Conversion rates

[eagletouch]

Good morning.

I've been asked by a merchant to evaluate their affiliate program. They have tons of traffic, so I believe the problem is conversion.

Does anyone have guidelines to share for conversion rate standards? What percentages are poor, average, good?

Without going into alot of details, price point is $10-$18, traffic is 500M/month.
Thanks.

[Linda Buquet]

Hi eagletouch,

Welcome to 5 Star. Thanks for joining us.

I believe AVERAGE conversion rates are still around 2%. But they vary greatly based on the industry and you don't mention what general product category your client focuses on.

Then here are some of the TOP conversion rates of leading eTailers.
Top 10 Online Retailers by Conversion Rate

[eagletouch]

thanks Linda - that's good data!!

[Linda Buquet]

You might get some insights here too. It's about how to test and optimize conversion rates.

Merchants Do NOT Start an Affiliate Program Til You Do This

[eagletouch]

Linda - actually, I read that article before making my post this morning. It's a great article, and was one of the reasons I asked at what level conversions should be.
They do have a PPC program that's been successful, but not sure if that means traffic or conversions. I'm still gathering information.

On another question: They are considering adding another affiliate program. Currently using LinkShare, and looking to add CJ or another. Are there dangers in using more than one? what is the best way to evaluate and determine the right program for a particular service. Would calling to talk with the Account Managers be the right approach? This is primarily a membership program, but they are looking to develop more intermittent "casual" users as well.

[Linda Buquet]

Originally Posted by eagletouch

They are considering adding another affiliate program. Currently using LinkShare, and looking to add CJ or another. Are there dangers in using more than one? what is the best way to evaluate and determine the right program for a particular service. Would calling to talk with the Account Managers be the right approach? This is primarily a membership program, but they are looking to develop more intermittent "casual" users as well.

If they are on Linkshare they probably can't even open another affiliate program. As far as I know LS usually requires an exclusive.

I don't normally recommend running on 2 networks anyway. I think it's double the work for possibly not anywhere near double the return. They already invested probably 10K to set up on LS and it would be over 5k to get set up on CJ.

The other downside is you need to set up extra tracking inhouse to be sure you're not paying double commission out on 2 affiliate from different networks for the same sale.

Couple thoughts.

1) if conversion is really the problem then an another network and more affiliates won't solve the problem.

2) if conversions AREN'T the problem and they just want more affiliates and more affiliate sales then there are other ways. 5 Star is one possible way to achieve that. But I don't normally accept membership sites so I'm not saying that's an option, would depend on the type of membership site I guess.

So after you do a more detailed needs analysis and find out what the true problem is (conversions, lack of affiliates, affiliate recruiting strategy, affiliate activation or whatever) then if you can give me more details I may be able to give you more suggestions. Right now I only know enough to kinda shoot in the dark.