Why does the conversion rate drop?

If you don’t know what conversion tracking is, let us define that first. Put simply, tracking the desired action is known as conversion tracking. Using conversion tracking to understand how many visitors ended up doing the desired action is known as conversion rate.

For instance, if a total of 500 visitors came to your site and only 50 of those ended up doing what you, as a site owner, intended for them to do, your conversion rate will be 50 divided by 500 times 100. Times 100 will tell you about this rate in percentage, which is easy to comprehend and process as well.

So, in this example, the conversion rate will be

50. / 500 = 0.1

0.1 x 100 = 10%

This means only 10% of the visitors performed the desired task, and 90% of visitors were lost. 90% is a significant loss of traffic and knowing this number is extremely important to make critical adjustments to increase the efficacy of a certain desired action.

Reasons behind a drop in conversion rate:

Now that we know what conversion rate is and why it is important, there are certain tell-tale signs of why this rate drops.

1. The first reason can be a change in site or landing page design. A change in design can lead visitors to uncertainty, or they may now be able to find your required action and thus will cause a loss in conversion rate. To avoid this kind of reason for a loss in conversion rate, you should always do A/B testing, and if for any reason you cannot do that, make sure to put your “action items” as visible and accessible as possible.
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2. Check if your tag is faulty. Sometimes when you make design changes or changes to the tag itself, you may end up damaging your tag. An improperly configured tag can cause false reporting, and you may end up with a loss in conversions, while in actual that may not be the case. Additionally, make sure you are not overcomplicating your tag. A single tag can, in theory, be used to track a lot of information. However, this comes at a cost. It can affect the speed of your site and cause a delayed response or no response to the tag itself. Don’t overburden your tag, and also make sure it is perfectly configured.
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3. Speed! Yes, it is a significant factor. A faster loading site or landing page is key to scoring high on the conversion tracking chart. If, for some reason, your high conversion rate is in decline, test and see how fast your landing page is loading. Due to certain factors, a previously fast loading page can end up slow. One of the reasons could be heavy traffic. Maybe your server is incapable of handling the load, and it is causing your page to load slow. A slower page can lead to visitors just moving on from your site and not doing what you intended for them to do. Always make sure your pages are fully optimized and that your server is capable of handling the traffic, especially if you are running an ad campaign.
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4. Broken page or broken design. Sometimes the reason behind a drop in conversion rate is a broken page design. You just made a change that should have a good impact on your site performance; however, in reality, it backfired. Make sure to double-check the impact of any change, even if that change wasn’t intended for your specific landing page. Sometimes a change in the overall layout of your site can cause your precious landing pages to result in a loss in conversion rate. It’s always recommended to check your landing pages, especially those which are performing well or were better performing in the past. Always check using two or three different browsers and using the Incognito or Private modes of those three browsers as well.
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5. Competition. See if your competition has suddenly secured better SERP (Search engine results pages) ranking and that your visitors are now headed to them. Or maybe they are running a more attractive scheme than you, or perhaps their design is better than yours. In an ever-changing online world, you should always have one eye on your competition. Remember, whatever you are doing, they can do that as well, and if they end up doing one thing better than you, your conversion rate will fall like a rock, and they will start skyrocketing. You need to be proactive all the time.

Want to know why your conversion rate is low or how a good conversion rate is?