Profit per visitor

In plain words

Profit per visitor is the average profit an offer earns for each person who sees it. A cheaper offer usually converts better and earns less per order. A richer one earns more per order and converts worse. Profit per visitor puts both effects into one number, so two offers can be compared on the traffic they share.

It is the right metric for an offer test. Conversion rate rewards whatever sells most, even at a loss. Revenue per visitor rewards whatever sells most expensively, even if its costs are higher. Profit per visitor rewards what earns.

Formula

• Profit per visitor = contribution margin per order × conversion rate
• Across options shown together: Σ (each option's margin × the share of visitors who buy it)

Worked example

The coffee bag keeps $15.36 per order. If 3.0% of visitors buy it, the page earns $0.46 for every visitor.

A variant that keeps less per order has to convert that much better to earn the same per visitor. The break-even conversion lift is that gap.

Computed by the margin engine in Offer Suite's own code, in whole cents, from a $40.00 bag of coffee with a $12.00 unit cost.

Profit per visitor is not revenue per visitor

Revenue per visitor multiplies price by conversion and never looks at cost. A bundle that raises revenue per visitor by adding a costly gift can lower profit per visitor. It matters which one decides a test.

Using it

Measure it over the same traffic for both offers, at the same time. Profit per visitor from last month against this month mixes in seasonality and ad mix. Read it with an interval, not a single number: per-visitor profit is noisy because most visitors buy nothing, and a split test needs enough buyers in each arm before the difference means anything.

In Offer Suite

Offer Suite's experiments decide on realized profit per visitor: each arm's profit from its first orders, net of refunds, in the current cost view, divided by the visitors assigned to that arm.

Source: Offer Suite's experiment design (decision 63).