Marketers often encounter the paradox of having ads with high CTR (Click-Through Rate) but still struggling with a low conversion rate. You invest significant effort into creating landing pages, crafting compelling content, and selecting high-volume keywords. However, as time passes, the expected profits fail to materialize.
So, how can you address this challenge? Join us in exploring the root causes and effective strategies for optimizing your advertising efforts!
What is a Conversion Rate?
A conversion rate measures the number of users who took a specific action (such as signing up, making a purchase, or downloading an asset) as a percentage of the total number of users who visited your site.
In marketing, conversions occur when users respond to a call to action. This could include:
- Opening an email you sent.
- Filling out a registration form on your website.
- Signing up for a giveaway.
- Making a purchase.
Each conversion brings a person one step closer to becoming a customer.
The average conversion rate varies across industries. According to Worldstream:
- Average Conversion Rate: 2.35%
- Surveyed Businesses with 5.31% Conversion Rate: 25%
- Businesses Achieving 11.45% Conversion Rate: Approximately 10%
- Therefore, a rate lower than 2.35% is considered low in terms of conversion.
Five common reasons why a high click-through rate (CTR) might not translate into a proportionally high conversion rate
Broad Keywords
Keyword research plays a crucial role in the preparatory steps before launching an advertising campaign. Typically, customers tend to click on ads when searching for broad topics. Consequently, one of the most common mistakes marketers make at this stage is selecting high-traffic keywords. Unfortunately, this often leads to choosing overly generic terms.
Overly generic keywords can lead to a situation where the click-through rate (CTR) is high, but the conversion rate remains low.
Additionally, high-search-volume keywords tend to be short and target a broad audience without specific goals. For example, if someone is searching to buy a new hat, they might use the keyword ‘buy new hat’ (a short keyword) without clear specifications regarding style and desired features. In contrast, users who search for ‘buy wide-brimmed hats for women’ (a longer keyword) have likely identified specific needs and are willing to pay for their desired product.
How to resolve
When conducting keyword research, ensure that the chosen keywords accurately reflect specific topics. Instead of solely focusing on volume, pay attention to long-tail keywords and related secondary keywords. Although less common, they provide specificity and target users with high relevance.
- Consider the intent behind each keyword. Different customers searching for the same product may have varying intentions (e.g., information-seeking, comparison, analysis, or purchase).
- For instance, if you’re selling Xiaomi phones, focus on keywords like “buy Xiaomi phone” or “affordable Xiaomi phone” rather than generic terms like “Xiaomi brand.”
The mismatch between the CTR and conversion rate
In the marketing world, creating captivating advertisements is a crucial goal for marketers to attract their target audience. Strategies such as discounts, limited-time offers, or free connections are often favored. However, sometimes these promises don’t reflect reality, leading to disappointment for customers and negatively impacting a company’s image.
Imagine clicking on an ad promising “50% off all products,” only to discover that the discount applies only to orders with a minimum of 5 items, each priced above $1000. Many marketers tend to exaggerate the content of their ads to grab customers’ attention with enticing deals. However, when customers delve deeper into the landing page content, they realize that those “too good to be true” promises are, indeed, not real.
How to resolve
To address this, marketers should focus on aligning ad content with the actual offerings on the landing page. Honesty and transparency build trust, leading to better conversion rates and a positive brand reputation.
Landing Page that hasn’t been optimized can negatively impact user experience
If your Landing Page contains too many elements such as pop-ups, banners, and form fields, it’s essential to pause and reconsider, as they can adversely affect the user experience. Additionally, since 70% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, optimizing for mobile should be a top priority.
According to the number of smartphone users worldwide by Statista, it is estimated that the global smartphone user count will continue to rise and reach 6.8 billion people by 2023. This means that approximately 85% of the world’s population will be equipped with smartphones by 2023. In other words, out of every 10 people globally, more than 8 will have a smartphone.
Therefore, if your website is not optimized for mobile devices, it can significantly contribute to a high click-through rate (CTR) but a low conversion rate.
How to resolve
To address this issue, in addition to limiting pop-ups, ensure that your website is responsively designed and provides a good user experience on both desktop computers and mobile devices. Check page loading speed, ensure content displays correctly, and is convenient across all screen sizes to optimize conversion rates.
The Call to Action (CTA) is not sufficiently persuasive.
We all understand that the Call to Action (CTA) plays a crucial role in driving conversions, as it represents the action you want your customers to take. This often includes clicking on an ad, accessing a landing page, or filling out a consultation form. When a landing page lacks a compelling CTA or the CTA fails to persuade, your website may struggle to achieve the desired conversions.
Insufficiently persuasive CTAs can hinder your website’s ability to generate the desired conversions.
How to resolve
To make your CTAs more powerful, marketers should write clear, concise CTA content that accurately reflects the desired action, such as “Buy Now” or “Read More.”
Additionally, design the CTA button to stand out using different wording, colors, images, and placement to determine what works best for your business. Typically, placing the CTA on the left side of the page tends to result in higher click-through rates.
How to avoiding ads high CTR, low conversion rate
To address the paradox of high CTR but still low conversion rates, it’s essential for marketers to optimize their ads before launching. An ad that is well-optimized and set on the right track from the outset can significantly improve effectiveness and save long-term budget for your business. If you’re unsure how to “enhance” your ad creatives, consider the following six tips.
Approaching the right target customer
Before creating advertising content, you need to have a solid understanding of your target audience. This can include factors such as age, gender, location, interests, needs, and even specific challenges they are facing. Understanding these insights about your audience will help you craft relevant messages that pique their curiosity, ultimately optimizing your ads to make them feel like the perfect solution for their needs.
To avoid high click-through rates (CTR) with low conversion rates, marketers must precisely target the intended audience.
Title and descriptions for engaging viewers
The key to capturing attention and persuading viewers lies in creating a strong title and description. Use language that prompts action and focuses on the unique value your product or service brings. Additionally, consider psychological techniques such as tapping into the concept of “pain points” – addressing the challenges your audience faces to evoke their interest.
Unique Selling Point
In advertising templates, clearly introduce the unique value of your product or service. This helps viewers understand the utmost benefits they will receive when choosing your product or service. This can encompass special offers, standout features, or quality assurances.
To effectively promote your product or service, focus on the following crucial elements:
- Features: List detailed features and interesting aspects of your product or service. This helps customers understand the unique points and added value.
- Benefits: Provide specific descriptions of the benefits that customers can gain from using your product or service. Show how it can address their problems or meet their needs.
- Pain Points: Create awareness of the shortcomings or pain points that customers may face if they don’t use your product or service. This reinforces the value and necessity of your offering.
Highlight the differentiation of your product compared to competitors in the same industry to persuade customers.
Strong and persuasive CTA
A strong and persuasive Call-to-Action (CTA) is one that can captivate viewers and motivate them to take conversion actions. To achieve this, you need to:
- Design an Impressive CTA Button: The CTA should be visually appealing, with colors and fonts that match your website, making it stand out without compromising the overall aesthetics of the page.
- Clear and Understandable Text: The CTA text should be easy to read and comprehend at first glance, avoiding complex or vague language.
- Prominence on the Page: Place the CTA in a prominent position on the page, ensuring that viewers can easily see and access it without scrolling extensively.
- Strong Action Request: The CTA should explicitly prompt users to take a specific action, such as “Sign Up Now,” “Buy Now,” or “Claim Your Offer Today.”
Optimize Landing page
An effective landing page combines comprehensive information with a user-friendly interface. Focus on highlighting crucial details such as the title, high-quality images, and persuasive elements like certifications and customer reviews. Simultaneously, optimize the page to enhance conversion opportunities by using clear action buttons and concise conversion processes. Ensure fast page load times to improve user experience and prevent customer loss due to slow loading speeds.
Use quality images and videos
Ensure that your images and videos are not only visually appealing but also convey the full value and unique highlights of your product or service. This helps potential customers gain a better understanding of the benefits they can receive and increases their likelihood of making a purchase decision.
In general, to improve the situation where you have CTR but still conversion rate, you need to identify anomalies and analyze the underlying reasons. Based on that analysis, implement appropriate optimization measures as mentioned above. To stay updated with valuable knowledge about Digital Marketing for your business, be sure to regularly follow Optimal Marketing Agency!