Online conversion occurs when a website visitor becomes a buyer. A conversion rate of 5% means that 5% of the new visitors to the site have searched the site, found the item or items they want and have made a purchase. Even small changes in conversion rate translate into big revenue dollars. For example, if a site doing $20 million in revenue increases its conversion rate from 3% to 4%, revenue would increase by almost $7 million.

AMR Research also identified the top customer acquisition method during its recent survey. The Top 5 customer acquisition methods are:

1. Direct Mail/Catalogs
2. E-Mail Marketing
3. Search Engines like Google and Yahoo
4. Affiliate Marketing
5. Brick and Mortar Stores and store displays

Also interesting was the fact that retailers surveyed said that traditional advertising such as print and TV advertising has the lowest effectiveness in gaining new customers and actually decreased in effectiveness since 2001 as an acquisition method.