USA traffic converts better or is a myth?

38 replies
It looks like a silly question, but since many years I heard that when selling products we must focus mainly on USA traffic.

But is really true that getting traffic from USA will get better conversions when selling a product? What are your opinions and experience?

I remember that last year I was promoting a hosting package with PPC and got almost 100 clicks but made no sales and all this traffic was from "poor" countries, really frustrating. If it were almost 100 clicks only from USA it would different?

From what I know the reasons for better conversion with USA traffic is native english, it's the most rich country so people have money to spent and maybe other reason that I forgot.

What are your experiences?
#converts #myth #traffic #usa
  • Profile picture of the author Willie Crawford
    It depends upon what you are selling, but for me, and the things that I sell, I
    get better conversions with traffic for the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia,
    and Singapore.

    I make sales to other places but they are relatively rare.

    Those are the countries that target in most of my marketing.

    As far as no sales from 100 click, that's not a large enough
    number of clicks to really tell you anything. With U.S. traffic,
    you might get no sales in your first 300 clicks, and then 10
    sales in the next 50 clicks, so you look at a big enough sample
    size to give you a meaningful average. Even within a country,
    it would depend upon how that traffic was generated.

    Willie
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  • Profile picture of the author GelidMind
    Your focus should be mainly on Tier 1 traffic. This is usually the group that has the money and resources to spend on products and services.

    Tier 1:
    US, UK, CA, AU, NZ

    Not saying people don't spend at all in Tier 2 or 3, but it's usually more difficult to convert.

    But there is more to it than just promoting a product. You have to split test, make sure you copy is right, you are targeting the right market, and making the necessary tweaks you need to get consistent sales.

    I've got sales from all over, but yes majority come from US, AUS, and the UK.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marked09
    US Traffic converts better simply because they understand English. Since majority of the offers are in English it is only logical to get a higher conversion from U.S or T1 countries as stated above.

    However do not limit yourself to these countries as there are offers for spanish, india etc that can also be a good source of income. Not to mention that these markets has less competition and cheaper traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author heavysm
      This might seem obvious but from my tests buyer traffic tends to convert best.

      Tier 1 countries as others have mentioned tend to have more of an ability to buy, but ultimately having a list of narrowed down buyers who have already purchased something is the best.

      The only reason why i mention targeting buyers rather than certain countries is that buyers can be from almost any country, but if you don't have them honed down to a specific list of people then it might appear as if only Tier 1 countries buy but that's not really true.

      I've had buyers come from almost every country in Asia, Russia, tiny islands I've never heard of etc etc but none of those countries are Tier 1. Yet they still bought from me, and some of them buy over and over and over, and that cannot be ignored.

      So...while Tier 1 traffic might generally convert better, you'd be best to collect and isolate a nice group of buyers for yourself so you can see how varied your customer base really is.
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      • Profile picture of the author pirata
        Originally Posted by heavysm View Post

        This might seem obvious but from my tests buyer traffic tends to convert best.

        Tier 1 countries as others have mentioned tend to have more of an ability to buy, but ultimately having a list of narrowed down buyers who have already purchased something is the best.

        The only reason why i mention targeting buyers rather than certain countries is that buyers can be from almost any country, but if you don't have them honed down to a specific list of people then it might appear as if only Tier 1 countries buy but that's not really true.

        I've had buyers come from almost every country in Asia, Russia, tiny islands I've never heard of etc etc but none of those countries are Tier 1. Yet they still bought from me, and some of them buy over and over and over, and that cannot be ignored.

        So...while Tier 1 traffic might generally convert better, you'd be best to collect and isolate a nice group of buyers for yourself so you can see how varied your customer base really is.
        What do you sell heavysm?
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  • Profile picture of the author icoachu
    It doesn't necessarily CONVERT BETTER... but it is definitely WORTH MORE for most niches.

    Many advertisers pay more for US/CANADA/UK traffic.

    Need proof?Just check CPA networks. Compare international payouts to USA/CAN/UK payouts.

    Most of the time, not even close!
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    • Profile picture of the author Marked09
      Originally Posted by icoachu View Post

      It doesn't necessarily CONVERT BETTER... but it is definitely WORTH MORE for most niches.

      Many advertisers pay more for US/CANADA/UK traffic.

      Need proof?Just check CPA networks. Compare international payouts to USA/CAN/UK payouts.

      Most of the time, not even close!
      So why do they pay more for these traffic? Normally and Logically speaking people will not be willing to pay more if they are not getting positive ROI.
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      • Profile picture of the author icoachu
        Originally Posted by Marked09 View Post

        So why do they pay more for these traffic? Normally and Logically speaking people will not be willing to pay more if they are not getting positive ROI.
        They pay more because people actually BUY at HIGHER DOLLAR VALUES.

        Which would you rather pick?

        $50 from 100 clicks from country A or

        $125 from 100 clicks from country B

        Same CTR, different values
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    • Profile picture of the author Cleberl1
      Originally Posted by Willie Crawford View Post

      It depends upon what you are selling, but for me, and the things that I sell, I
      get better conversions with traffic for the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia,
      and Singapore.

      I make sales to other places but they are relatively rare.

      Those are the countries that target in most of my marketing.

      As far as no sales from 100 click, that's not a large enough
      number of clicks to really tell you anything. With U.S. traffic,
      you might get no sales in your first 300 clicks, and then 10
      sales in the next 50 clicks, so you look at a big enough sample
      size to give you a meaningful average. Even within a country,
      it would depend upon how that traffic was generated.

      Willie
      I think that 100 clicks from PPC is or at least would be enough to make at least one sale. But the point is that most of this traffic was from asian countries, so it may explain why no sales.

      Originally Posted by Marked09 View Post

      US Traffic converts better simply because they understand English. Since majority of the offers are in English it is only logical to get a higher conversion from U.S or T1 countries as stated above.

      However do not limit yourself to these countries as there are offers for spanish, india etc that can also be a good source of income. Not to mention that these markets has less competition and cheaper traffic.
      I agree that it has less competition, but taking for example if I'm selling a product worth $50, this is a good amount of money for someone from India.

      Originally Posted by icoachu View Post

      It doesn't necessarily CONVERT BETTER... but it is definitely WORTH MORE for most niches.

      Many advertisers pay more for US/CANADA/UK traffic.

      Need proof?Just check CPA networks. Compare international payouts to USA/CAN/UK payouts.

      Most of the time, not even close!
      I openned this topic because I'll start advertising some CPA offers, and yep that's true the most high paying offers are from USA and few other countries.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    I would say many countries in Europe, and also Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are just as high quality.



    One way to slice the cake is to say non-English speaking countries produce less than desirable traffic.

    (But it would be easy to refute this case, so everything depends upon your goals and marketing strategies which should be a given).
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  • If you put out offers in THEIR LANGUAGE to a Tier 2 or below country and can get a lot of traffic to it, then you can convert better than some English offers in Tier 1 countries. So your offer needs to be targeted specifically to the people you are trying to reach.
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    • Profile picture of the author agmccall
      I do not think it is conversions as much as it is refund rates

      al
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      • Profile picture of the author icoachu
        Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

        I do not think it is conversions as much as it is refund rates

        al
        AG,

        Great point.

        There's a reason why some affiliate networks blacklist some international traffic.

        This is definitely part of the overall click value equation.
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        • Profile picture of the author Cleberl1
          And what do you think about traffic from Europe? From countries like france, germany, italy spain, etc...??
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          • Profile picture of the author icoachu
            Originally Posted by Cleberl1 View Post

            And what do you think about traffic from Europe? From countries like france, germany, italy spain, etc...??
            What language is your landing page in?

            Can you get copywriters that know how to write in Francais, Deutsch, Italiano, or Espanol?

            Do they know the right culturally-targeted emotional signals to send?

            Does the product or service you're selling have a solid demand base in the market you're trying to reach?
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            • Profile picture of the author greenowl123
              Bing ads is a good choice. You can also try Infolinks and 7search.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr nice guy
    I am looking to buy targeted traffic for several upcoming email campaigns starting here in the United States first. Do you own or have sources or access to where I can buy inexpensive targeted U.S. traffic. Lots of U.S. traffic cheap. As we all know large amounts of targeted traffic is the life blood to a successful email campaign. Can you please help me?
    Michael DeVolder
    USA
    Mike@MikeDeVolder.com
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  • Profile picture of the author charity4Uall
    Is traffic from the US better?

    In general, yes it is.

    Why is it better you ask? Well the US is the most affluent part of the world with the majority having the very basic requirements to conduct online business on any level ie. such as disposable income, credit cards (Paypal) and an overall higher level of education.

    All of that equates to higher converting, higher quality traffic to your offers.
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  • Profile picture of the author rudyman1243
    I need Real Human traffic not robots, I have 3 sites one is adult novelty site, a name brand perfume site, a site that sells general product lines like auto items, pet supply's, so please tell me where I can buy Real Human traffic not for them to push on the button and go away but will review a site for at least a minute??

    Thanks,

    RudyMan
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  • Profile picture of the author AceElric
    Money is in Tier 1 : US, UK, CA, AU, NZ
    But still, you need to a market research which depends on the products you are selling. Best of luck
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert999
    Originally Posted by Cleberl1 View Post

    It looks like a silly question, but since many years I heard that when selling products we must focus mainly on USA traffic.

    But is really true that getting traffic from USA will get better conversions when selling a product? What are your opinions and experience?

    I remember that last year I was promoting a hosting package with PPC and got almost 100 clicks but made no sales and all this traffic was from "poor" countries, really frustrating. If it were almost 100 clicks only from USA it would different?

    From what I know the reasons for better conversion with USA traffic is native english, it's the most rich country so people have money to spent and maybe other reason that I forgot.

    What are your experiences?
    I think it is not a myth. People from USA have increasing trend of buying stuff online. Also traffic UK, Canada converts better as compared to other companies.
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    • Profile picture of the author TOMPA
      I feel that especially Americans are faster to buy than other Nations.. that said I think if you have an irresistible product and offer you could do well in any first world country - you will find English speakers all over the world - but If you want to break into a market it would be wise to translate your sites or copy ...Especially Europe would be good and parts of Asia I guess...in Euope I would target the German speaking countries ( Austria, Switzerland , parts of Luxembourg/Belgium and Germany) As you already covered the UK with English -the Netherlands and basically everyone on the net in Skandinavia (Sweden,Norway,Denmark,Finnland Island) speaks very good English as most of their foreign Films are in English with subtitles in their language- and all take English in school..
      So in my opinion German would be your target language if you chose to translate!
      The reasons being : high income, high Internet affinity, ecommerce is booming for quality products, ca 110Mio + German speaking People...
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  • Profile picture of the author ejiro
    What makes USA traffic converts is because of 1. exposure to the internet 2. The high use of credit or debit card 3. relevant product 4. type of niche 5. targeting right people.
    So most countries where they have these features above with good level of it then the conversion should be good.
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  • Profile picture of the author aizaku
    have u tested it yet?

    i hypothesize no, it all depends on the offer and the traffic.

    u have better chances of selling chopsticks in japan then in the US

    etc..
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  • Profile picture of the author Last Donut
    Americans are just really easy to sell to, their social structure is based on living the American Dream, so products and advertisements advertising a shortcut have pretty high conversion rates.. and they're just generally really easy to market to.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cleberl1
    Just to let you know: few days ago I promoted some free trial CPA offers - incentive ones that requires a credit card, but only free trials meaning that people won't pay in trial period.

    Well, I promoted using adhitz, a PPC system, however more than 90% of traffic was from tier 3 countries like India or Pakistan. I got 130 clicks and 0 conversions...

    This makes me cry. LoL

    I'll try to advertise on bing ads this week and will target only USA.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    Well, I promoted using adhitz, a PPC system, however more than 90% of traffic was from tier 3 countries like India or Pakistan.
    Yeah, they will let publishers post ads anywhere, like PTC sites and traffic exchanges. Slightly better than bots but not much.
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  • Profile picture of the author greenowl123
    Some smart answers here already for the OP to think about.

    I asked this same question a couple of years ago, and got slammed for it. I got the feeling I was being accused of racism for even asking the question. Really, the question relates to demographics and conversion rates in different countries.

    Most of my sales and conversions (even for free CPA offers) have come from the so-called Tier 1 countries, i.e. UK/USA/Australia/NZ/Canada --

    Germany and France also convert well, but of course you have to sell to them in their own language, which can be tricky, unless you outsource your sales copy for your landing pages, etc.

    Most of my conversions in other countries, such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Romania, Mexico, Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, India, etc. have come from promoting free CPA offers or to sign up to AdultFriendFinder for free, but even then, it is a struggle to even convert them on free stuff.

    My theory is that most of the Tier 1 countries are a little more trusting about buying things online, giving their email address, etc. and that most of the non-Tier 1 countries are more cautious and suspicious about buying things online or even giving up their email address for a free offer.

    My 2 cents.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cleberl1
      Originally Posted by Brent Stangel View Post

      Yeah, they will let publishers post ads anywhere, like PTC sites and traffic exchanges. Slightly better than bots but not much.
      I already advertised on adhitz several times ago and always horrible results. As you said almost 100% are ads published on PTCs and TE from from non Tier 1 countries. From my experience it's almost the same thing to advertise for bots.

      Originally Posted by greenowl123 View Post

      Some smart answers here already for the OP to think about.

      I asked this same question a couple of years ago, and got slammed for it. I got the feeling I was being accused of racism for even asking the question. Really, the question relates to demographics and conversion rates in different countries.

      Most of my sales and conversions (even for free CPA offers) have come from the so-called Tier 1 countries, i.e. UK/USA/Australia/NZ/Canada --

      Germany and France also convert well, but of course you have to sell to them in their own language, which can be tricky, unless you outsource your sales copy for your landing pages, etc.

      Most of my conversions in other countries, such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Romania, Mexico, Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, India, etc. have come from promoting free CPA offers or to sign up to AdultFriendFinder for free, but even then, it is a struggle to even convert them on free stuff.

      My theory is that most of the Tier 1 countries are a little more trusting about buying things online, giving their email address, etc. and that most of the non-Tier 1 countries are more cautious and suspicious about buying things online or even giving up their email address for a free offer.

      My 2 cents.
      That's a sad truth. As I said before I got more than 100 clicks from a PPC network all traffic from poor countries and 0 conversions. I was promoting incentive free trial offers, much probably I had no conversions because offers are free but users still have to submit their credit cards info.

      Anyone knows a good PPC network to get quality traffic for USA?

      Adwords I got banned, so can't use. I'll try bing ads this week, I need few more.
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  • Profile picture of the author workhomeplanet
    I think BING ADS can definitely be a better traffic source to convert more visitors into leads and/or buyers... My experience with ADHITZ was also not positive...
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Originally Posted by Cleberl1 View Post

    It looks like a silly question, but since many years I heard that when selling products we must focus mainly on USA traffic.

    But is really true that getting traffic from USA will get better conversions when selling a product? What are your opinions and experience?

    I remember that last year I was promoting a hosting package with PPC and got almost 100 clicks but made no sales and all this traffic was from "poor" countries, really frustrating. If it were almost 100 clicks only from USA it would different?

    From what I know the reasons for better conversion with USA traffic is native english, it's the most rich country so people have money to spent and maybe other reason that I forgot.

    What are your experiences?
    I actually find USA converts worse than many "second tier" countries like UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

    The challenge is USA often has far more volume.
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  • Profile picture of the author LillyR
    Whenever I have the option to choose my geographic location, whether it be a traffic exchange such as Traffic Swarm , or a pay per click campaign like Bing or Facebook, I always ALWAYS select the United States first and foremost. Not saying I would exclude other countries, but 85% of worldwide sales I have always earned have come from America and then all the second tier countries such as Canada, Britain, Australia, etc comprise of all the leftovers.

    More disposable money in the USA, with credit available pretty much to anyone on demand contributes to this country's favorability imho.
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  • Profile picture of the author a1marketing
    I'll let you into a little secret. Try Swiss traffic, it converts better than anything. Small country but they spend like crazy.
    Worst traffic is Mexican by the way (for me at least).

    *For the benefit of any Americans reading this post Switzerland is a country in Europe (Europe is a group of countries to the north of Africa)*
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    • Profile picture of the author wgrogers
      In most cases, Yes!
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkJohnson101
    Originally Posted by Cleberl1 View Post

    It looks like a silly question, but since many years I heard that when selling products we must focus mainly on USA traffic.

    But is really true that getting traffic from USA will get better conversions when selling a product? What are your opinions and experience?

    I remember that last year I was promoting a hosting package with PPC and got almost 100 clicks but made no sales and all this traffic was from "poor" countries, really frustrating. If it were almost 100 clicks only from USA it would different?

    From what I know the reasons for better conversion with USA traffic is native english, it's the most rich country so people have money to spent and maybe other reason that I forgot.

    What are your experiences?
    That depends on what you are offering and what your target audience is. If you are selling something for a good price and your conversion page is trust worthy then people will surely buy as they do on our firm's website.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cleberl1
    Very usefull replies, thank you all. Anyone tried to advertise on PTC sites targeting USA only? I know this is a very low quality traffic, but it's also very cheap, some sites sell 1,000 usa visits for 2 bucks or less.

    I also remember a guy who owned 2 big PTC sites and he used to earn about $4-5k monthly with clickbank.
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  • Profile picture of the author Angshuman Dutta
    It totally depends on whether you are able to reachout to people who need your stuff most. I have sold to non-English speaking countries and also to US traffic. A lot of things need to be factored in actually. If you are selling a Walmart coupon US traffic is better, but if you are selling Visa services Ttier 3 countries will work better. That's just from my own experience though.
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