CONVERSION RATES 101 FOR CLICKBANK AFFILIATE MARKETERS:

One of the most frequently asked questions by affiliates for product vendors is, "what is your conversion rate?" Likewise, one of the most frequently quoted statistics by product vendors for affiliates is, once again, conversion rate. Conversion rate is a super simple statistic and yet it is also one of the most easily fudged stats (by vendors) and one of the most misunderstood stats (by affiliates)

Conversion rate is usually expressed as a percentage or a fraction and it simply refers to how many visitors hit a page before you get a sale, or differently stated, the number of sales per specified number of visitors. For example, if you get 1 sale after 100 visitors, thats 1/100 = 1% conversion. If you get 1 sale in 75 visitors, thats a 1/75 or 1.3% conversion.

What is a "good conversion?" Many people quote 1% as a standard benchmark in the ebook business, with higher numbers like 1.5-2.0% being exceptional conversions for regular daily business, with much higher numbers (even double digits) being common during special promotions and limited offers.

It's really difficult to say however, what is a "good" conversion without a context and especially without knowing the cost of the product as it compares to the cost of advertising. It's more about the profit margin, really, than the conversion. I have seen products with half a percent conversion rate which were very profitable and I have seen products with 3% conversion rates with such high expenses and lower retail price that the profits were rather minimal.

As an affiliate, it's also important you understand that conversion rates can vary depending on how you calculate the statistic. For example, are you talking about our conversion rate as the vendor, or your conversion rate as an affiliate? (they can and almost always are, two completely different numbers). Are you talking about an overall conversion or the conversion on a one time mailing with a special offer and deadline (special offers, bonuses and deadlines always increase conversions).

Conversion rates can also vary from affiliate to affiliate based on whether the affiliate did any pre-selling or not and if so, how well. THIS is the part you should pay close attention to, because you see, you are not limited by our average daily conversion rate. You can increase your conversion rate by preselling better on your end before flipping the visitor over to our sales page.

let me give you an example. I am not only a product owner I am an affiliate of other peoples products. I'm pretty good at marketing other people's products, because I do not simply send traffic to a sales page, I send traffic to a pre sales page where I write a review or recommendation for the product.

This "pre-selling" on your own web page has the potential to increase sales tremendously. Many burn the fat ebook affiliates who have mastered the art of pre-sell have conversion rates of 2-3% and some as high as 4-7% or even more with special offers or endorsed mailings.

On the other hand, affiliates who do no preselling and who send untargeted, unqualified traffic to the site can have conversions far below average. I know some affiliates who complain that they've sent a few hundred clicks already with no sales yet. Invariably, on further investigation, I found that they had done no pre selling and they had very generic, untargeted advertisements. It's tough to have a good closing ratio when you're selling ice to eskimos. Better to sell water in the desert don't you agree?

Good affiliate marketing has a lot to do with finding the right prospects and tapping into their thirst. It makes no sense to try to "force" unqualified prospects to want what you have to offer. Find a thirsty or starving crowd that wants what you have and sell to them!

As you can see, it's impossible for me to promise you what your conversion will be, since so many factors are involved. What I can tell you is that we receive a huge amount of traffic to our sales page at www.burnthefat.com so we have statistically significant results on a daily basis, and our typical average daily conversion on overall traffic is 1.1% to 1.3%

This means about 1 out of 80. If you convert less than 1 sale after 80 unique visitors, then you are converting your traffic lower than our page average.

The best conversion rate ever for one of our affiliates was 15% and this was achieved with a direct email endorsement of Burn The fat which was mailed by a respected fitness industry expert. His conversion rate was exceptionally high because he crafted an outstanding solo email endorsement and also because he had a stellar reputation with his customers and subscribers, who trusted his recommendations implicitly. If you do not have a "herd" of loyal followers, you probably cannot expect similar conversions, but endorsed solo emails almost always convert much much higher than normal.

Remember, there are no guaranteees of your conversion rate. I'm am providing this info only to give you a reference point, but also in the hopes that you will get some tips on how to increase your conversions by sending more qualified traffic to us. If you send unqualified traffic, "tire kickers" "freebie seekers" or people who simply arent even interested in fitness at all, then your conversions will be on the low side.

A good case in point is spam emails. I have had thousands of visitors hit the site as a result of an affiliate (illegally) sending spam email. guess what? Zero sales. Zero conversions. But of course. The traffic was not only unqualified, the recipients of the email were pissed because the email was unwelcome. (we terminated that affiliate by the way. We have no tolerance for spam email, but spam doesnt work anyway... thinking about spam??? STOP.. and please read Seth Godin's book "permission marketing.")

If you pre sell on your site, then based on other affiliate's results, we know that the potential is there to get much higher conversions than our daily average of about 1.2% and this is because, in contrast to unsolicited email or impulse visitors, your traffic will have "raised their hand" already and said, "yes! Im interested in this" before they even hit our sales page.

Although we have a few affiliates who do well at sending google ad words traffic straight to the sales page, those people are particularly skilled at choosing keywords and writing good ads and making them match our sales page.

the real key in my opinion, to high conversions is pre-selling on your own web page and qualifying your traffic. This is particularly true with Burn The Fat due to the nature of our product (it's not a quick fix type of thing, but rather a more"serious" nutrition and fat loss program),

Burn The Fat definitely converts the best when it is pre-sold and when the prospective buyer is prequalified and knows in advance what kind of program it is and they know what to expect when they hit the sales page.

having said all this, one thing we know for sure is that our sales page consistently delivers. If it didn't, it wouldnt be the #1 product on clickbank fitness for almost 4 years and still going on strong. so if you're not seeing the conversion rates you want, then take a real close look at your pre-selling and pre-qualifying strategies. For more information on pre-selling, read our complete article on that subject here:

http://burnthefat.com/affiliate_area/pre_selling_secrets.html

If you have any questions about conversion rates or any other Burn the Fat affiliate marketing related subject, you can contact me any time at:

http://burnthefat.com/contact.html

- Tom Venuto, Author & Affiliate Manager,
Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle

Disclaimer: Burn the fat.com makes no promises, assurances or guarantees about earnings, commissions, conversions or income potential. Results of other affiliates are provided for informational purposes only and are no guarantee that you will do as well. Read the affiliate agreement and earnings disclaimer for more information:
http://burnthefat.com/affiliate_area/affiliate_agreement.html

Copyright 2007, fitness renaissance, LLC and Tom Venuto. Do Not Copy! Absolutely no reproduction of this article is permitted.