Why Conversion Rates Don't Really Matter
In today's blog I want to discuss something that a lot of people use as a reason to put down Solo Ads and talk about why they aren't good for your business. And this leads to my argument that conversion rates don't really matter. So stick around, while I qualify that last statement.
The truth is that I honestly believe that when it comes down to your marketing, the only thing that really matters in your business is your ROI, or Return On Investment. So we're talking about paid advertising here.
The context for this discussion comes from a coaching client of mine who recently messaged me, and he was saying that he's running Facebook ads getting 5% conversions on them...then noted that he is only getting about 1.5% conversions from lead to sale with his Solo Ads.
So I asked my client a few questions, reverse engineered what he was concluding... and when I broke it down, it ended up that he was paying just around a few cents under five dollars per lead with his Facebook Ads. His process being to send viewers from his Facebook Ad to a blog post, where they had to read the entire blog post... hopefully making it all the way to the bottom, where they then have to click the Call To Action button, then opt-in and see his offer, and then have the choice to purchase at that point.
This individual is now extremely qualified and a really good lead to have on your list. Someone that you have provided value to and have genuinely helped... and you've solved a problem. With that being the case... his conversion rate was 5%, but he was still paying nearly five dollars per lead in order to acquire that lead. So his argument was that he was seeing five times better conversions with Facebook Ads...or close to that as compared to the only 1.5% lead to sale conversion rates with Solo Ads.
But when I stepped back and we looked at this again... he could see the fact that he was only paying just about one dollar per lead for Solo Ads leads that come onto his e-mail list. So if you do the math, he's paying a dollar per lead with Solo Ads and he's seeing a 1.5% conversion rate from lead to sale. With Facebook Ads he's paying just about five dollars per lead, and he's seeing just about a 5% lead to sale conversion rate.
To learn more about Solo Ads and how to use them CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT The Solo Ad Success Formula... Which has taught me quite a bit of what I know about Solo Ads
Now I'll be 100% honest... the 5% lead to sale conversion rate sounds way sexier... it sounds way better... and it's way more appealing and more attractive. It's much nicer to be able to say that you have a 5% lead to sale conversion rate in your business.
But the truth is the only thing that matters is ROI... when you can spend a dollar on advertising and then you make $1.50 or $1.75 in return. Or even just one dollar back... while simultaneously building your list. Can you break even, build your list, and have an audience of people that you can market to moving forward? My student has been doing this with Facebook Ads... and doing it pretty well, as he was coming out just a few cents short of breaking even.
With Solo Ads he was actually breaking even after his initial 30 day follow-up... which is something I teach all my students... to follow up with their leads for about 30 days, 30 to 60 days, especially with Solo Ads... before judging the quality of those leads.
Well it turns out that he was actually producing better overall ROI with Solo Ads, even though his conversion rates were only just about 1.4% with Solo Ads.
This scenario is something that I see over and over and over again within our industry. Other marketers compare different traffic mediums to each other. And what is extremely important to remember while moving forward in your business is that every single traffic medium is going to be different. If you have someone who searches for a specific term online... finds a video of you on YouTube... and you genuinely help that person with your content... they're now familiar with you. You've given them value and solved their problem with your YouTube video. They click the link below your YouTube video and head over to a Capture page... and as a result you will have a way higher quality lead opting on your list, and your conversion rate from lead to sale is going to be much higher.
But having said that... you are most likely going to have much fewer leads, and you are going to be spending much more in order to generate that lead for your business.
Now with some of the other mediums... using Solo Ads as an example... you're going to be having more leads come into your world, and you're going to have a higher volume of leads come into your world. Your initial lead to sale conversion rate might not be as good... but once again, it's going to be less expensive to acquire that lead, and cost less to build your list... and as a result... you're going to have a bigger list to market to online as you move forward in your business.
The only thing you'll want to make sure you're doing is putting into place "best practices" in your marketing. An example of this is list hygiene... and the importance of cleaning your list every 30 days. I like to clean my list every 30 days for subscribers who haven't opened one of my e-mails in the last 90 days. So every 30 day period I do a search my back office and make sure that I get rid of all the people who haven't opened for the last 90 days. That keeps my list really fresh... and keeps my list really clean and responsive. It also keeps my open rates up... keeps me hitting the inbox... and keeps my links getting click, etc.
So there you have it... my little argument for Solo Ads once again... and it really comes out of the fact that conversion rates are all relative to ROI. The only thing at the end of the day that really matters in your marketing is ROI. When you spend a dollar on advertising...and make more than a dollar back while simultaneously building your list.
My student was frustrated based on the fact that his conversion rates were somewhat lower with Solo Ads, but in the end, the reality is that he was actually doing better with Solo Ads than he was with Facebook ads...his conversion rates were much lower... but his ROI was much higher.
So work hard and protect the reputation of Solo Ads. If you use them correctly they will do wonders for your business. It just comes down to knowing the numbers that you should be looking at... and then focusing on following up well... and regularly cleaning your list.
And most important...realize that in the end the only thing that really matters is ROI.
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To Your Success!
Amber Hoerner
