Critical Information you should be Tracking

Generally speaking, the most important statistics you should be tracking are
“conversion rates”. These are ways of measuring how successfully you are achieving
the goals of your site, such as converting visitors into buyers or subscribers to your
opt in data-base.

“Why bother?”

Well, imagine flying a plane and not knowing where you are, how high you are and not
being able to calculate if you are going to arrive at your destination or knowing how your
website is performing. Whilst not a life or death situation, it will waste your time ,energy
and cost you unnecessary money. If you have a business of any kind - its usually a good
idea to look at your accounts!

“What Kind of Conversion rates should you have?”

According to Derek Ghell of the Internet Marketing Centre (a well respected source of
information) , they have worked with 1000 s of companies since 1998 and suggest the
following conversion rates, based on average transaction rates:

Based on product sales
£30 or less 2% to 4%
£30 to £110 1% to 2%
£110+ .2% to .5%

Based on subscriptions (First Name, Last Name and email address)
Minimum of 11%

If your site is not reaching these minimum figures then spending money driving more
traffic to them is perhaps not the most efficient way to increase your returns.

Only once you have achieved these minimums should you consider increasing the amount
of incoming traffic, especially if you are paying for it.

“How do I calculate my conversion rate?”

Simply take the number of Sales or subscriptions divide by the number of Visitors and
multiply by 100

Example: 9 sales divide by 1000 Visitors X 100 = 0.9%