What is a Conversion Rate?
Conversion rates are the number of sales your Teachers Pay Teachers product had divided by the number of page views it had.
Another way of saying it is how many people purchased the product compared to how many people viewed the product.
So the higher the conversion rate, the better. A low conversion rate means that the majority of the people viewing your product are not making a purchase. This could be an indicator of a larger problem which we’ll discuss.
A Simple Tweak Could Make a Big Difference
Supposed your store had 500 views and a 2% conversion rate. Pretending that your average sale was $3, that would mean your store made $30.
If you could change a few things and get your store up to 4% (a minor change) you would double your earnings! Up to 6%, triple them! All the way up to $90.
Imagine doubling or tripling your sales numbers without creating new products or spending money on advertising. Just some tweaks on the page that could net big results!
How to Find Conversion Rates
To find the conversion rates on your products there are two ways to look at the data.
From your dashboard, you can select the drop down menu next to your name and select “My Product Statistics.”
This will take you to a new screen where you can see your products lifetime statistics. The nice things about this screen are
- You can see all your products
- You can organize them by name, sales numbers, or conversion percentages
- You can download the data to excel
The downside is you can’t drill down on the data (i.e., you can’t look at specific time frames).
An alternative method is again from the home screen (dashboard), and under the “show me” tab, select the drop down arrow next to earnings. Then select “conversions.”
You can then select your time frame as well as your product by selecting the other two drop down menus.
The downside to this is that it will show you conversions, but to see how much traffic that product had, you will have to select the drop down menu again and go to another screen.
Is that number good?
After viewing your conversion rates, the obvious question is “what is a good conversion rate?”
If you had a 5% conversion rate, is that good? What about 10%? How do you know which products need improvement, and which ones are doing really well?
First, a confession.
I have yet to find any good data on this answer. If you are able to find any, please leave a link in the comment below.
Here’s what I’ve been able to deduce in years of selling on TpT and talking to many TpT sellers. 10% or better is REALLY good! And less than 3% is bad.
Keep in mind, sample size does matter. If you only have 20 page views on a product, every sale is 5%. So you could have 2 sales, totaling a 10% conversion rate, but this data might not be a true reflection of how the product will continue to do over time. Your next 20 customers all may not purchase, and now you’re at a 5% conversion rate. So work on getting more page views.
However, we still want higher conversion rates. So how do we get them?
How to increase rates
First, let’s consider what happened with those non-purchasers.
For some reason, they clicked on your product, but then they didn’t make a purchase. Why?
Why did they click on it? And then why didn’t they make the purchase?
Answer: They clicked on it because they saw the image or title and wanted to learn more. After learning more, they decided that the benefits did not outweigh the cost.
Why they didn’t make a purchase?
There are many reasons why someone may have clicked on your product but then didn’t make a purchase. It’s difficult to know which one is key, and obviously, the reason will not be the same for every teacher. But here’s some reasons that people don’t make the purchase
Price is too high
Lowering your price will very likely increase your conversion rate. But that doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily make more money. Selling two items at $10 is more money than lowering the price to $5 and selling three of them. You’d have a higher conversion rate, but less revenue.
With that said, lowering your price still might be a great idea and will help you generate sales.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to keep your price low until you’ve got a good amount of sales and reviews. Then you can raise your price and let your reviews do some of the work of selling the product for you
Copy Doesn’t Sell
“Copy” refers to the words on the page. Your copy is supposed to make your sale. To do this, you need to paint a picture for the reader of them using the product, or how great their life will be when they get the benefit that your item promises.
So do more than describe the product. Explain the problem that it solves. Talk about its benefits. Help the teacher understand how they can use it in their class, and why they need it (or their students do). Make them excited about it by illustrating how great life will be once they have your product in their classroom.
Improve your Preview Images
Three preview images do not sell the product, your sales copy (product description) does. But your preview image can be the last little nudge that pushes the buyer to the finish line.
As mentioned above, the buyer will not make a purchase if they can’t envision the product and what it will look like in their classroom. So good preview images are key. The buyer needs to understand what she’s purchasing.
You get three preview images, so make them count! But also remember that your images can be downloaded or screen shot (screen shotted? Screenshut? What’s the past tense of screen shot?)
Anyhow, you want to make it very clear what they are purchasing without giving it all away. So put a preview stamp through the image or something similar so that no one is stealing your products.
That’s It
There are three main factors to improving your conversion rate
- Words on the page
- Images
- Price
The biggest and most important are the words on the page. So take your time and make them good. Paint a picture that allows the buyer to envision the problem that your product solves, and how great their life will be once they have your product.
To do this, make sure to give examples of how to use the product, and be sure to spend some time talking about the benefits.
For more tips on how to become a TpT’er, download my free eBook. By doing so, you will automatically be placed on my email list, and I will continue to send you great tips and strategies like this.
I also have an online, video-based course on How to Start a Blog for Your TpT Store – which will really help your sales. Enroll here
