Experian Hitwise

Experian research shows marketers admit they know how to attract customers to their website, but not what makes them purchase.

Sydney, Australia, November 2010 – According to new research by Experian®, nearly two thirds of Australian marketers have never heard of or don’t understand conversion optimisation, the process of refining a website to help increase the conversion rate of sales, leads or subscribers.

Experian’s research shows traffic generation has become marketers’ primary focus, with almost half of those surveyed spending 60 per cent or more of their budget driving traffic to their website.

Despite this ongoing investment in websites and traffic generation, nine out of ten (89 per cent) marketers are not using conversion optimisation tools to improve their website performance. Of those who do use it, 97 per cent have a clear understanding of what customer actions have the greatest impact on the success of their website.

The research also assessed web evaluation and showed that 30 per cent of marketers either do not evaluate the success of their website, or only evaluate on an annual basis. A further 25 per cent assess their website biannually. This lack of engagement and measurement of their websites means that most marketers have no idea which small, simple changes could be made to their websites to significantly increase conversion rates.

Of those marketers which use and understand conversion optimisation, over half have a website conversion rate of over 11 per cent. This is more than double the percentage claimed by respondents who have never heard of conversion optimisation.

Michael Walmsley, General Manager at Experian Hitwise, comments: “Australian marketers are spending large amounts of their annual budgets on activities to drive traffic to their website, but are neglecting to invest time and energy in the customers who actually visit to convert them into buyers.

“Without the commitment and ongoing investment into optimising visitor conversion rates, marketers are missing a massive opportunity to maximise the return on their traditional and online advertising investments.”

Additional key findings from the Experian research include:

• Those marketers that have engaged in conversion optimisation regard it as a critical part of their online marketing strategy, with one in two ranking conversion rates as the most effective way to measure website success.
• Of those marketers that haven’t heard of conversion optimisation, 26 per cent indicated they don’t know what has the greatest impact on the success of their website.
• The research also found that marketers who use conversion optimisation are eight times more likely to know what impacts the performance of their website compared to those that don’t perform conversion optimisation.
• In addition, 49 per cent of marketers who use conversion optimisation rank conversion rates as the best way to measure the success of websites. And almost 60 per cent plan to increase or significantly increase what they spend on tools to improve web conversion over the next 12 months.
• The biggest increase in marketing spend over the next 12 months will be on website updates, with 55 per cent of marketers intending to increase or significantly increase their overall online spend during the next year.
• Marketers’ annual online marketing budget spend includes on average
  1. 17 per cent on creative and design
  2. 14 per cent on content development and updates
  3. 13 per cent on hosting, software and licenses.

Walmsley continues: “Getting started with conversion optimisation processes and tactics is a huge opportunity for all Australian marketers. Testing layouts, forms, sales funnel processes and calls to action are just some areas that could reap significant improvements in website conversion rates.”

In response to the increasing challenges that marketers face, you can download the full report of the Experian research ‘Beyond SEO and PPC: The next generation of online marketing’ that reveals the missed opportunities to enhance visitor conversation rates. To receive this paper please complete the form below: