Search Trends - Search Engine Marketing

This article by Robbin Steif provides an explanation of why a 2% conversion rate from your website isn't the same as a 2% response rate from a direct mail campaign. She explains that the 2% response rate for direct mail is 2% of everyone who received the mailing, regardless of whether they actually opened it. When we're talking about online conversion rates, the 2% figure represents 2% of all site visitors who actually converted into a customer. Robbin's argument is that the consumer has already decided to visit the website (comparable to opening the envelope), so the conversion rate should be much higher.

I agree that you shoud always work on improving your conversion rates, but I also think web traffic is comprised of a lot of different types of visitors. Just because someone ends up on your website doesn't mean they're glad to be there. You can get visitors to your site by tricking them, or misleading them about what they will find. Those types of visitors are certainly not going to convert to paying customers at a very high percentage. Sometimes websites show up for keywords that have more than one meaning, so a visitor may have intentionally clicked on your link, only to find that you don't actually sell meatloaf recipes on your Meatloaf (the musician) fan site.

I think the article kind of gives the impression that any visitor to your website is hyper-targeted and should convert at a high rate. The truth is, there are many different types of website traffic, and you need to keep a close eye on conversion rates relative to each traffic source to determine the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.