Marketing Thud

[Demesnedenoir]

So, I was making changes to my website (because Eve of Snows and other books are wide, I send people to my site instead of straight to Amazon). I’m trying to get ready for the next marketing push and decided to update the site, getting rid of old text links and replacing them with professional looking buttons, that sort of thing. I wasn’t totally happy with it, but figured I’d make improvements later... it looked just fine (I thought) and just needed tweaks.

Ho ho! Ha ha!

Sunday my ads brought in almost 50% more clicks to my website than Saturday, with about 40% fewer click throughs to Amazon. And sales tanked accordingly.

Was it just one of those days? Maybe, but Sundays usually do well. No answers yet, but if I discoverer exactly what I did that turned off the click flow, I’ll let you know.

 

[skip.knox]

Oh to be able to track sales rising and falling by the day. I track mine quarterly. <grimace>

Surely one day is not statistically significant? And yes, I did call you surely.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Mmm, normally I wouldn’t say that it mattered. Sales, it could just be a bad day... God knows bleep happens.. but the major drop in clicks through to Amazon was disconcerting. This kind tracks back to Saturday evening as well, but harder to tell the difference midday. Sales are part luck, but click rates are far more consistent in general. The typical click rate for my FB ad right now is between 1:15 to 1:20 Reach... after that things get fuzzier, but Amazon tracks affiliate link clicks.

Last Friday, I pulled 102 visitors to my shopping page with 61 hitting Amazon, while Sunday I pulled 169 people to the shop and sent 69 to the shop: 41% vs 60%. That’s pretty steep, considering Sunday trends better in the long term.

My best guess it was a combo of bad day, and something in the new website cluttering clicks.

Speaking of which, get an affiliate account on Amazon (not so much for the extra money, which is minor) but rather to track the number of affiliate clicks you get. It’s kind of an interesting metric to watch.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

In the end, no way to be certain... but, it’s making me clean up some stuff anyhow... good motivation, heh heh.

 

[skip.knox]

Speaking of which, get an affiliate account on Amazon (not so much for the extra money, which is minor) but rather to track the number of affiliate clicks you get. It’s kind of an interesting metric to watch.

Will do ... once I have affiliates.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Thanks for the reminder. I do have affiliate links and I use them on my blog, but I haven't checked them in ages. Turns out people are clicking them, and someone even made a purchase after clicking. At some point, I'll have to redo my blog - again.

 

[pmmg]

So, one explanation could be that a week ago ppl saw a new book and clicked on it, and this week, they saw the same ad and said...meh, I already clicked on that one.

I doubt something you did Saturday would have such an Impact Sunday. I cant say as I have seen your ad, but stuff happens. I think I would pay more attention to longer trends than short ones.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

They clicked to my website, but not to Amazon, repeaters aren’t likely to do that... for whatever reason, people weren’t taking that next step at the usual rate. Why click one then the other? These ads have been running for months with only mild variances in %’s, it’s possible it was just an odd day, or a combination of events (most likely) but there certainly seemed to be something.

I identified 3 basic swings in the appearance that were more than cosmetic. I lost track of time the other day and had to leave without completing all my changes... so, I was missing—

A- the warm thank you and welcome section. Without it, the store felt more like throwing the person straight to a hard sell.
B- My sample chapters link was missing.. Doh! A decent # of people do click this, but it’s also part of the feel.
C- Pure laziness... the links to the retailers were pushed down and people would have to scroll further to get to them, depending on device. If there’s anything I learned in retail, it’s that casual shoppers are lazy.

So, one explanation could be that a week ago ppl saw a new book and clicked on it, and this week, they saw the same ad and said...meh, I already clicked on that one.

I doubt something you did Saturday would have such an Impact Sunday. I cant say as I have seen your ad, but stuff happens. I think I would pay more attention to longer trends than short ones.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Whether pure coincidence or not, percentages are back in their normal range for the past 2 days after getting the “welcome” and other things back in there.

One never knows, but better safe than sorry when reading tea leaves, LOL.

 

[skip.knox]

Nobody reads coffee grounds. It's terribly unfair, sez I.

Glad your numbers are back within the norm. Cheers! <couldn't resist>

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Nobody reads coffee grounds. It's terribly unfair, sez I.

Glad your numbers are back within the norm. Cheers! <couldn't resist>

So, in the past couple of days you’ve caused, Monty Python, Airplane, and now Sam and Diane flashbacks. Kudos!

I should say... he never reads the second cup of coffee grounds at home

 

[pmmg]

They clicked to my website, but not to Amazon, repeaters aren’t likely to do that... for whatever reason, people weren’t taking that next step at the usual rate.

Ahh...I see. Well, to have a useful opinion, I would have to look at it. And to have a real valuable one, I would have to see the before and after picture of your changes. Is the website the one in your link?

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Sundering Shop — Sundering the Gods is the direct link, the other takes you to the tour guide. I’m still tinkering with a the main “welcome” page, just can’t get it to do what I want.

 

[pmmg]

Looking at the site I would say the bottom of it looks busy. I would suggest making the vendor buttons/links smaller, so the book itself is more prominent. It kind of looks like those driver download sights where you are not sure what to click on, and almost all of it takes you someplace you don't want to go. I mean that in a visual way, and not a functional one.

Also, when I look at it more (initially, I thought your book was the Eve of Snows, and Meliu was some amazon add spot), I am not following why the order is Book 1, Book 1.5, Book 3, and book 2.5, and then another book 3. Why the .5's? and where is book 2?

 

[pmmg]

Also congrats on being so far along, and on winning the award.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Hmm, might be some label issues because I had graphics changes trying to get Amazon to link the .5’s into the series. Which worked for a while, but didn’t last. The trouble with the buttons is they look so different from device to device.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

And I agree with the busy, still trying to wiggle stuff around. and figure stuff out, LOL.

Also congrats on being so far along, and on winning the award.

 

[pmmg]

Hmm, might be some label issues because I had graphics changes trying to get Amazon to link the .5’s into the series. Which worked for a while, but didn’t last. The trouble with the buttons is they look so different from device to device.

That's a constant struggle with making web pages. Different browsers and different devices, and Microsoft screw everything up.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

And I’m working with Squarespace’s templates, and some of that gets clunky.

Longer explanation on the .5s. I originally wrote Eve of Snows shootings for 120k words and trad publishing and so trimmed POV characters. This got me to thinking that I could take advantage of indie by offering a 1.5 novella free To get people signing up for newsletters. Then, at the end of book 2, I wanted to span a couple years, but I wanted one character’s time and events to be accounted for, so... I wrote 2.5 at 50k words or thereabouts.

Now, after a while I took Eve wide, SO on its first anniversary I released a Kindle Unlimited extended edition, and later, an extended edition of Book 2 which includes book 2.5. Effectively then, I have wide and Kindle Unlimited versions of the book as an test. So far, I think it has cost me a few sales, but overall, the extra page reads on KU pay for that while still gaining sales at Apple, B&N, and Kobo.

It’s all a giant test run situation, throwing mud at the wall.

 

[skip.knox]

And the wall keeps moving!