Understanding data is key to improving conversion rates

It’s all very well driving traffic to your website but what happens when visitors don’t take the action you want them to? When it comes to selling tickets, doctor having an in-depth understanding of the customer journey is crucial to optimising conversion.

Tarah Gear, marketing director at The Ticket Factory, shares her top dos and don’ts for improving conversion rates and driving ticket sales to your events.

DO

Base everything on data

You need to fully understand the conversion funnel and where the opportunities lie. At what point are people dropping out of the customer journey? From there, you can make the effort to understand why, and work to make the necessary improvements.

On the other hand, sometimes people might just be fact finding, so by simply making small changes such as putting ticket prices in more prominent information pages, you can make big differences to conversion rates.

Use multiple data sources to inform changes

Use analytics and various tools to give you a rich insight into how your customers are using your website. Our website has a feedback button on every page, and we collate data from all of these sources which then informs our development roadmap.

Test everything for long enough

AB test every change for long enough to get good quality data. There are so many factors at play so running regular tests, with the right tools (which you’ve also tested) need to play a fundamental part of your strategy. Tests should last at least a couple of weeks, particularly in the world of ticketing where traffic volumes vary so much throughout a week due to on-sales. Also, be prepared that you might lose sales as a result of your AB test.

Carry out separate tests for mobile

More consumers are turning to mobile technology to book their tickets because it offers simplicity and speed. Nearly 50% of our audience is now visiting our site on a mobile device and this figure is growing daily so it’s important to carry out thorough mobile testing.

DON’T

Obsess about one click

When buying a ticket, there’s usually a finite number available, as well as different price types, seats, ticket protection or merchandise to choose from. It’s our job to walk a customer through these steps and be really clear about where they are and what they are purchasing. The best way might not be fewer steps, particularly if each step or page is completing a set goal.

Be afraid to roll anything back

You can test and refine your system but still come across anomalies where a previous version of functionality had better results, or even stops performing after a while. Don’t be afraid to roll something back in order to achieve the best results.

Think that conversion is the be-all and end-all

Maximising sales is all about trying to find the right balance between conversion and volume of traffic. It’s important to try and preserve a high volume of traffic in order to maximise the number of conversion opportunities. The conversion rate might go down, but if you have more traffic coming to your site and the number of conversions is up, that’s great!

Underestimate the impact of colours and text

Some of our most impactful improvements have come about from changing colours and call to actions. But don’t obsess over micro changes. Tiny improvements to conversion and moving more people from one step to another might not impact the bottom line but it will swallow up lots of development resource. Always look at the overall goal of improving revenue.