A Conundrum: High CTR / Low CVR or Low CTR / High CVR (10)
Hey guys,
I'm working in a new niche and have opted to create my own pages and angles. Like you'd expect, the beginning was ugly but things are coming along nicely now.
I tried a lot of concepts that didn't produce conversions before finding a strong angle, and now I'm stuck in -15% ROI hell.
Changing elements, copy, headlines, images, and the funnel itself seems to always produce an equal but opposite effect on either CTR or CVR. I'm working with pops, so I'm seeing low CTRs in the 3% range with 25%+ conversion rates, and then huge CTR's of 15% with ~3-5% conversion rates.
I've never been stuck at just under breakeven like this before; campaigns are usually hit or miss with me. I know that if I break through this I'll have my biggest campaign to date.
My question is: What do you guys do when you get stuck on the brink of profitability and can't get it to work despite enormous potential?
All my best campaigns are like that... you just need to keep split testing. I have actually made it a rule to do a minimum of 50 split tests on every campaign I run that I think has potential. Go for a walk and think about the demographic, your current headlines, what other offers you can plug in to the funnel, etc... and something might jump out at you to test. Also, have you ever heard to never put Adsense on your landers? I have a campaign where my adsense earnings allow me to basically break even on all my PPC traffic... and my primary offer is where the profit comes in. I can't get it (as) profitable any other way and I've been trying for forever. So I wouldn't rule out trying to add some alternative form of monetization in there!
Go for a walk and brainstorm. Try running your high CTR LP --> squeeze page. Also, pick up the book 'Words that sell' and 'More Words That Sell'... I've gotten huge increases in CTR and conversions by actually testing the suggestions in there. In the end, what you really need is a higher revenue per customer, and the only real way to do that is email list --> backend conversions on related offers.
Keep split testing, you are ONE split test away from a huge campaign!
Neat Caurmen, are you a film maker? Just wondering, since I'm a huge film/movie buff.
Yep, my other gig is filmmaking - CG animation, to be precise.
Sweet, you should post some links, I'd love to watch them sometime. 
Thanks gritz.
You made me realize that I haven't changed the core angle of my campaign, despite thinking that I have.
The "core" of my pages remained unchanged while I adjusted headlines, backgrounds, layouts, banners, etc. The centerpiece has remained unchanged and that's no good! I'll be launching a few new ideas now that I realize what I've been overlooking.
I also found a few creative ways to introduce additional offers. Will get back to it!
Well realised - that's an important revelation. It's all too easy to keep adjusting small things and think you're making major changes - well done for spotting the core remaining intact!
Yup - made a big difference. The only problem is that I've increased my CR even more but my CTR is still low! I'm working with a steady 33% conversion rate now.
If I double my CTR I'll make ~150% ROI on a huge campaign.
Back to split testing!
High CTR / Low CVR means the latter part of the funnel isn't consistent with the start (banner, pop etc), or the offer doesn't represent your angle well enough.
Low CTR / High CVR means you've got a winning angle but you haven't targeted it correctly or filtered enough chaff.
I'd rather have a lower CTR and an awesome conversion rate.
If you know that an angle is strong enough to convert on one group in one context, you can scale sideways and find the same users elsewhere with less wastage.
Often the way to get profitable is to combine the click-drawing elements of the high CTR creative, with the single biggest selling factor of the converting creative.
I'm sure a lot of affiliates in the adult niche are familiar with the boosted conversions of the Rules LP vs. the increased clicks of a Chat LP. I try to test three variants: a really good Rules LP, a really good Chat LP, and a hybrid.
Mix and match until you find a healthy balance, but don't forget that it's often necessary to reign in whichever creative pulls the most clicks. 9 times out of 10, it will also be the creative that harms your lead quality.
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