Goin' down slow?

[John Mitchell]

I don't mean to start another dreaded "complaining" thread, but I am curious to know if I'm all alone.

 

Surprisingly, my CTR has held up well during this very strange year. However, it has been falling like a stone since September. December could also be my worst month ever for zooms.

 

CTR from my dashboard graph:

 

September -- 0.63 (average for me)

October -- 0.47

November -- 0.41

December -- 0.25

 

Anyone else seeing a similar drop in CTR? Curiously, this fall from grace hasn't affected my sales that much -- nine so far this month, which means that with a little luck I could make it to my monthly average of 14.

Edited December 22, 2020 by John Mitchell

[Michael Ventura]

My CTR has been holding steady at around 1.00 all year but sales have plummeted in December. I will be happily shocked if these remaining days bear enough fruit to save the month and year.

[losdemas]

Since September? That was an all-time low for me. Going the other way now:

 

Month	CTR
Jan-20	0.53
Feb-20	0.75
Mar-20	0.66
Apr-20	0.50
May-20	0.68
Jun-20	0.49
Jul-20	0.89
Aug-20	0.64
Sep-20	0.39
Oct-20	0.63
Nov-20	1.01
Dec-20	0.79

 

Dec is to date (OFC) and has fallen back from 1.21 in the last few days. But I expect that: it's always pulled back as searches grind to a halt at this time of year.

 

I wouldn't be overly concerned. As has been said countless times, the bottom line is the invoice count. My sales are about as low as they can be.

[John Mitchell]

54 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

My CTR has been holding steady at around 1.00 all year but sales have plummeted in December. I will be happily shocked if these remaining days bear enough fruit to save the month and year.

 

That's impressive CTR. A "line of best fit" drawn through the points on my up-and-down CTR graph shows a slow decline throughout the year, and then a sudden fall into the abyss in October.

 

As I recall, the last few days of the year can sometimes bring a flurry of last-minute sales. I guess some publishers need to exhaust their annual budgets before the axe falls.

 

Here's hoping...

Edited December 22, 2020 by John Mitchell

[Lori Rider]

I started the year at 1.15, stayed around .7 and then plummeted to .12 in May... since then hovering around .5 as an average, although November was up to .91. It's been falling in December and currently at .62. No sales this month either.

[Mr Standfast]

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

I don't mean to start another dreaded "complaining" thread, but I am curious to know if I'm all alone.

 

Surprisingly, my CTR has held up well during this very strange year. However, it has been falling like a stone since September. December could also be my worst month ever for zooms.

 

CTR from my dashboard graph:

 

September -- 0.63 (average for me)

October -- 0.47

November -- 0.41

December -- 0.25

 

Anyone else seeing a similar drop in CTR? Curiously, this fall from grace hasn't affected my sales that much -- nine so far this month, which means that with a little luck I could make it to my monthly average of 14.

Very similar picture here. Wonder what happened?

[meanderingemu]

i"m all over the map

 

Aug 1.20

Sep  0.90

Oct  0.25 (worse month in 2 years)

Nov 0.75

Dec 0.59

 

 

And since strong end of 2019 fell off, I have seen my overall CTR go from 1.02 at the end of August to 0.74..

 

 

so no you are not alone.

[meanderingemu]

one thing i am curious, is if Alamy gets any feedback from customers when they decided to not follow through.  One case has been bothering me today

 

In my AM results yesterday i have an extremely specific search on a building.  Twice the same search, with one time having a period in there.  SO in my mind they were serious, and probably worried the period affected the results so did it again.

There are 11 results, 6 are relevant i.e. the Building they ask for, 3 are partial views, but 3 are clear, one mine.   

Yet No Zooms,   

 

would love to know more, and get feedback from Alamy how we can better serve their clients.

 

 

 

[gvallee]

2 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

one thing i am curious, is if Alamy gets any feedback from customers when they decided to not follow through.  One case has been bothering me today

 

In my AM results yesterday i have an extremely specific search on a building.  Twice the same search, with one time having a period in there.  SO in my mind they were serious, and probably worried the period affected the results so did it again.

There are 11 results, 6 are relevant i.e. the Building they ask for, 3 are partial views, but 3 are clear, one mine.   

Yet No Zooms,   

 

would love to know more, and get feedback from Alamy how we can better serve their clients.

 

 

 

 

Zooms are registered only for certain clients. Perhaps this particuliar buyer is not one of them but did zoom? I wouldn't lose hope.

[MizBrown]

4 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

Zooms are registered only for certain clients. Perhaps this particuliar buyer is not one of them but did zoom? I wouldn't lose hope.

 

Sometimes, photo researches just go far enough to pick image IDs and then someone else searches for just the photo ID.   I saw those when looking at the far back pages of All of Alamy.

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by MizBrown
a little bit less information

[Steve F]

Small portfolio, mine's all over the place:

Steve

[Cal]

5 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

Zooms are registered only for certain clients. Perhaps this particuliar buyer is not one of them but did zoom? I wouldn't lose hope.

 

The same applies to searches though too, so my deduction from what meanderingemu said would be that none of his images were zoomed by that client.

 

You can test this yourself by searching for a very specific string of keywords that you know will bring up some of your images and then checking the next day your measures. It won't be there.

[Bryan]

Following a pile em high and sell em cheap philosophy, my CTR is normally well below the mean, and at the start of the month it really plumbed the depths, but is has now recovered to its normal sub mediocre standard. Meanwhile sales have been better than average during both Nov and Dec. Doesn't pay to get too het up over CTR.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Bryan

[meanderingemu]

24 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

Zooms are registered only for certain clients. Perhaps this particuliar buyer is not one of them but did zoom? I wouldn't lose hope.

i thought Alamy said this was changed... and if search gets recorded that's not fair

Edited December 22, 2020 by meanderingemu

[gvallee]

21 minutes ago, Cal said:

 

The same applies to searches though too, so my deduction from what meanderingemu said would be that none of his images were zoomed by that client.

 

You can test this yourself by searching for a very specific string of keywords that you know will bring up some of your images and then checking the next day your measures. It won't be there.

 

My memory is getting hazy and I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that it only applies to zooms, not searches.

Alamy explained that they cannot always link for sure a zoom to one particular search.

Of course our own searches have never registered, we've always known that.

Edited December 22, 2020 by gvallee

[gvallee]

4 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

i thought Alamy said this was changed...

 

You're probably right. I'm beginning to lose track with all these changes over 20 years or so.

[meanderingemu]

Just now, gvallee said:

 

You're probably right. I'm beginning to lose track with all these changes over 20 years or so.

i've been 2.5 years and i can't keep up, so don't expect the veterans do better than me.

[gvallee]

Just now, meanderingemu said:

i've been 2.5 years and i can't keep up, so don't expect the veterans do better than me.

 

You just gave me 5 new grey hair calling me a veteran 😂

[meanderingemu]

1 minute ago, gvallee said:

 

You just gave me 5 new grey hair calling me a veteran 😂

 

 

probably less than you would have gotten with the first label i was using 🤣  (wasn't bad, honest)

 

now John will yell at me for taking his thread of subject, and tell to go start my own thread......😀

[gvallee]

Apologies for the hijack John. Here's my CTR for this year.

 

Jan-20	0.7
Feb-20	0.71
Mar-20	0.65
Apr-20	0.51
May-20	0.74
Jun-20	0.62
Jul-20	0.67
Aug-20	0.78
Sep-20	0.8
Oct-20	0.82
Nov-20	0.69
Dec-20	0.69

[Robert M Estall]

My CTR lurks mostly around the 0.75 and 1.25 marks so perhaps that means at least I'm visible. Oddly sometimes my highest pseudonym is a very small contributor who has never sold a thing in 15 years. Just the very occasional zoom is enough. I think he once went over 7. his portfolio is in single figures; he seemed a good idea many years ago but faded fast

Edited December 23, 2020 by Robert M Estall

[John Mitchell]

8 hours ago, Mr Standfast said:

Very similar picture here. Wonder what happened?

 

I have no idea, but it's a bit worrisome. My CTR graph is usually quite consistent from month to month.

[Russell]

9 hours ago, gvallee said:

 

You're probably right. I'm beginning to lose track with all these changes over 20 years or so.

The Dashboard makes it clear that only Zooms (and sales, views, etc.) from "Paying Clients" are recorded:

 

"How is this data collected?

This data is collected from the search activity of our paying customers. It records searches, visits, views, sales and zooms."

 

So I assume that if the "man/woman in the street" Zooms an image it is not recorded in Alamy Measures. I suspect however that if they Zoom and buy in the same visit, the Zoom may be recorded along with the sale.

 

R.

[gvallee]

34 minutes ago, Russell said:

So I assume that if the "man/woman in the street" Zooms an image it is not recorded in Alamy Measures. I suspect however that if they Zoom and buy in the same visit, the Zoom may be recorded along with the sale.

 

R.

 

You may very well be right Russell.

 

[MariaJ]

14 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

CTR from my dashboard graph:

 

September -- 0.63 (average for me)

October -- 0.47

November -- 0.41

December -- 0.25

 

Anyone else seeing a similar drop in CTR? Curiously, this fall from grace hasn't affected my sales that much -- nine so far this month, which means that with a little luck I could make it to my monthly average of 14.

 

Mine is following a similar trajectory John.  Sept-Dec  my CTR has been .52, .53, .49 and .25 for this month.  Lowest in over a year, and not a sale yet this month.