A quarterly report from Monetate has recently been released for Q2 2015 and it has something of a mixed bag of information for marketers. First, it found that the conversion rates for eCommerce has improved on all types of devices. This is significant because over the previous several reports these rates have gone down. The bounce rate, however, is remaining high, which is something that many marketers will be concerned about. Referral traffic from social networks continued to go up as well as did the average order value, which is always a good thing.
Conversion Rates
The first thing to look at is the overall conversion rate on eCommerce platforms. The report found that conversions for Smartphone’s went up 7%, tablets went up 12% and desktops went up 7%. This is a nice reversal in the trend over the past several quarters which saw overall conversion rates dropping. The big jump in tablets is especially promising given the continued growth in tablet use.
Bounce Rate
The bounce rate on eCommerce sites, however, stayed at around an overall average of 31.32%. This is about even with the previous quarter, which may not sound bad until you see that the current rates are at a 15 month high. Clearly something is not going right. The bounce rate is something that all marketers struggle to keep as low as possible since the longer a user stays on the site, the more likely they are going to make a purchase. The bounce rate on smart phones is also significantly higher than on tablets or PCs, which is troubling since smart phones are continuing to grow in popularity.
Referral Traffic
Some good news is that referral traffic that comes from social networks is up about 50%. This is a huge growth, especially considering the fact that social networks were already a huge source of traffic a year ago. While social media traffic is not necessarily going to convert at the highest of rates it is a great source of potential customers, especially if they are coming from targeted advertising.
Average Order Value
Another piece of good news is that the average order value (AOV) is up significantly from the previous quarter. Today the average order on an eCommerce site is $118.26 in Q2 2015. In the previous quarter the AOV was $116.57. Related to this is the revenue per session, which went from $3.69 to $3.93 year over year. Given the sheer number of visitors and purchasers that visit eCommerce sites these little jumps can translate to huge increases in total profits.
If you’re interested in seeing the full report you can view it HERE.
