Conversion (marketing)

In electronic commerce, conversion marketing is the act of converting site visitors into paying customers. The process of improving the conversion rate is called conversion rate optimization. However, different sites may consider a "conversion" to be some sort of result other than a sale. One example of a conversion event other than a sale is if a customer were to abandon an online shopping cart, the company could market a special offer, for example, free shipping, to convert the visitor into a paying customer. A company may also try to recover the abandoner through an online engagement method such as proactive chat in an attempt to assist the customer through the purchase process.

The efficacy of conversion marketing is measured by the conversion rate, i.e. the number of customers who have completed a transaction divided by the total number of website visitors. Since conversion rates for electronic storefronts are usually very low (the average conversion rate for ecommerce stores is 1.33% ), conversion marketing can be a useful way to boost this number, online revenue, and overall website traffic.

Conversion marketing attempts to solve the issue of low online conversion through optimized customer service. To accomplish this it requires a complex combination of personalized customer experience management, web analytics, and the use of customer feedback to contribute to process flow improvement and overall site design.

Conversion marketing is commonly viewed as a long-term investment rather than a quick fix by focusing more on improving site flow, online customer service channels, and online experience. Increased site traffic over the past 10 years has done very little to increase overall conversion rates so conversion marketing focuses not on driving additional traffic but on converting existing traffic. It requires proactive engagement with consumers using real time analytics to determine if visitors are confused and show likely signs of abandoning the site. Then developing the tools and messages to inform them about available products, and ultimately persuading them to convert online. Ideally, the customer would maintain a relationship post-sale through support or re-engagement campaigns. Conversion marketing affects all phases of the customer life-cycle, and several conversion marketing solutions are utilized to help ease the transition from one phase to the next.

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