Have you tried fixing a low conversion rate by rewriting your main sales page or product description only to see little to no improvement? Or perhaps you have been split-testing headlines, price points, and CTA’s on the sales page but it just doesn’t seem to be helping. So what gives?

As conversion rate optimization experts, we see this problem all the time and in a shocking number of cases: The sales page or product description isn’t the problem. In fact, the sales page or product description is actually converting well or even above industry standards. The problem is quite simple: Not enough of the website traffic is making it to this critical page.

Seriously, if only 25% of your traffic is reaching your sales page and even if you boost the conversion rate on the sales page itself by 50% (by rewriting, split testing, etc.), the overall increase in sales volume will barely be noticeable. In fact, more than 1/2 of all conversion rate optimization projects involve a weak or under-performing sales funnel that isn’t sending enough people to the primary conversion pages, like sales pages or product descriptions.

How do you check this? Well, if you have Google Analytics, then do the following:

1. Go To Behavior

2. Click on Site Content

3. Click on Content Drilldown

This will show you what percentage of visitors are reaching each page of content, beginning with your most popular and going down to least popular. If you have one main product, are at least 60% of visitors reaching the main sales page or product description. If you have several sales pages or product descriptions, then add up the percentage of visitors to each and the total should be above 60%. And for e-commerce sites with loads of products, then you’ll want to make sure at least 60% are making it to your primary Services Page where prospects can then drill down to specific products.

If you can’t get at least 60% of prospects to the main sales pages or primary Services page, you’ve got a sales funnel problem.

Now to be honest, fixing a weak sales funnel is a challenge even for a conversion rate optimization company. And the larger and more complex the site, the more difficult it is to fix. For SEO-heavy sites where a high percentage of visitors are entering the site through loads of traffic generating content, the challenge is even greater.

Unfortunately, hiring conversion rate optimization experts or companies isn’t cheap. Plus, how do you even know if the main sales page or product description will still convert well even if you got more people to there? The truth is, you don’t. At least not yet.

So here’s a quick way to see how well your site might convert if the sales funnel were fixed:

1. Find Your Most Popular Product

2. Create a New PPC Campaign

3. Send Traffic Directly to Your Main Sales Page or Product

Description

Now to be clear: This is not a permanent solution nor something a conversion rate optimization company would actually do to a client’s site. But for your own site and to gauge the impact of the sales funnel on conversions, send prospects directly to the main conversion page on your site.

If the conversion rate for this mini-campaign is higher than your site average, you definitely have a sales funnel problem but a solid sales page. If the conversion rate is lower than your site average, then the sales page or product description is also a problem (in addition to the sales funnel issue).

However, if the mini-campaign does boost conversions, just remember that it is not a permanent solution. You will ultimately generate a higher conversion rate by fixing your sales funnel than permanently routing visitors directly to your main sales page.

Neil Rimmer is a conversion rate expert who specializes in boosting online conversions, reducing marketing costs, and increasing overall profitability. To learn more about how conversion rate optimization and produce much higher ROI than SEO, PPC, or even social media, visit: http://www.conversionomics.com.au today.

Neil Rimmer is a conversion rate expert who specializes in boosting online conversions, reducing marketing costs, and increasing overall profitability. To learn more about how conversion rate optimization and produce much higher ROI than SEO, PPC, or even social media, visit: http://www.conversionomics.com.au today.

Author Bio: Neil Rimmer is a conversion rate expert who specializes in boosting online conversions, reducing marketing costs, and increasing overall profitability. To learn more about how conversion rate optimization and produce much higher ROI than SEO, PPC, or even social media, visit: http://www.conversionomics.com.au today.

Category: Internet
Keywords: conversion rate expert, conversion rate optimization, CRO expert, conversion expert