Why higher conversion rates aren’t always the right answer

Too often we marketers have a fixation with higher conversion rates – on our forms, in our campaigns, even in our sales funnels.

The vast majority of time, this focus is well justified. But it’s important to keep in mind the most desired outcome. Sometimes, lower conversion rates are far preferable.

There are customers who aren’t profitable. Do you really want them getting through your sales process?  Yes, they may pad your conversion rate – but at the expense of bad business.

There are prospects who aren’t profitable either, and worse are a waste of your time. Prospects who don’t have the means to pay. Who don’t have the internal criteria required to engage.  Let these prospects through your filters and you’ll have higher conversion rates but an unhappy sales team that just wasted their time with a prospect that clearly isn’t going anywhere.

Fewer fields on your registration forms is better right?  Maybe, maybe not.

Sometimes, the prospect’s interest in completing more qualifying fields is a stronger indication of sales readiness.  There are points in the sales funnel, and the buying process, where this level of filtering is preferable to higher form completion rates.

Generally, higher conversion rates are indeed better. Just keep the end result in mind.