Track event sales performance with Conversion Rate

"Conversion Rate" is a metric often used in the world of e-commerce. It is a measurement of the proportion of online visitors that actually convert into buyers. In most cases, this could be interpreted as people's willingness to purchase. 

Photofrog tracks the conversion rate of each event separately and makes this visible in the analytics tab of the event in the Store Admin. This makes it possible to evaluate each event individually to understand how well it has performed. 

Interpreting the numbers

The conversion rate is represented as a percentage of the visitors that have purchased images. That means the higher the conversion rate the better. 

In general, a 5% conversion rate is considered very good for online sales. However, we regularly see events with a conversion rate of 10% and higher and would consider that to be the benchmark for online action photo sales. Anything lower than that could indicate that an event is not performing as perhaps other events would have. 

In certain cases, one could expect much higher conversion rates. For instance, we see conversion rates for national competitions range between 15-35%. Sponsored events range between 50-100%

Factors that influence conversion rate

When it comes to action photos we found the following factors influence people's desire to purchase:

1. Magnitude of the occasion, i.e. a national competition vs regional
2. Pricing, i.e. are images priced too high 
3. Subject fatigue, i.e. how many similar images have already been purchased recently
4. Scarcity, i.e. unique not often seen location/backdrop, etc.
5. Education, i.e. are people used to getting images for free via Facebook.
6. Timing, i.e. were images available while participants were still in a buying mood
7. Urgency, i.e. limiting the time an event will be available online can create a sense of urgency and attract more sales in a shorter period of time.
8. Organisation, i.e. are images quick and easy to find
9. Quality, i.e. special lighting, composition
10. Format, i.e. are images available in the desired resolution
11. Coverage, i.e. were images taken of all participantsReward big spenders with instant discounts

Tools for improving conversion rate

We offer the following tools to help improve conversion rate:

1. Maximise sales by pricing for every pocket and purpose
2. Automatically identify race numbers in images
3. Reward big spenders with instant discounts
4. Schedule events to expire automatically
5. Choosing the right image size
6. Organising images

Summary

Conversion rate and Reach Ratio are the two most important measurables we have when it comes to online photo sales. By looking back at past events one can improve future events and by keeping an eye on conversion rate one can see whether there is still room for improvement in converting more visitors into buyers or not. Comparing the conversion rate of past events is a good way to track progress and understand if your improvements are having a positive impact.