How to Get a High Squeeze Page Conversion Rate

16 replies
I see many questions about opt-in page conversion rates - such as what is a good number? And how do I get a high conversion rate?

It's very easy to get a very high conversion rate...but there must be some qualifying done first.

Well, I have seen stories of people saying how they got something like a 52% opt-in rate. Other people read that who are getting only around a 10% opt-in rate and become frustrated and can't figure out what they are doing wrong.

Well, let me just say that, you haven't been told the whole story. The 52% opt-in rate comes from pre-sold traffic.

I was reading over a blog post from a year ago about a marketer who was getting a 52% opt-in rate from his opt-in page, and that was after improvements were made to the page to raise conversion.

NOTE: By the way, am I the only person who hates the term "Squeeze" Page? The image that you are squeezing the information out of your page visitor starts a relationship off on a bad note, no? Like an interrogation room where lawyers or police officers try to squeeze information from a suspect...anyway...

What is not stated is that 52% conversion came from pre-sold traffic. Meaning the link to the opt in page came from the marketers own list or recommendations from other marketers lists. (JV partners)

I hope you don't think there was a bunch of time spent on free seo to get the opt-in page to rank high in the search engines or that numerous ppc campaigns were set up.

The opt-in page goes up, pre-sold traffic is sent there in the form of mailing list announcements and blog post links - boom...instant pre-sold traffic and a 52% conversion rate.

Let me give you some of my own numbers from pre-sold and cold traffic.

One opt-in page I used, when I was doing a small launch of a niche product, had over 4100 unique visitors and converted at 65.7% - (see, I did better than a big guru )

Another opt-in page I used for the same launch had 3000 unique visitors and converted at 78.4 - (wow, even better)

But, this was pre-sold traffic so if I made a bold claim of:

"Follow my opt-in page template and get a 65% opt-in page conversion rate and even as high as 78.4%"

...that wouldn't be entirely accurate. Sounds good, but not accurate.

I used the same opt-in page that converted at 65.7% on cold traffic. And the results...it is converting at 19%.

The type of traffic plays a huge role in the conversion rate of any type of page.

In the original blog post I mentioned above, in answer to a comment, it was stated that with good copy the conversion rate on cold traffic can get up to 25%.

So everything has to be qualified when you hear something like, "my opt in page is converting at 20%"

Also, is the cold traffic, traffic you control (ppc, banner ads, etc) or traffic you don't control? (organic search results). All of this has to be taken into account.

So, do not get discouraged when your opt-in pages are converting at 12.3% and you read how some guru is converting at 52%

If you only send pre-sold traffic to an opt-in page you will have a high conversion rate.

If you send cold traffic to an opt-in page, you have to change your definition of high.
#conversion #high #opt in page conversion #opt-in page conversion #page #rate #squeeze #squeeze page #squeeze page conversion
  • Profile picture of the author TylerF
    Yeah man.. When people brag about their high CRs, you should ask them about their traffic sources. Or maybe their combined average CR.

    That would give a better view on how good their copy and offer is.
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    • Profile picture of the author LJNetworking
      Very informative post and touches on a lot more than just opt in conversions rates. Often guru's and other marketers neglect to give you all the information when using percentages or even numbers in their marketing campaigns. Is it okay to leave information important information out when selling?
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewStark
    Some good points, it goes to show that you can always manipulate figures to show whatever you want.

    The other thing to consider is how good is the actuall content you will get in return for the email address. Also there's no point in having a high conversion to leads if you don't actually deliver what was promised.

    When you set up squeezepages don't get hung on making an exact conversion figure, the only time to panic is when you're actually paying money for traffic and getting nothing in return.

    So if you told a JV partner to expect 50% conversions and lots of OTO sales and the page doesn't convert then you won't be getting any more recommendations.
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    • Profile picture of the author jamawebinc
      Yes, the offer matters most still.

      There are still many people who just promise free tips / mailing list / newsletter and not a specific "thing". If the offer is good enough I am sure they are doing very well.

      But nobody should get discouraged because they don't have a 57% conversion rate on their opt-in page or some other really high figure.

      When your traffic is pre-sold traffic from recommendations either to your own list who already likes you - or - from someone else's list who already likes them, then your opt-in page and your numbers will shoot up.
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      • Profile picture of the author Vanquish
        It is still possible to get 40%+ squeeze page sometimes 50%+ from cold traffic you just have to tweak your squeeze page a lot and not follow the herd. Less is more when it comes to high converting squeeze pages.
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        • Profile picture of the author lonicera
          Originally Posted by Vanquish View Post

          It is still possible to get 40%+ squeeze page sometimes 50%+ from cold traffic you just have to tweak your squeeze page a lot and not follow the herd. Less is more when it comes to high converting squeeze pages.
          I followed Jason Fladlien's guide "Bare essence squeeze page", and managed to raise the conversion from 17.9% to 40.5 %. I posted a screen shot from my aweber account on his WSO post.

          Here is the page.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
    Originally Posted by jamawebinc View Post

    ...am I the only person who hates the term "Squeeze" Page?
    This term used for opt-in pages was not the original use.

    A squeeze page was a page that was "squeezed" in between two other pages and yes it was designed to "squeeze" more information out of the visitor.

    A person would click on a link from the "home page" or "landing page" (also not an opt-in only page) and then be shown a "squeeze page" which would have a OTO (One Time Offer), or an opt-in form, or a form which the user filled out and then the next page would be able to use the visitor's name on the page.

    The person on the squeeze page could not continue to the page they wanted to see without fulfilling the request on the squeeze page thereby "squeezing" the information out of the visitor.

    It became popular to offer a free download without an opt-in to lure higher clickthroughs only to hit them up with a squeeze page that contained the opt-in.

    Because so many marketers jumped on using it for an opt-in form that people started calling an opt-in page a squeeze page.

    Back to your conversion rates. Yes you are right about the conversion rates being high because of where the traffic came from.

    A few months back when Frank Kern had his last list building campaign, his copywriter had written a blog post talking about Frank getting an incredibly high 50% - 55% conversion rate on his cold opt-in.

    Now, if Frank Kern is happy with an "incredibly" high rate around 50%, then wouldn't you have to wonder about some unknown knucklehead making these claims?

    I do.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    The notion of "pre-sold" traffic and traffic sources in general having a huge bearing on the opt-in rate is absolutely accurate. It's why I prefer article traffic over just about any other kind - including organic search traffic. Search is good, but they're coming to your site based on one or two sentences in the little blurb Google provides below your link the SERPs. Article traffic is coming after you've essentially screened them through your article content. I get roughly twice the conversion rate from article visitors vs. organic search. Depends on other things, of course, like search terms used at Google and if the article bringing them to me was closely related to the opt-in offer or not. But overall, no contest. Give me article traffic all day long and it'll convert at 40% or better.

    John
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    • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
      Absolutely - even with traffic that is not pre-sold, there can be huge differences.

      For example, I was helping a client who had been taking the shotgun approach to SEO - where 80%+ of her content was developed around catchy stories of the day instead of keeping it highly relevant to her squeeze page offer - the result, a less than 1% opt-in rate.

      So, we went through a systematic keyword targeting process that had her driving targeted PPC traffic to her site and getting more than a 20% opt-in rate on some keywords.

      Those became the new target of her SEO efforts. Gone are the days of 1% opt-in - now she knows that when she writes a blog post, article, social networking content - that it is worth her while.

      Jeff
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    • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
      Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

      you've essentially screened them
      This is what a lot of the newbies and others here have a hard time wrapping their heads around.

      You don't want traffic. You want targeted traffic.

      If you have an ice cream shop would you want to have a hundred people a day come into your shop and ask you where McDonald's is or would you rather have 10 people a day asking you what kind of ice cream you have?

      You really want to qualify people for your offer. when you get the right people matched to the right offer your conversion rates will be appropriate enough that you can now work on your copy.

      But the best copywriter in the world is going to have a tough time trying to convince those people looking for McDonald's to buy ice cream.

      That's what a lot of folks here are doing and they are going in circles and wondering why they are not selling anything.
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      • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
        Originally Posted by Matt Maiden View Post

        You don't want traffic. You want targeted traffic.

        If you have an ice cream shop would you want to have a hundred people a day come into your shop and ask you where McDonald's is or would you rather have 10 people a day asking you what kind of ice cream you have?
        Genuis analogy! I'm gonna steal that way of explaining it, and I might not even give you credit, Matt. How you like them apples? :p
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        • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
          Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

          How you like them apples? :p
          LOL Been a while since I heard that line
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        Originally Posted by Matt Maiden View Post

        If you have an ice cream shop would you want to have a hundred people a day come into your shop and ask you where McDonald's is or would you rather have 10 people a day asking you what kind of ice cream you have?
        Aw man, you hit me in my weak spot, ice cream. Now I'll probably have to raid the freezer before going to bed. Feed the pigs and put them to bed, that's how ranchers fatten their livestock. Sigh.

        @ the OP - nice post! You've explained why I never trust the numbers people throw around unless I know the whole story. As Mark Twain wrote, "There's lies, damn lies, and statistics."
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        Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.

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  • Profile picture of the author paulie888
    Excellent post on how the quality of traffic has so much bearing on your squeeze page conversion rates. With targeted traffic, as long as you're offering something that they already want on your squeeze page, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to see a 50% or higher rate. On the other hand, if you're buying "hits" from some shady website or it's incentive traffic where they're being offered something to click through to your squeeze page, your conversion rate could be near-zero! I know that it's good to focus on conversion rates, but sometimes people don't pay enough attention to the quality of the traffic they're sending to their squeeze pages, and this could result in all their hard work creating the squeeze page (and sales funnel) going to waste!
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  • Profile picture of the author DanielCW
    Thanks a lot. Now I am off to check out the WSO relating to massive opt ins! Just goes to show what a little Grey matter between the ears can do for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh T.
    Perhaps the term "squeeze" doesn't have to be applied toward information from the customer. Rather, it could be the process of squeezing interested prospects into your funnel....or even squeezing lookiloos out of it.
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