CTR and Conversion Rates

[goinggolf]

We advertise on both Google Adwords and Overture.

Our business is retail and selling products rather than services, here are our results for the last 3 months.

Google
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Click Thru Rate 3.00%
Conversion Rate 5.13%

Overture
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Click Thru Rate 6.50%
Conversion Rate 6.23%


The cost per conversion is slightly less on Overture.

Are these figures what we should be expecting from PPC campaigns or could we perform much better?

What are average CTR and Conversion Rates?

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

[Reesa Marchetti]

Hi Golfer,

I have been doing Google AdWords a year and I'm still not sure about it.

The Web design field is highly competetive and I make few sales. My clickthrough rate is only 1.5%. So your rates sound incredible to me!

The reason I'm sticking with the adwords program, however, is that it only takes a few good sales to make it profitable for me.

Tracking my conversion rate always seemed futile to me -- most people who fill out my forms are just fishing. Often they want to compare rates or see how it's done. When they find out I make no guarantees they'll strike it rich on the Web, they lose interest.

Despite regular responses to my search engine rankings and Google ads, I get few serious buyers. Customers for my high-quality, custom Web sites still come mostly through client referrals.

So to answer your question: I think you're doing great. A 5% conversion rate is considered normal in sales. If you want to increase that, give us more info on what you're selling and how you promote it.

[emi_b]

I've always wanted to know what is "normal" too. I manage job boards and am curious what other people do. We are just looking for leads i.e. them to fill out our forms, no sales.

For Google:
Our CTR on some of my campaigns range from 2.08% to 5.25% and my conversion rate is from 6.65% to 9.69% This is my search match. My content match is .32% to 1.52% CTR and 2.82% to 8.95% conversion rate.

The content match has a much lower CTR but on some terms the content isn't horrible at converting, however on some terms is it horrible and can rack up a hefty bill with no conversions.

I find it amazing how much difference there is among job categories.

I used to use Overture, but cancelled them when my CTR went through the roof and my Conversion rate went down the drain.