In today’s digital affiliate landscape, simply knowing how many people saw your affiliate links or widgets isn’t enough. Understanding your conversion rate helps to completely close the loop by telling you the percentage of people who saw the affiliate link, clicked, and completed a booking! If you can get a reader engaged enough to click on an affiliate link, this should carry through to complete the booking.
How do we calculate conversion rate?
Let’s say that in August, you send 100 visits to GetYourGuide via one of your affiliate links, and you get two bookings. This means your conversion rate for that integration in that month is 2%. With our partner program, a healthy conversion rate starts at 3% and can reach 6% and above for the top 25% of partners.
How to achieve a healthy conversion rate
When analyzing a specific integration, start by asking some questions. Are you using the right language or keywords? How strong is your call to action? What stands out about the tour? Does it have potential to convert?
Two steps you need to consider are:
- What actions to take when integrating the affiliate link or widget
- What actions to take when choosing conversion-driven tours
Here are our 7 top tips for boosting your conversion rate:
1. Incorporate your integrations naturally
Native links naturally integrated in your content generate the most conversions.
2. Combine links with widgets
- Start experimenting with widgets by including them at the end of your article with personal recommendations.
- Avoid putting widgets into blind zones (areas of your webpage where advertising is usually placed) and instead insert them naturally in your content.
3. Create GetYourGuide brand awareness
Your audience might not know GetYourGuide yet. Tell your readers why you trust us: a personal introduction is key for higher conversions!
The best way to explore Barcelona is by following your stomach. The capital of Catalonia houses all types of delicious dishes that are waiting to be discovered. One of the best ways to find them is to take a food tour with a local. You can find a list of food tours (including price and reviews) here at GetYourGuide. I use GetYourGuide when I want to uncover new things to do in my favorite destinations. They’re easy to use and book with, and I’ve explored the best of my destination with their tours.
4. Highlight as many benefits of booking a tour or activity as possible
People and search engines need to understand what a post is about and how it will answer the reader’s question. It’s only through clear development of a problem that you can later associate an affiliate with the solution.
Problems to solve, examples:
- Why should you buy online? Special block about buying tickets online
- Why should you buy at GetYourGuide? Pros’ / cons’ why to buy at GetYourGuide
- Why should you skip the line? Why booking skip-the-line is good
- Is it more expensive No extra costs / native language / save stress & time / convenient /
- Credibility matters: add real testimonials
- Showcase number of reviews
5. Compare the different products on offer
This allows your readers to have all the relevant information and pick the right tour for them.
Examples: Use top 10 lists, comparison tables
6. Choose an effective CTA to grab your readers’ attention
- Distinguish CTAs with a different colour.
- Use clear ‘Book now’ buttons.
- Include persuasive points like ‘last-minute availability’, ‘skip the line’, ‘best-sellers’ and ‘top picks’.
7. Select tours with the best conversion potential
How can you do that?
- Look at the average rating of the tour (the higher the better)
- Check the number of reviews for the tour (the more the better)
- Check if it’s a bestseller or a new activity