Over the past two years, our website has converted a consistent 3% of its visitors into sales, with very little fluctuation. Clearly, then, our goal for the upcoming year should be to raise the number of visitors to our site by any means necessary. If we can double our number of visitors by casting a wider net on pay-per-click advertising and by creating site content that is more search-engine friendly, we'll double our sales.
Answer:
The author of the argument suggests that in order to increasing the sales of the website, the business should promote more visitors to the website. Here the author inherently assumes that the historical conversion rate of the visitors to sales of 3% is expected to continue in the future. Hence, the author assumes that to raise the sales, the visitors on the website should be increased.
To begin with, the reasoning that an increase in sales can be achieved by increasing the website visitors is flawed at a fundamental level because the sales could be impacted by multiple factors other that just visiting the website. For instance, the visitor could be motivated to make a purchase based on the price discounts or the brand name of the product and not just by the event of visiting the website. Further, increased advertising could increase the visitors but not necessarily imply higher sales. The argument could be considerably strengthened if the author studies the year on year percentage rise in the visitors on the website to understand the component of new buyers in the 3% conversion stated.
Further, the measures suggested for increasing the visitors namely, increasing the pay-per-click advertising and search-engine friendly site content, might increase the number of visitors. However, it cannot guarantee an increase in sales. It could improve the user experience on the website, however, a study of the correlation between the user experience and the probability to make a purchase would substantiate this conclusion.
Finally, the author has not shown evidence that the rise in the visitors would imply the increase in the number of buyers. Detailed analysis of the reasons and factors that lead to a purchase should be studied. Even though, visiting a website is the first stage towards online purchase, there could be various factors the motivate or de-motivate a consumer for making the purchase from a specific website or not. For instance, easy returns, different modes of payment, variety and quality of products and market demand could be some of the factors that could contribute to the sales of the business. In order to raise the sales, the business should concentrate on all of these factors and with specific attention to those factors that affect the sales the most.
To conclude, the author's argument is weak at multiple places and the underlying assumption that the conversion is expected to remain same is flawed. Further investigation is warranted before any action is taken based on the author's claim.
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File comment: On behalf of everyone here in Ketner Springs, welcome to our blossoming community. We trust that you will find that Ketner Springs is the ideal place to locate your business, on account of our renowned transportation system and our award-winning parks and recreation department. Families love living here, as our schools have the lowest student-to-teacher ratio in the state and our restaurants boast more kiddie menu options than you can find anywhere in the country. If you need a place to locate your business or open a new office or factory, you'll find the perfect locale here in Ketner Springs.
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File comment: Pay-per-click web advertising is the best investment an advertiser can make. In the eighteen months since MacDowell's halved its television advertising and doubled its web advertising, its sales have grown by nearly 30% and it has opened forty more stores to keep up with demand. This is just one example of the fact that television advertising is on its way out, and smart businesses will continue to up their investment in pay-per-click ads.
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