Profit from mismatched visitors with personalization

August 21st, 2007 by Colin Temple

I was recently working with a small ecommerce company that sold comic books, toys, cards and other comic-related collectibles online. Business was going well, but the conversion rate wasn’t optimal — there weren’t many sales for the number of visitors coming to the site. So, we did a little data diving.

The analytics turned up a high volume of search engine referrals who weren’t going to find what they wanted on a comic book site. There were several visitors who came in from searches for baseball cards, and another set looking for video games related to the comic books. Because the site offered some how-to information on appraising collectibles, and some background information on the comic books they sold, some of this content earned them rankings in the major search engines.

The site owners weren’t interested in carrying these kinds of products, but they didn’t want to waste that traffic either. So, we decided to join some affiliate programs from sites that sold those products and would pay us a commission for referrals. We then set up some banner ads on the site that appear to these ‘mismatched’ visitors. Whenever a search visitor comes in looking for baseball cards, for example, they are presented with a banner pointing them to an affiliate site that actually sells baseball cards. (This can be done by customizing your ecommerce software code, or more easily and cost-effectively with web personalization software.) If a visitor clicks the banner and then makes a purchase, the comic book site gets a commission.

So, next time you’re poking through your site’s metrics, keep an eye out for this mismatched traffic — segments within your traffic that have a low conversion rate and a high bounce rate. You just might be able to profit more from those visitors by sending them somewhere else.

There are tons of affiliate programs out there, so you might want to check out an affiliate network like Commission Junction or LinkShare. These networks combine affiliate programs from other sites, allowing you to offer multiple affiliate products and collect your revenue from a single source. Commission rates can range from 1-50% depending on the program, so choose wisely. Some programs will offer commission only for the first sale, while others will pay you for every purchase your referred customer ever makes.

Of course, your primary goal is always to sell your own products. You never want to show one of these banners to a potential customer. But, if you can recognize those that aren’t likely to buy — whether they’re searching for something you don’t sell, or they live in a country you don’t ship to — affiliate programs and personalization may be a way to salvage some of that traffic.

Posted in Personalization, eCommerce |

2 Responses

#1 Carnival of Making Money Online » Pat B. Doyle Says:

September 16th, 2007 at 5:06 pm

[...] Colin Temple has ideas about how to still profit from visitors who are not a good fit for your site, in his post: Profit from mismatched visitors with personalization. [...]

#1 Carnival of Making Money Online Says:

September 17th, 2007 at 4:46 pm

[...] Profit from mismatched visitors with personalization (Colin Temple) [...]