Website Conversion Blog
On Monday, SeeWhy will publish a major piece of research into the website conversion techniques used by the Top 10 converting websites. The report, published as a free ebook and titled ‘Lessons learned from the Top 10 converting websites’ challenges conventional wisdom, and suggests that many ecommerce teams are focusing on the wrong things.
The Top 10 collectively convert 23 percent of then visitors in the same session, compared with an average of between 2 and 3 percent across the industry. That’s 10 times more visitors becoming customers.
Here’s the list of the Top 10 converting websites:
Rank Website name, Sector, 6 month Average Conversion rate
1 Schwan’s, Food, 41.7%
2 ProFlowers, Flowers & Gifts, 26.5%
3 Vitacost.com, Health & Nutrition, 24.0%
4 Woman Within, Catalog /clothing, 22.4%
5 Blair.com, Catalog /clothing, 20.5%
6 Lands End, Catalog /clothing, 19.5%
7 DrsFosterSmith.com, Pet supplies, 18.6%
8 Office Depot, Office, 18.4%
9 Roamans, Catalog /clothing, 18.4%
10 QVC, Jewelry +, 18.3%
This study is based on the latest Nielsen data available, for the six months ending November 2009. In order to qualify, a website needs to achieve a minimum of five million unique visitors per month, and each website had to have featured in the top ten converting websites list a minimum of three times in the six month period. We specifically excluded December, seeking a continuous level of performance during ‘normal’ months.
What the Top 10 Converting websites do differently
It’s worth visiting some of these sites to understand what they do differently.
Conventional wisdom would suggest that the top ten converting websites would be tuned to make purchases intuitive and simple, to speed the buyer through the process.
But this is not it.
Some of the websites are far from intuitive, lack clear calls to action, and have lengthy shopping cart processes that would deter all but the most determined. Moreover, 6 out of the top 10 converting websites force the first time visitor to create an account and register on the site before being able to make a purchase.
The difference is that all of the companies behind the top 10 converting websites are direct marketers at heart. Astonishingly 9 of the top 10 have a catalog. All make it exceptionally easy for returning customers to make purchases, and herein lies the difference.
It’s a different mindset: to these companies, it’s not about SEO, or page views, and making a sale, but about the second, third, fourth sales to the same customer, driving profitability for their companies. And in the process, they get the highest conversion rates in the industry as their customers come back to buy again, and again, and again.
This research shows that all of the Top 10 converting websites follow three big ideas which drive exceptional website conversion rates, and essential lessons for all ecommerce companies. Collectively these three ideas are transformational and represent a clear business strategy for the ecommerce sector.
To get your copy of ‘Lessons learned from the Top 10 converting websites’ you can get it here, from Monday 19th April. If you register before the 19th, we’ll email it to you as soon as it is available.
Tags: conversion rate, ecommerce, Top 10 Converting Websites
Where do I can register?
& the url http://seewhy.com/blog/2010/04/top-ten-converting-websites.htm gives 404 erro
[...] 10 converting websites. You can find further information about the criteria of their selections on their blog, check out a quick list of the top 10 [...]
Hi Michele
I’m not sure where that link came from, but this is the the correct one:
http://seewhy.com/top-ten-converting-websites.htm
It’s now available
Charles
That is very interesting indeed. Not what I would have expected from the highest converting sites.
However, it shows that repeat business having people signed up on your site is of the utmost importance.
Cheers
It is common sense that your website and online marketing is a small part of the bigger picture and anyone that thinks they can run a shoddy business but fool people with their online presence is ignorant.
To get consistent results you 1st need to provide your customers with a service better than your competition and 2nd have the right contact methods to retain your customers. Obvious, I know.
You could get the best quality traffic to a well optimised website but once the customer has made that purchase if you don’t treat them well they won’t come back. Depends if you’re in it for a quick buck or for the long-term. Simples
Andy
As you say, Simples. It is a surprisingly simple formula that many seem to forget. In fact the biggest take out from the ebook is that achieving sky high conversion is mainly a business model & philosophy thing, and less to do with the mechanics of the website. Obvious really, but sometimes you need to state the obvious!
[...] to SeeWhy’s blog, the secret may be that these companies are all direct marketers at heart. Nine out of ten have [...]
Hey, I searched for this blog on Bing and just wanted to say thanks for the excellent read. I would have to agree with it, thank you again!
Hey, I just noticed your RSS feed is not functioning properly, Thought I ought to let you know.
[...] = "4D4D4D";google_color_text = "4D4D4D";google_ui_features = "0";//–> In Parts Top 10 Converting Websites achieve spectacular website conversion rates by driving repeat sales and through superior [...]
[...] = "990000";google_color_text = "990000";google_ui_features = "0";//–> In Parts Top 10 Converting Websites achieve spectacular website conversion rates by driving repeat sales and through superior [...]
Strong weblog. I got a lot of great information. I?ng been keeping track of fraxel treatments for some time. It?s interesting how it retains varying, yet a few of the primary components remain the same. Perhaps you have observed much alter since Google created their own most recent purchase in the area?
You’ve hit the ball out the park! Inrcedilbe!
Thank you very much for this list, although I guess its a bit out of date now/
Thanks Simon – yes it’s a bit out of date, and unfortunately Nielsen aren’t producing their top converting websites data any more, so it would be very hard to do a new version. There is a lot of still very relevant data in the report however, so if you haven’t already downloaded it I would recommend this.
Charles
Top Ten List…
[...]The Top 10 Converting Websites « Website Conversion Blog[...]…
[...] top 10 converting websites are able to convert 23 percent of visitors to buyers each session. These sites convert more because [...]
Most of these sites support a grid based product layout that includes average rating at a glance. Interested to see what consistent elements these sites have in their checkout process.