Conversion ratios - do you believe them?

I often times see sites proclaim... "our site converts 1:100" or "unbelievable conversions at 1:57" etc.

Do you as an affiliate marketer believe those numbers?

Is the declaration of those numbers sufficient to get you to signup for
the program to check it out?

At what point does the declaration of those numbers come across as
simply hype or sales pitch, unbelievable, or just downright made up?

What we don't see are sites promoting their retention percentage.

You can make all the sales you want at 50, 60 even 70% on a low cost trial but unless it retains to the $25 or more monthly level you as the affiliate don't really make the money you are after....and neither does the program.

I think some programs modify their ratios so they look better than they are but it really doesn't do them any good. Once a webmaster starts promoting them but don't get those ratios they will be not very happy.

Mark

Mark

I have heard great things about your Brokestraightboys site. I hear it is converting very well for you.

Congrats!

Tom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IntenseCash.com

I think some programs modify their ratios so they look better than they are but it really doesn't do them any good. Once a webmaster starts promoting them but don't get those ratios they will be not very happy.

Mark

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by tombarr

Mark

I have heard great things about your Brokestraightboys site. I hear it is converting very well for you.

Congrats!

Tom

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Thanks it has been doing amazing for us :)

Mark

Well most affiliates want a flat payments option, of course the people that do not offer one will say that’s not true. But when someone says something online, in text, or in real life the first thing I think is what do they had to gain/after by saying this. Most people lie about most of the personally things they say to one degree or another. I can pull out the Trust but Verify quote again, but even that does not go far enough, and is just a really nice we of saying people are full of shit. Maybe this is why I like to play with people sometimes, and other things of course :) Personally I believe less than 10% of what people say unless I see it to be true myself and even then I still question it a bit to find what I must be missing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tombarr

Mark

I have heard great things about your Brokestraightboys site. I hear it is converting very well for you.

Congrats!

Tom

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OH JEEEEEZ I fell for this thread!!!! lol thought it was real he he

good one :groovy:

Actually Squirt, the thread is very real. The topic and the subject were brought up to generate serious conversation. Perhaps I got a little off subject complimenting Mark on his site conversions, but my posting the subject has absolutely nothing to do with Mark's program at all...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Squirt

OH JEEEEEZ I fell for this thread!!!! lol thought it was real he he

good one :groovy:

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Squirt

OH JEEEEEZ I fell for this thread!!!! lol thought it was real he he

good one :groovy:

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I also have to give my input that I was just answering Tom's question and in no way is this thread a joke.

Mark

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tombarr

I often times see sites proclaim... "our site converts 1:100" or "unbelievable conversions at 1:57" etc.

Do you as an affiliate marketer believe those numbers?

Is the declaration of those numbers sufficient to get you to signup for
the program to check it out?

At what point does the declaration of those numbers come across as
simply hype or sales pitch, unbelievable, or just downright made up?

What we don't see are sites promoting their retention percentage.

You can make all the sales you want at 50, 60 even 70% on a low cost trial but unless it retains to the $25 or more monthly level you as the affiliate don't really make the money you are after....and neither does the program.

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I look mostly as if its a site I like and if it has a PPS. Then I will see how many sales I make per site I create. That's really all I care about. If I make lost of sale I am happy. I don't really care about conversions. I just like to make a certain average per site i run thru my free site as far as sale are concerned.....

Divide by 1/2 what most webmasters say. Some by 1/3.

I'm definitely cynical about it. I've tried enough programs to know that advertised ratios mean almost squat.

It's hard for me to buy into non-specific "awesome conversions!" claims and canned photos of Docker-wearing models leaning against red sports cars with wads of cash in hand. But then I've never been one that liked to be "sold" on anything to begin with. So basically I'm partially turned off from the moment the program owner's home page finishes loading. LOL.

And like Mark said, numbers can be toyed with. Skewed. Traffic sources aren't all equal, so what do their numbers represent? Ratios also don't mean much if you're getting shaved (in a bad way).

I'll check out programs as long as they're not a PITA to sign up for and start running (and that's a whole other thread. :honest: ) I'm all about ratios. What I consider to be "awesome conversions" is almost always way off from what most program owners think is awesome. Thus I only market a few sponsors at a time. If I'm not profitting quickly, it's dropped just as fast. So all the claims may get a signup but they don't do themselves any favors if they can't back it up.

(takes deep breath) What was I talking about? Oh yeah... No, I don't believe what they say. :) I gotta see it for myself first.

I'm thinking sites that advertise amazing ratios must be including member rebills in the ratio and not just initial affiliate traffic numbers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Matt 26z

I'm thinking sites that advertise amazing ratios must be including member rebills in the ratio and not just initial affiliate traffic numbers.

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I think that member rebills would constitute an entirely different ratio, a 'retention ratio'. But i have heard it also called a "conversion ratio", so it could be but I have never (not saying it doesn't exist) seen anyone combine the two as one ratio before. Truth be told I am not sure that most webmasters that claim extraordinary "conversion" ratios even know what formula to use to do that complex of a calculation.

I think that the truth of the matter is that most programs find their best converting number, and sometimes fudge that a bit....and advocate that as their amazing conversion ratio! It's the same as most every program that claims amazing things....be it weight loss, looking younger, fitness, etc...they take isolated instances and promote them as if it were the standard.

What was said earlier about the failure to reveal the type of traffic it is converted from, is a very valid comment. But also, equally important, a site can convert like crazy from one particular traffic source, but totally lousy on another identical type of traffic source....the point being that it is all subjective to the type of traffic, whether the traffic is filtered properly at it's source, and where that original traffic comes from...... example......

If link list A has mostly type in traffic, or link referral traffic that they are using to send to a program, I suspect it will convert better on a specific program than link list B that has it's main traffic coming from 404 traffic, or even worse, 401 or 403 traffic.

I think conversion ratios should not be what affiliates use to sign up to a program, but it can be a useful contributing factor. We have used conversion ratios in our newsletters, but we substantiate our claims by showing an actual screenshot, which I do think gives a bit more credibility to the claim. It would do nobody any good to lie about the numbers because affiliates are going to find out once they sign up and if they don't achieve close to the numbers you advertise they won't be sending traffic for long anyways.

However, I think the 'conversion ratios' should only be a small part of the bigger picture when you look at an affiliate program to promote. You should also be looking at the design, does it have exclusive content, what kind of sales tool does the affiliate program offer webmasters, do they have good support, our they trustworthy and other factors.

Cheers,
DannyZ