Conversions with old site tours

Obviously there are mitigating factors that contribute to site conversion, and i'm talking strictly conversion, not retention, including design, content, page speed, market/niche, etc... but this question has been tossing around in my head for some time now...

Some sites never change their tour, and have not for years, even though they are rather well known and very well funded and could certainly afford to make the changes...

with the progress in site content going from static, to semi live (screen cap web cams) to live web cams, to video streams, to live streams, etc, and subsequently the demand for these items by end users i.e. potential members, wouldn't it be to the advantage of a site to mold it's tour around the latest or at least changing to emphasize the current content trends?

sure, the old adage, if it's broke don't fix it... but what if it's broke and you don't know it? what if your conversions have been dropping off and you attribute them incorrectly to MC/Visa regulations, billing processor snafu's, cyclical markets, etc, etc. when if you had simply changed your site tour to emphasize the content within the current user demanded trends your conversions would have or may not have declined as much....

I'm rambling with my thoughts here..... sorry

As a paysite owner, I understand the fear of changing a tour that is converting but I also think that a site should progress and so should it's tour..... to keep up with technological advances, and surfer demand....

Thoughts? Comments? Insight? Criticism? Jokes?

Thanks

Tom

i guess i never really got beyond rambling and put forth a question here in reviewing my comments... :(

1. Do you think site tours should be updated to reflect growth, changes in technology keep pace with surfer demand for the new products?

2. Do you think site tours should stay the same or be changed from time to time?

3. IF you think tours should be changed, at what intervals?

4. How do you determine if your tour needs to change given that there a number of factors that go into conversions..

5. If you make a change, how do you test a new tour without negatively impacting the currently converting tour?

Tom,

I have quite a long reply to make to this thread but im in the middle of sorting some server stuff out, ill respond as soon as i can ;)

In the meantime, if anyone else wants to chime in id love to hear your input :)

Regards,

Lee

if your current tour makes good sales and the same conversion ratio, why not have a SECOND tour created and use both? but if your current tour really isn't selling well anymore, or doesn't represent your member are enough to where retention is dropping off, a new tour could be the ticket.

make sure you save the old tour just in case. it would be a bummer if the new tour didn't sell as well, and it was lost forever.

there are lots of other reasons for sales to drop off besides the tour, so you won't know for sure if the tour is the problem till you test the new tour with very similar traffic and compare the stats.

good luck!

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Originally Posted by tombarr

1. Do you think site tours should be updated to reflect growth, changes in technology keep pace with surfer demand for the new products?

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Yes i do however, as Basschick mentioned, there are ways to 'update' a tour without changing the original one after all, the changes you make may not actually push your sales in a positive direction.

With so many programs offering multiple tours these days im a firm beleiver of if a tour MUST be changed, make it into a new tour and let the affiliate decide which tour THEY want to send their traffic to.

Just because a tour works well on 90% of the traffic being sent to it, the webmaster who has the remaining 10% of the traffic may convert better on the old version.

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2. Do you think site tours should stay the same or be changed from time to time?

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In todays industry i think change is a good thing, however, as i mentioned above, the best way to handle this is to offer the changed or new tours as a completely seperate marketing tool rather than risking a negative effect on a tour that does 'okay' right now.

I know on reality sites webmasters like to see the tour updated on a regular basis however, IMHO once a surfer see's a site and signs up, as long as the 'members' area is regularly updated the tour should have no overall effect on the retention of the site in questions, thats a members areas job ;)

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3. IF you think tours should be changed, at what intervals?

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Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, whatever works best for you.

There is no be all and end all in the adult industry as long as your webmasters and existing members are happy, you should be happy too :)

From a program owners point of view, i would rather have a tour online that had been the same for 3 years with a steady flow of traffic than have 2 or 3 tours with fluctuating traffic stats. For one thing, if you can see 'solid' figured from a single tour and you notice a sharp decrease in new members, you KNOW something is wrong, somewhere and, you can start to track the errors to find their cause.

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4. How do you determine if your tour needs to change given that there a number of factors that go into conversions..

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If you see a 10% drop in sales in any given period i would personally consider adding a new tour. In fact, id also consider targeting new affiliates also, it could be that the current affiliates traffic base is 'worn out'. Dont immediately jump to the conclusion that the tour is the problem, it could be so many other things, perhaps an affiliate has stopped using Adwords to send traffic to your site for example.

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5. If you make a change, how do you test a new tour without negatively impacting the currently converting tour?

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See my reply to your first question.

In addition, i would also test the 'new' tour on the existing tours consoles as well as on your own traffic sources. You should NEVER release a new tour without having at least tested it out yourself or, giving a few of your more trusted affiliates a chance to promote it, even if only for a month.

Hope that helps you out a little :)

Regards,

Lee