Return visitors 8 times more likely to make online purchases than first timers

[mandy]

Visitors returning to a web site are eight times more likely to make an online purchase than new visitors... During the first three months of 2006, repeat visitors to business-to-consumer e-commerce sites had a conversion rate of 12.61%. That compares with a 1.55% conversion rate for new visitors...

“For marketers of e-commerce sites, this data further drives home the importance of building customer loyalty online.”...

Customer loyalty is most important in the computers and electronics category, where return visitors were almost 16 times more likely to make a purchase than new visitors...

Loyalty was less important to shoppers at apparel sites, where conversion rates for return visitors (7.56%) was only about six times higher than for new visitors (1.37%)...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=18579