I was recently doing some analysis of organic traffic at the e-commerce company where I work, and I noticed something quirky.
Organic traffic has been decreasing.
PANIC!!!
My SEO instincts wanted to pull the fire alarm and run. Or stop, drop, and roll. I don’t know, just scream!
Then I Saw The Good News
Conversion Rate and Average Order Value were up. Not only were they up, but they were rising steadily. My lizard brain calmed down a bit, and I started to think this through.
Our Customers Were Happier
Fewer people were coming to the site, but a higher percentage were buying and they were spending more. That’s pretty cool because it means the strategic changes I’ve been working on are doing the trick.
We’re getting the right customers, and they’re happy enough to buy more.
The Organic Traffic Conundrum
As SEOs, we love to show that organic traffic is increasing steadily. It shows the site is making it into more searches, and more people are making that dramatic click.
But, what happens when your target market is fairly saturated? Unless (or until) you want to aim for a whole new segment, you might just be pulling in more visitors who aren’t your ideal customer.
But More Customers Are Better! Right? Right??
No, more customers aren’t better (at least in this case). We don’t have the resources to have a custom page for each customer type, so everyone is seeing the same thing. Which means, a watered-down message isn’t great for anyone.
But, if the copy, layout, and overall message are aiming for our main audience, it’s ultimately going to scare off fair-weather customers from even visiting the site. Which is another way of saying “organic traffic will go down.”
Here’s the twist: That design speaks more to our ideal customer, and helps them through the buying process.
So, our target customer will buy more things, buy them faster, and leave so satisfied that they want to come back again soon.
