{"id":15937,"date":"2020-04-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crazyeggblog.wpengine.com\/?p=15937"},"modified":"2026-01-14T08:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T16:42:11","slug":"traffic-and-conversions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crazyegg.com\/blog\/traffic-and-conversions\/","title":{"rendered":"Clicks But No Conversions? How to Buy Traffic That Converts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you getting clicks but no conversions when buying traffic?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something’s seriously broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s good news, though. You can fix the problem and turn traffic into leads and customers. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most marketers<\/span> usually start at the beginning, with traffic.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a good strategy. Traffic is great. Have you ever logged into Google Analytics on a Monday morning and found a huge traffic spike waiting for you?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a fantastic feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But unless you\u2019re a 16-year-old YouTuber with a fame complex, you\u2019re not actually interested in traffic. You want conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You want to see increases on your income report, not just your Analytics display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But hold up. Doesn\u2019t more traffic equal more conversions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m assuming your <\/span>conversion funnel<\/span><\/a> is <\/span>solid<\/span> enough that a 30,000 increase in visitors will net you at least a few additional sales. But you don\u2019t want just a few additional sales.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s better than having a traffic engine where you can spend $1 to make $2? Not much, it’s amazing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re getting clicks but not conversions, you\u2019re missing a piece of the puzzle. You’re almost there, your funnel is just missing one or two pieces<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, I\u2019ll review the issues surrounding traffic and conversions \u2014 and I\u2019d bet there\u2019s a fantastic chance your problem is listed among them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 Quick Hacks to Get More Conversions From Your Traffic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’m going to go into all the core reasons why traffic isn’t converting on your site. Real quick though, I want to give you something to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, if you’re burning budget on unprofitable traffic, every day counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whenever we need to fix a paid funnel and get more conversions, we immediately do 3 things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Run a heatmap<\/a> on your landing page. See where people click and don’t click. Sometimes, people click on an element that doesn’t have a link. This can be an easy fix.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Get a scrollmap<\/a> and see where people drop off the landing page. Wherever people drop off, shorten your page to that length and put your best CTA at that spot. You should get a lot more conversions right away.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Review user recordings<\/a>. Nothing beats watching real user behavior. What draws people into your funnel? Where do they try to go? Lean into user’s natural inclinations as much as you can.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Run a batch of A\/B tests<\/a> to fix any problems that you discover. Also test 5-7 different headlines for your landing page. This can easily get you a 30% boost in conversions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    It’ll only take you 1-2 weeks to complete all these steps and get your improvements live. This alone could fix your funnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    10 Reasons Why You’re Getting Clicks But No Conversions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When you\u2019re getting clicks but no conversions, your sales hurt \u2014 big time.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So what do you do about it?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In most cases, you have to find the source of the problem.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s look at the top 10 reasons why you\u2019re getting clicks but no conversions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. You don\u2019t know enough about your audience<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Making steady sales requires a strong understanding of your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re like most businesses, you already have a few marketing personas sketched out. They likely include <\/span>two to three<\/span> hypothetical members of your target demographic, based on your existing customers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They break your target audience down by basic information like age, location, and industry, then describe them in terms of details like needs and budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is a good start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Still, those personas are based on anecdotes and guesses. This means that they are qualitative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For your personas to actually help your business, they need to go beyond a few basic generalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One way to do this is by conducting extensive market research on specific features of your product or service. This will give you an idea of what, exactly, each segment of your target audience wants to see from your company, and how much they\u2019re willing to pay for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then, your personas can start to look something like this<\/u>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"traffic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    So instead of basing your personas on what you think <\/em>your target audience is like, you\u2019ll be creating them based on real data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can start by using internal data collected from your existing customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Break your target audience down by your highest-value customers. After all, earning more of these customers is what will help your business grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When you identify your best customers, you can work backward and determine the characteristics that make up each of your best buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Aim to find out as many details as you can about each of these customers, including industry, company size, and your point of contact\u2019s role within the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For a B2C audience, focus on details like family structure, existing demands on their time and money, specific pain points, and obstacles that might prevent them from buying.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You\u2019ll also want to figure out which features matter most to each of these members of your audience and how much they\u2019re willing to spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then, use this information to divide your audience into 3-5 specific groups of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    From there, you can start to build qualified buyer personas<\/a><\/u>, which will look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"traffic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Your personas should also include quantifiable details like the features each persona values and how much they\u2019re willing to pay. If you track metrics like customer acquisition cost and lifetime value for your company, you should include these, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The more details you have on your highest-value customers, the more successful you\u2019ll be in finding similar prospective buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can also share your new personas throughout your company so that everyone is on the same page about what kinds of customers you\u2019re trying to attract. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your product team, for example, can use them to add new features that are in line with what your highest-value customers want. Then, your marketing and sales team can focus on highlighting specific features and functions for different segments of your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re not sure about which features or qualities are most important to your ideal customers (or even if you think you are), sending customer surveys is a great way to collect actionable data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can start by asking your existing customers<\/a><\/u> for their input on features you\u2019re considering adding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"traffic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    This will give you an idea of the types of services they value most, and it can also help you make more informed decisions on how you develop your product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Unfortunately, the type of survey shown in the screenshot above doesn\u2019t always yield the most actionable results. It\u2019s common to get responses that look something like this<\/u>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"traffic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    If every customer who takes it rates each feature as a seven or eight, you can gather that your audience is <\/span>somewhat <\/span><\/i>interested in all of your ideas. But that doesn\u2019t really help you. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can get clearer results by using a most\/least survey format. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"most<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    With this type of survey, you force your respondents to make a much clearer choice: Interested, or not interested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can also use this format to pit different features against one another. When you make your audience decide between two features, instead of ranking their interest in both on a scale from one to ten, you can draw much clearer conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For instance: If you had to choose between speed and accuracy, which would rank as more important? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Of course, these surveys can be a bit simplistic. But if you want to take yours a bit further and collect even more feedback, you have to focus on asking the right questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Don\u2019t make the mistake of cramming as many questions as you can into each survey you send.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You might think that this is the best way to collect large amounts of data on your customers. This is not the case at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When comparing average survey completion rates against length, there\u2019s a huge drop-off after four minutes<\/u>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"SurveyCompletionRate\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    So if your surveys take longer than four minutes to complete, you could actually wind up gathering less <\/em>information from your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Unfortunately, in one an analysis of surveys, Profitwell found that the average time it takes to complete a survey is 14.3 minutes<\/u>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This does not bode well for most businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And even worse, when they analyzed the quality of the survey responses, they found a significant drop in quality after four minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"traffic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    So even if some of your customers are <\/em>willing to spend more than four minutes on a survey, won\u2019t be as helpful as if you\u2019d sent one that took less of their time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s also worth mentioning that the shorter your surveys, the more frequently you can send them. Your customers will be much more willing to fill out a survey every other week if they know it will only take 30 seconds to complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When you send simple surveys, you should make sure to convey how easy they are to complete in your subject lines. Many customers won\u2019t even bother to open a survey email because they know that filling them out can be tedious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But if you mention right in your subject line that you\u2019re only asking for 30 seconds of their time, you can boost your open and completion rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you make this kind of promise, though, you\u2019d better deliver on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your surveys need to provide a great user experience<\/a> if you want your customers to continue filling them out. Otherwise, your data gets skewed and you can\u2019t rely on it to make informed decisions about your conversion rate optimization decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There are tons of survey tools available, but one of the best in terms of design and user experience is Typeform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"typeform\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    It also comes with pre-set templates you can use to experiment with different formats and response styles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These templates are all designed to be responsive so that users can take them on any device. You can also customize them to match your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can switch out the questions to match your needs, but the default options are focused on customer development. If you\u2019re not sure what kind of information you want to collect, they\u2019re a great starting point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Typeform is also compatible with CRM software, so you can save and sort through your responses all in one place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As you send these surveys, make sure to track your responses based on personas. If you notice that customers within a specific industry tend to value one feature more than the rest of your customers, this is valuable information to include.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This will help you shape your knowledge of each persona\u2019s core goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re familiar with the concept of Jobs to be Done<\/a><\/u>, you know that marketing to a buyer often goes deeper than the features your product offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As humans, we all have the desire to evolve and improve. Each improvement we want to make is a Job to be Done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These jobs are often based on specific tasks we want to accomplish. Each of your customers has specific projects and goals to complete. And many of them know that they could be completing them more efficiently, or with a higher level of quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s where your products come into play. They don\u2019t just help a customer complete one task \u2014 they help that customer accomplish their goals in a better way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This transforms the way that they\u2019re able to work, and turns their existing situation into a better one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In this sense, your customers aren\u2019t buying a product at all \u2014 they\u2019re buying a better version of themselves<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"traffic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The real reason that most customers seek out new products isn\u2019t that they can\u2019t <\/em>already accomplish what they need to. It\u2019s that they know there\u2019s a better way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But innovation often requires help from someone else. That\u2019s why people buy your product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Identifying your target audience\u2019s most important Jobs to be Done enables you to provide opportunities for improvement and growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Show your prospective buyers how they can evolve to a better version of themselves, and you\u2019ll be much more effective in compelling them to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. You\u2019re acquiring the wrong type of traffic<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Acquiring the wrong traffic is likely the single biggest reason your high traffic website isn\u2019t converting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Google\u2019s algorithm is pretty good at determining the intent behind a user\u2019s searches and delivering results that are relevant to their needs. But it isn\u2019t perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If your keywords don\u2019t accurately reflect what your products are, or how your target audience searches, you\u2019re likely attracting the wrong people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, let\u2019s say I wanted to purchase a new notebook for jotting down notes during meetings. I\u2019d do a quick search for \u201cbest notebook\u201d for work and scan through the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"traffic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Most of the results here are exactly what I\u2019m looking for: Rankings of pen-and-paper notebooks with reviews and purchase links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If I clicked through to one of those sites, there\u2019s a high chance that I\u2019d end up converting, because they meet my needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But the bottom result in that screenshot is for laptops. If I clicked that result, the chances I\u2019d convert are nonexistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019m not looking for a laptop, so this is an irrelevant result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Of course, I can\u2019t fault Google for ranking the page there. I just won\u2019t click it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But I\u2019d be willing to bet that the conversion rate for visitors who click that page after performing the search that I just did is abysmally <\/em>low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s a simple concept, but let\u2019s look at another example to see how easily it can affect your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s say you run a financial software company for small businesses. You\u2019ve been reading all about how content is king and a high-quality blog is the best way to increase targeted traffic and generate conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You know that small business owners might need an intro-level education to help them understand how your tools work and why they need them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So you start a blog, focusing on intro-level financial education and providing high-quality content on the basics. You invest in amazing guides and target relevant keywords, and after a few months, you are generating significant traffic to your blog and website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But your conversions aren\u2019t increasing. Maybe your email subscriptions are skyrocketing, but none of this activity is turning into sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You do some testing and analysis and discover that instead of business owners, all of your traffic is coming from college students. Your keywords are attracting frantic test-takers to your intro guides rather than small business owners in need of financial software tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So while your guides are valuable for those readers, they\u2019re extremely unlikely to become customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For your traffic to translate into conversions, it needs to be the right type of traffic. Your visitors need to be members of your target audience, with problems or needs your business can answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If your traffic and products aren\u2019t lining up, you have two options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n