get to high organic rankings, i.e., primarily through content. The thought is that while content gets you rankings, it does not necessarily sell products. Products are sold through concise, targeted wording that makes the point quickly. Organic links bring the searcher to a content page; pay per click ads usually bring the searcher to a product page.
The variations in order value have essentially resulted in a narrow band of order value from $95 to $117, versus the broader band of $117 to $170. This narrowing may simply be a reflection of what people are willing to spend, regardless of source.
